Tuesday, September 25, 2018

Why Researchers Need The Academic Transcription Services Massachusetts Professionals Offer

By Virginia Moore


Interviews are often a necessary part of academic research. One project may end up having hundreds of hours of interviews that must be accurately transcribed. This can be very challenging for researchers who have limited time and limited typing skills. Turning to undergraduates looking for part time work opportunities is a common solution to the problem, but finding someone competent and trustworthy can be a big issue. A better solution may be the academic transcription services Massachusetts professionals offer.

Some professors prefer not to record their subjects at all, taking notes instead. There may be instances in which the individuals object to being recorded, and note taking is required. The problem with note taking is that it takes attention away from the speaker. The researcher may have to ask the individual to stop and repeat what he said, which interrupts the flow of the interview. Recording nuances in the conversation is difficult when the interviewer is trying to write down the words said.

You can try and work without a written transcript, but it's a lot easier to record the written word than record what you listened to. When you are listening to an interview, you end up stopping and starting the recording, reversing it, and searching for specific parts of the interview. Reading a transcript makes it much easier to skip sections of the interview that don't interest you in order to concentrate on the sections that do.

If you hire professional transcriber, you will be able to choose the type of transcription you want. You can request a total verbatim transcript. This gives you each word that was said. It includes the paralanguage, which consists of hesitations, nuances, and expressions.

If the paralanguage is of no interest to you, you can request intelligent verbatim. In this case the transcriber will skip over hesitations and other nuances in the recordings. If you only want the gist of the conversation, you can request an edited version. For edited versions the researcher must give the transcriber specific instructions on what exactly is meant by editing.

You certainly have several options when it comes to transcribing your recordings. You can do the work yourself. The benefit with this option is that you were present in the interview and can add notes on the verbiage no one else can. Transcribing recordings yourself however will take away from the time you have to conduct additional research.

Hiring undergraduates is a traditional option. The advantage of using student labor is that it is usually cheap. When you hire an undergraduate interested in your study, you will have enthusiastic help more familiar with your work than others might be. Students aren't always the most reliable choice however, and lack experience when it comes to transcribing.

Your third option is to hire a professional service to do the work for you. The benefits to hiring an experienced professional is that the work is guaranteed. You will have it when you need it and in the manner that is most appropriate for what you are doing. The cost associated with this option may be worth it in the long run.




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