3 Useful Tips for Effective Recording of Research Interviews

by | Last updated Apr 3, 2023 | Published on Nov 18, 2016 | Interview Transcription

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Tips for Effective RecordingRecording research interviews is part of collecting qualitative data for theses and dissertations. Most busy researchers prefer to rely on an experienced interview transcription service company to convert the digital recordings into the required text format. This allows them to focus on their work, save time, and ensure accurate documentation to meet their deadlines. However, to produce error-free transcripts in quick turnaround time, even experienced transcriptionists need quality recordings. Here are some useful tips to ensure this:

  • Choose a quiet location: Location is one of the key factors that determine the quality of the recording. Recording the interview in a quiet place will help to capture every single word clearly. Cars passing by, honking, children laughing, and other background noises tend to subdue the voice of the interviewee. To ensure good quality recording, choose to conduct the interview in a closed room like boardroom or office room. Avoid places like public restaurants, cafe, and outdoor parks as you will no control over the noise level.
  • Use good recording equipment: If you use poor quality recording equipment, it can lead to the loss of enormous amounts of data. A good quality magnetic tape recorder is the best option for recording an interview as it does not make any mechanical noise that might be captured by the microphone. Use of a good microphone is also essential for quality recording. Though digital recorders have inbuilt microphones, experts recommend using external microphones in order to achieve high-quality results. Before starting the interview conduct a trial recording to check the quality of the output. Recording the interview using an uncompressed audio format like PCM or AIFF helps you to compress and share your videos easily without losing the quality of recording.
  • Brief your interviewee: Speech rates are a big factor in clarity of speech. Interviewees should be briefed about the importance of speaking slowly and clearly, which will allow the audio transcription service provider to capture as much information as possible from the recording. If there are multiple speakers, ask them to identify themselves, which is also important at the time of transcription.

Following these steps will improve the quality of the recording and ultimately help you glean more information from qualitative research interviews.

Research Interview Transcription

Interviews by high profile researchers and scholars provide comprehensive data that is useful for students and academicians. Quality text formats of interviews are crucial for the qualitative analysis process. However, transcribing interviews is a time-consuming task, which can become a stumbling block in the progress of the research task. Choosing a reliable interview transcription services will help researchers get accurately transcribed notes in quick turnaround time. The quality documents can be also preserved for future reference. So if you planning to outsource to a transcription service, make sure that you partner with a reliable service provider who can provide transcripts the required format.

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