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Interview Transcription

Transcribing an audio interview has many benefits but writing a transcription by hand can be painstakingly long. Amberscript’s transcription services utilize automatic speech recognition AI technology to transcribe audio interviews quickly and accurately.

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Machine-Made Transcription

Artificial intelligence (AI) creates a draft of your transcript in the audio’s language.

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Human-Made Transcription

Our team of professionals creates up to 100% accurate transcripts, so you can focus on other projects.

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Up to
100%
accuracy
Starting at
$ 1.50
per minute
As fast as
24h
turnaround

All interview transcription services are

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Native speakers and quality checks ensure that you get 100% accurate transcripts and captions.

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What is an interview transcription?

Group 44

Interview transcription is the process of converting recorded interviews into written documents. It involves capturing every word spoken by the interviewer and interviewee, including nonverbal cues. Interview transcription is important in various fields such as research, journalism, law and healthcare. Researchers can use transcriptions to analyze data accurately and identify key themes and patterns, while journalists can use them to quote interviewees accurately. In law, interview transcriptions can be used as evidence in legal proceedings. Healthcare professionals may use transcriptions of patient interviews to better understand their medical history and provide more accurate diagnoses and treatments. Overall, interview transcription is a valuable tool for capturing and preserving the information and insights shared during interviews.

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What are the different types of interviews?

Semi-structured interviews

Unstructured interviews

Structured interviews

  • 1 Semi-structured
  • 2 Unstructured
  • 3 Structured

Las entrevistas semiestructuradas incluyen preguntas clave que ayudan a definir las áreas en las que el investigador quiere centrarse. Este tipo de investigación contiene una guía de preguntas, aunque también se permite al entrevistador formular preguntas que no estén redactadas de antemano y el investigador puede desviarse de las preguntas para obtener una respuesta más detallada del entrevistado.

person holding white paper to type out interview

Structured Interviews

But then what are structured interviews?

Structured interviews are a form of interview where the researcher asks a set of predetermined questions, with no variation and no follow-up questions based off of the interviewees’ responses. The researcher creates a question guide and does not diverge from this. Unlike qualitative interviews, which ask open questions, these are closed questions that can usually be answered with yes/no or have a predetermined answer option. This makes them well suited for statistical analysis and they are more commonly used in quantitative research

Qualitative Interview Types

In qualitative research, open questions and flexibility are preferred. This is typical for semi-structured and unstructured interviews. In the table below you will find the different qualitative interview forms you can use for your research.

Qualitative Interview TypesCharacteristics
info Semi-structured interview Follows a guideline (predetermined questions) Questions are not asked in any particular order Open questioning, free responses Anyone can be interviewed
info Unstructured interview Does not follow a guide Flexible, spontaneous asking of the questions Open questioning, free responses Anyone can be interviewed
info Expert interview Semi-structured interview Experts are interviewed on a specific topic
info Problem-centered interview Semi-structured survey on a social problem Anyone can be interviewed Respondents must take a stand
info Narrative Interview Unstructured interview The interviewee is the focus and the interviewer asks spontaneous follow-up questions if necessary
info Group discussion Semi-structured discourse At least 2 interviewees Moderated by interviewer
Qualitative Interview Types
Characteristics
Semi-structured interview
Follows a guideline (predetermined questions) Questions are not asked in any particular order Open questioning, free responses Anyone can be interviewed
Unstructured interview
Does not follow a guide Flexible, spontaneous asking of the questions Open questioning, free responses Anyone can be interviewed
Expert interview
Semi-structured interview Experts are interviewed on a specific topic
Problem-centered interview
Semi-structured survey on a social problem Anyone can be interviewed Respondents must take a stand
Narrative Interview
Unstructured interview The interviewee is the focus and the interviewer asks spontaneous follow-up questions if necessary
Group discussion
Semi-structured discourse At least 2 interviewees Moderated by interviewer

The difference between

Open and close-ended questions

Depending on what you want to find out with your interview, different types of questions should be considered by you. In qualitative research, open-ended questions are mostly used because they can get a conversation going and better reflect unbiased opinions through free responses. Closed questions are statistically better for analysis and are therefore used in structured interviews, i.e. in quantitative research.

Types of questions

Qualitative Interview TypesCharacteristics
info Open-ended questions Respondents formulate the answer themselves; Enable more openness to results and flexibility; Example: How did you end up transcribing your interviews with Amberscript?
info Closed-ended questions Respondents select pre-formulated answers (usually yes/no); Are defined and precise; Example: Do you transcribe your interviews with Amberscript?
info Double-barrelled questions A question composed of two questions at the same time, but leaves the respondent room to give one answer; Can confuse respondents and is difficult to understand which question the answer refers to; Example: What do you think about human-made transcription and automatic transcription?
info Leading questions A question that encourages the respondent to answer in the way the interviewer wants; Can create questions based off of assumptions of the interviewee; Get biased answers from the interviewee, prompting unreliable results; Example: How satisfied are you with our product?
Qualitative Interview Types
Characteristics
Open-ended questions
Respondents formulate the answer themselves; Enable more openness to results and flexibility; Example: How did you end up transcribing your interviews with Amberscript?
Closed-ended questions
Respondents select pre-formulated answers (usually yes/no); Are defined and precise; Example: Do you transcribe your interviews with Amberscript?
Double-barrelled questions
A question composed of two questions at the same time, but leaves the respondent room to give one answer; Can confuse respondents and is difficult to understand which question the answer refers to; Example: What do you think about human-made transcription and automatic transcription?
Leading questions
A question that encourages the respondent to answer in the way the interviewer wants; Can create questions based off of assumptions of the interviewee; Get biased answers from the interviewee, prompting unreliable results; Example: How satisfied are you with our product?

Performing the interview

How to conduct an interview?

To ensure that your interview goes as smoothly as possible, make sure that…

  1. Preparing for the interview
  2. Confirm the interviewee’s acceptance of the consent form
  3. Ensure good audio quality for interview transcription
  4. Transcription formatting
  5. Ensuring confidentiality and privacy

1. Preparing for the interview

Preparing for an interview is crucial to ensure that the process runs smoothly and effectively. One of the key aspects of preparation is selecting the right recording equipment and location. Using high-quality recording equipment and choosing a location with minimal background noise and interruptions can help produce clear and easily understandable audio recordings.

Overall, thorough preparation can help ensure that the interview process is productive and valuable for all involved.

2. Confirm the interviewee’s acceptance of the consent form

According to Article 5 of the GDPR, you must obtain written consent from your interviewees in advance, if you want to record and transcribe your interview. 

With a consent form, participants indicate that they agree to their personal data being collected in the context of an interview, survey or other research method. Additional rules apply to participants under the age of 16 (for more information, see Art. 8 of the GDPR). 

Obtaining informed consent from interviewees and providing them with clear guidelines on the purpose of the interview and how the information will be used is also important. This helps to build trust with the interviewee and ensure that they feel comfortable sharing their thoughts and experiences during the interview.

Consent forms always follow a prescribed scheme. 

audio icon emphasizing the importance of high quality audio for interview transcription

3. Ensure good audio quality

In order to analyze your interview efficiently, you need to create an interview transcript. To make the interview transcript as easy as possible, you need to make sure that the interview recording is easy to understand. Good sound quality will make it easier to transcribe the interview.

Here are some ways to ensure good sound quality:

  • Keep a small distance between the interviewer and the microphone.
  • Eliminate background noise as much as possible
  • Use a good-quality microphone
  • Always let the interviewee finish speaking
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4. Transcription formatting

Choosing the right transcription style and format is crucial to ensure that the transcript is appropriate for the specific needs of the project and intended audience. The chosen style and format should reflect the purpose of the interview, the level of detail required, and the target audience.

After transcribing the interview, it is important to edit and proofread the transcript thoroughly. This involves reviewing the transcript for accuracy and readability and making necessary changes. Checking for any grammatical errors, inconsistencies, and ensuring that the transcript is clear and easy to understand is critical.

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5. Ensuring confidentiality and privacy

To ensure confidentiality and privacy when conducting interviews, it’s important to take steps to store and share transcripts securely. This can be achieved by using:

  • Encrypted storage
  • Secure file sharing options to prevent unauthorized access to sensitive information

Additionally, it’s crucial to comply with legal and ethical considerations, such as:

  • Obtaining informed consent from interviewees
  • Adhering to privacy regulations.

These measures help protect the privacy of interviewees and build trust, ensuring that data is kept safe and secure in accordance with legal and ethical standards.

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Interview transcription

Benefits of interview transcription

Enhanced data accuracy and completeness

1. Avoiding errors and omissions in data collection: Interview transcription ensures that every word spoken in the interview is accurately captured and recorded, helping to avoid errors and omissions in data collection. This is particularly important in research, where even small mistakes can have significant consequences.

2.Capturing nonverbal communication: Transcription captures nonverbal communication and emotions, revealing tone of voice and facial expressions, providing valuable insights for researchers.

Easier data analysis and insights

1. Identifying patterns and themes: Transcribing interviews reveals patterns and themes, leading to deeper insights, more accurate conclusions, and informed decisions.

2. Quantifying qualitative data: Transcription quantifies qualitative data, making analysis and interpretation easier, especially in fields like psychology.

3. Sharing and collaborating on data: Transcribed data is easily shareable and allows for collaboration, providing wider perspectives and insights, particularly in research settings.

Time-saving and cost-effective

1. Reducing human-made transcription time: Interview transcription reduces the amount of time needed for human-made transcription, freeing up researcher’s time to focus on other aspects of their work. Especially in large-scale research or data-intensive projects.

2. Maximizing interviewer and participant time: Transcription ensures that all of the information discussed is accurately captured and can be easily accessed and analyzed at a later time. It frees interviewers and participants from note-taking distractions, maximizing their focus during the interview.

Interview transcription

Challenges of interview transcription

Different interview styles and formats

1. One-on-one interviews: Simplest format with two speakers, but accuracy can be affected by interviewer’s style and interviewee’s communication skills.

2. Group interviews and focus groups: Challenging to transcribe, as multiple speakers may talk over each other, making it difficult to differentiate between voices.

Poor audio quality

1. Background noise and interruptions: Background noise and interruptions can make it difficult to hear what is being said in the interview, which can affect the accuracy of the transcription.

2. Technical issues with recording equipment: Technical issues with recording equipment, such as low-quality microphones or malfunctioning software, can make it harder to transcribe.

Sensitive information

1. Privacy and confidentiality of interviewees: Transcribers must be mindful of the privacy and confidentiality of interviewees, ensuring that sensitive information is not shared or disclosed.

2. Legal and ethical considerations: There may be legal and ethical considerations surrounding the transcription of certain interviews, such as those involving minors or vulnerable populations.

Transcription

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What is transcription?

Transcription is the conversion of an audio or video recording into a written text. It usually involves conversations, interviews or written documents. Trying to remember everything that is said in a conversation is often inaccurate. The purpose of a transcription is to remove the transience of oral statements and to have a written version of them through a transcript. This way of documentation cannot get lost and can be used for later analysis.

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Why should you transcribe interviews?

If an interview is not transcribed, it cannot be coded, analysed and commented on. Also, an interview is unstructured data – once you record and transcribe it, you have proof of the information that was exchanged. In written form, you can actually decode the information, cite it and use it for your research.

Reasearch

Automatically transcribe your interview in just a few minutes.

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Media and journalism

Increase your productivity and complete your work with ease!

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Law

Let automatic transcription software save you hours of time.

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Healthcare

Save time spent on paperwork and employ it in productive activities.

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Clean, Verbatim and Summary transcription

Three types of transcripts

Transcribe an interview: Clean read transcription

Clean transcription includes spoken words but removes filler words, stutters and repetitions. This method is useful if the emotions and intonation of a respondent are not important. The clean (or edited) transcription can be used for an article in a newspaper or for your thesis. This form of transcription is the most common.

Transcribe an interview: Verbatim transcription

Verbatim transcribing means typing out everything, including filler words (uhms and aahs). This is also called literal transcribing. It is often used in qualitative research where human reactions have to be monitored. For example, in psychological examinations or marketing research.

Transcribe an interview: Summary transcription

The final type is called “summary transcription”. Interview transcriptions are rarely made using this approach. Summarising the contents of the transcription is usually done during editing. This form is used, among other things, for rendering meetings.

Amberscript MP4 to text screen shot of the online tool and how it works

Interview Transcription: Structure

In order to be able to accurately cite content from your conducted interview, you should maintain a consistent structure when transcribing.

  • Header: When & where was the interview conducted, who was interviewed and by whom?
  • Possibly demographic information of the interviewee.
  • Include timestamps (hour, minute, second) per interview block or even line
  • Numbered lines
  • Speaker Marking: Anonymised (A,B) – if relevant then with gender assignments (m/f/d)

 

Speech Recognition Tools in Academic Research: Current State and Future Prospects
3 methods

How to transcribe?

Transcribing interviews is a boring and needs more time than usual. Especially in qualitative research, where emphasis and word choice can be relevant, this can take a lot of time. On average, it takes 6-8 hours to transcribe a one-hour interview recording. Because of this, there are three main methods that you can use to convert audio into text:

  • Transcribe yourself
  • Use an automatic transcription software
  • Use an agency that does human-made transcription

 

Man transcribing and interview himself
Cheapest option

1. Transcribe interviews yourself

Transcribing an audio file yourself is an option you could choose to take on. It has the advantage of being a completely free and accurate method, as you are working on the transcript yourself. The main disadvantage of working on the text yourself is that it takes a lot of time and energy out of you.

If you are not an experienced transcriber, it will take you a long time to transcribe even a short audio file. For example, it would take a beginner around 8-10 minutes to transcribe a 1 minute audio file. This means that it would take them around an hour to transcribe a 10 minute audio file.

Two women conducting a qualitative interview
Fastest option

2. Transcribe interviews with automatic transcription software

Another option you could use is to let an automatic transcription software convert your audio file into text. Using a company like Amberscript allows you to transcribe your file through the use of artificial intelligence and their own automatic speech recognition (ASR) software. This ASR software is able to convert your audio into text in less than 10 minutes. This method helps you get up to 85% accuracy in your transcription. 

Once the file has been transcribed, all you have to do is make small modifications to the file in order to get 100% accuracy. With Amberscript’s ASR software, it’s possible for you to convert your audio into text in over 20 languages.

The biggest advantage of using this method is that it is more efficient, faster and less time will be needed than if you transcribed the file yourself.

Best quality

3. Use an agency that does human-made transcription

As a final option, it is possible for you to use an agency that has human-made transcription services. Using this method allows you to have a text of an audio file that is 100% accurate. The biggest advantage is that you don’t have to transcribe the text yourself! 

Using an agency like Amberscript allows you to have expert transcribers at your disposal. The main disadvantage is that this method is the most expensive option, and could take more time for your file to be transcribed.

More information

How Amberscript handles interview transcription?

Amberscript offers a comprehensive interview transcription service that utilizes advanced technology and human proofreading to ensure accurate and high-quality transcriptions. Here are some of the ways Amberscript handles interview transcription

  1. Advanced technology for accurate transcription
  2. Options for additional human proofreading
  3. Data privacy and security measures

 

1. Advanced technology for accurate transcription

Automatic speech recognition (ASR) with high accuracy: Amberscript uses advanced ASR technology with high accuracy rates to transcribe interviews quickly and efficiently.

Advanced language models and natural language processing (NLP): Amberscript’s advanced language models and NLP technology enable it to accurately transcribe interviews in a variety of languages and dialects.

2. Options for additional human proofreading

Human transcribers for added accuracy and quality: For added accuracy and quality, Amberscript offers the option of having human transcribers review and edit the automatic transcription.

Confidentiality agreements and secure data handling: Amberscript takes data privacy and confidentiality seriously, ensuring that all transcribers sign confidentiality agreements and that all data is handled securely.

3. Data privacy and security measures

Compliant with GDPR and other privacy regulations: Amberscript is compliant with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and other privacy regulations to ensure the protection of personal data.

Encrypted data storage and access controls: Amberscript encrypts all data at rest and in transit and has strict access controls to ensure that data is only accessible to authorized personnel.

Here’s a quick summary of the three methods of transcription.

Comparison of different ways of transcription

Transcribe yourselfAutomatic transcription softwareHuman Made transcription
info Price 0€ 0,25€/minute 1,50€/minute
info Speed Around 8-10x the length of the audio 1-2 hours 3-5 working days
info Accuracy up to 100% (depends on the person) 85% up to 100%
info Security High Medium Very High
info Ease 0 85% 100%
Transcribe yourself
Automatic transcription software
Human Made transcription
Price
0€
0,25€/minute
1,50€/minute
Speed
Around 8-10x the length of the audio
1-2 hours
3-5 working days
Accuracy
up to 100% (depends on the person)
85%
up to 100%
Security
High
Medium
Very High
Ease
0
85%
100%

Woman transcibing on her laptop
Conclusion

Qualitative interview conclusion

Now you know how you best prepare for and conduct an interview. Depending on the goal of your research, you must decide on the type of interview that you would like to conduct. If you are planning on doing a semi-structured interview it is advised to create an interview guide that structures the flow and questions of your interview. 

When you finally get to the interview, you have to make sure that you get the right interview partners as well as their consent to record and transcribe their responses. If you are planning on recording and transcribing the interview for your research, you should also ensure that the audio quality of the recording is as clear as possible. This ensures you that the interview transcription process afterwards goes as smoothly as possible.

You can decide between the three different interview transcription methods that we introduced to you and if you follow the transcription rules as well as the appropriate transcription structure, everything should be perfect. Lastly, follow our coding guidelines to ease the evaluation of your interview. Now you should be good to go – good luck!

Frequently asked questions

  • Can you transcribe audio with foreign accents?
    Yes, our software is constantly being trained to pick up on accents and know how to understand them. Want to know more about how this works? Read it here!
  • Do you transcribe files with multiple speakers?
    Yes, our software can transcribe multi-speaker files and can also distinguish different speakers in the transcript. Different speakers will be indicated as “speaker 1”, “speaker 2”, etc. You can rename speakers in the online editor. 
  • How do automatic transcription services work?
    In a few words, the software “listens” to the audio, identifies the words used and returns it into a text format. That is possible through the use of sophisticated speech recognition technology. In brief, such systems are composed of acoustic and linguistic components running on one or several computers. You can read more about it here. 
  • How long does it take to transcribe my files to text?
    Our state-of-the-art speech AI delivers results in less than an hour (depending on the size of the file, it can also juse take a few minutes). Just upload your audio into our system and we will notify you as soon as the file is ready! if you would like to learn about turnaround times for our manual transcription services, click here.
  • Will different speakers be distinguished?
    In the transcript, different speakers will be indicated as “speaker 1”, “speaker 2”, etc. You can rename speakers in the online editor.
  • Do you also offer translations?
    Yes, we do. We regularly do projects in many different languages. If you have a request please let us know through our contact form. Translated subtitles can be requested during the upload process.
  • Do you edit words (e.g. umm, uhh)?
    We can, but this depends on the type of transcription you have ordered with us, “clean” or “verbatim”. To learn more about the difference between the two, read our blog.
  • Do you offer services in other languages?
    We manually transcribe through our network of language experts in 15 different languages, but if you have a request for another language please use our contact form.
  • Do you provide full verbatim or clean read transcripts?
    In the manual transcription service, we provide both transcription types. 
  • How long does it take until I receive a transcript?
    Typically, transcripts corrected by our professional transcribers are delivered in up to 5 working days. You can also place a rush order during the uploading process. 
  • What is the difference between “Clean read” and “Full verbatim”?
    In short, “clean” transcription leads to transcripts that are easy to read and do not contain any repetitions or stutters. “Verbatim” transcription is more comprehensive, as it contains everything that can be heard in the audio/video file. Want to know more about the differences and types of transcription? Read our blog post!