![]() If you are working with video interaction Heath, Hindmarsh, and Luff (2010) provide useful information on how to collect, transcribe, analyze video data. For those wanting to complete more detailed transcriptions Jenks (2011) is helpful. For anyone beginning to transcribe Poland (2002) provides useful pointers to consider. Fortunately, there are plenty of resources to assist with decision making concerning what and how to transcribe interaction. Yet, one only needs to think about a comment delivered in an ironic or sarcastic manner to recognize that “how” topics of talk are delivered is an important feature of talk that is used by listeners to interpret what has been said by speakers. At face value, it might seem that the “topic” is the most important feature of talk. More commonly seen in qualitative research is an approach that values the topics of talk without acknowledgement of how the talk is produced. For example conversation analysts transcribe silences, restarts, overlapping talk, and other paralinguistic features of talk (for a guide to applying CA’s transcription conventions, see Liddicoat, 2007). Thus, there are many different formats for transcription. Any particular transcription is imbued with assumptions about what the data means, how it might be analyzed, and what kinds of claims might be made. Linguistic anthropologist, Elinor Ochs (1979) in a chapter entitled “Transcription as theory,” argues that the process of transcription is theoretically-informed. What happens when participants mention places and names related to a study in the transcription? Should these be included?.What about re-starts and verbal “tics” (e.g., “like” “you know” “mm” and “uh” to name but a few)?.Should laughter or other kinds of interactions (e.g., crying) be included in the transcription? How should that be notated?.What should a transcribed do about dialect? Contractions (such as “dunno” or “gonna”?.How does one transform oral talk into sentences?.For example, questions that arise in the process of transcription include: How does one transcribe? There is a good deal more decision-making involved in transcription then one might initially think. I use line numbers on printed transcripts because they provide an easy way to identify lines should I be annotating transcriptions or working with other project members on data analysis. When transcriptions will be imported into a QDAS program, I don’t insert line numbering, since it is not necessary. In cases in which transcripts will be printed for review, I include automatic line numbering. If there is a specific sequence that I intend to use in presentations - in cases in which I have gained informed consent to do so - I might copy and edit the audio-file so I can easily access the shorter sequence that will be used. This will be invaluable if you need to return to particular points in the data to listen to the interaction as you are working on analyzing data. If you are transcribing interaction that has been associated with at Qualitative Data Analysis software (QDAS), such as NVivo, it is also possible to synchronize the recording with the transcript. If there is a particular point in a recording that I plan to return to repeatedly, I include time-stamps so I can locate that point in the audio-file quickly. Duration of interview or recorded event.Date and time of the interview or recording of the event.Whatever approach I am using to transcribe, I routinely begin each transcription by including the following information: There are many tools to assist with transcription. For example, video recordings provide much more information that may be transcribed, and can take much longer to transcribe than audio-recordings if descriptions of actions and activities are included in transcripts. Of course, the time spent on transcribing will also vary depending on the transcriber’s typing speed, the speed of talk, the number of speakers involved, the technologies used to transcribe, and what is made available to transcribe by the recording. If I am transcribing interaction that involves multiple speakers, or if I am using more detailed conventions to record other features of talk, transcribing takes much longer. What does transcription entail? In my experience, it takes at least an hour to transcribe every 15 minutes of interview talk. For those who have not transcribed before, it is easy to under-estimate the amount of time needed to transcribe interviews and interaction. After interviews have been conducted or events have been recorded, the task of transcription begins.
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