Best practice when transcribing focus groups

Focus group recordings with multiple participants can be more challenging for transcriptionists than interviews with two participants alone. That’s why, when transcribing focus groups, we have set processes in place to make things a bit easier.  We want to ensure, wherever possible, that the speech is being attributed to the correct person.  We also want to ensure that as much of the speech is captured as possible.  It is important to us that you have an analysis ready document. Here’s some of our top tips for excellent focus group transcription. 

Using the right tools for the job in paramount.  Studio quality, over the ear, headphones with a noise cancelling facility are imperative, and are probably the most important bit of kit in a transcriptionist’s toolkit.  Specialist transcription software, such as StartStop Universal Transcription System or ExpressScribe are our preferred options. 

During an initial listen of the recording we will note down anything specific about the disembodied voices: accent, gender and position within the room in the order in which they speak.  This allows us to identify the participants individually in whichever way has been requested. This is something we’ll keep referring back to throughout the transcription process to ensure consistency.  If, as part of the introductions, people say their name, even better.  It’s amazing how hearing a name with a voice can help you create a picture of that person and help associate their voice with the name throughout the discussion.

Before we start, we also find out as much as we can about the purpose of the interview and the context of the conversation.  This helps reassure us that what we are hearing fits into the discussion topic.

Once the introductions are complete and we get into the depths of the discussion, when the participants refer to each other by name we can use this as a way of confirming that we’re still on track.  It is particularly helpful when the facilitators refer to participants by name as they ask for their opinion on something, drawing them into the discussion, and reaffirming who is saying what. 

We understand that in a group environment it is important that the participants feel comfortable to participate.  If the discussion is lively and the participants are speaking over each other, we will go through the recording again and again to listen to each voice individually, focusing on what each is saying and shutting out the other voices so we can capture everything and continue to correctly attribute the speech to the right speaker.

This is where the specialist transcription software comes into its own.  Using the playback features, operated by foot pedal, to stop/start/rewind/fast forward the recordings are vital when trying to capture everything that has been said, particularly when participants are talking over each other.  The ability to slow down the recording is also an excellent feature; people can talk very quickly and to be able to slow down the speech allows you to clearly decipher everything.  We particularly love the timestamp function of the StartStop Universal Transcription System software, allowing us to programme the left foot petal to timestamp any inaudible or unclear speech. 

Once the transcript is complete, we’ll always go through it again in full, listening to the audio.  It is amazing how many times you can add additional information on a second or subsequent listen.  Words that didn’t make sense early on might have been clarified later in the discussion.  It also lets us double check that who has said what is correct.  We also check for mishearings, formatting issues and any missed words.

And once that has been completed, the transcript is independently quality control checked for additional assurance that it has been completed it to the highest of standard.

So, if you’re thinking about conducting in-person focus groups, here’s a few things that you can do to really help us help you:

• ·         Find a quiet space with good acoustics.
• ·         Go round the table and get everyone to introduce themselves by name with a short sentence that lets the transcriber associate the participant with the voice.
• ·         If you are facilitating, refer to the participants by name as you invite them to speak, it reaffirms who each speaker is.
• ·         Let us know how many participants are in attendance, something as simple as this really helps.
• ·         Provide us with a short synopsis about the discussion so we can put it into context.
• ·         Let us have any unusual terminology or acronyms that we might not be familiar with.
• ·         If the interviews have been conducted online – submit the video file to us, we can transcribe straight from the video to ensure correct identification of the participants.

If we can help you with the transcription of your focus groups please contact us here for a no obligation quote.

Photo by Dylan Gillis on Unsplash