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Guide for transcribing audio records

Method · July 2018

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.30403.66086/1

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Luisa Rincon
Pontificia Universidad Javeriana - Cali
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Guide for transcribing audio records

APPLIES project

Elaborated by Luisa RINCON

July 10- 2018
 1. Transcription concepts
Transcribing means converting an audio or video file to a written format [1]. Recordings are
transcribed into written form because in this way they can be studied in detail and/or coded for
further analysis.

The representation of audible speech as written words requires reduction, interpretation, and
representation to make the written text legible and meaningful [1]. There are three types of
transcriptions for recordings: textual, edited, and intelligent transcription. Each type offers a
different emphasis between legibility and accuracy [7] as explained below:

- Verbatim transcription: the text is transcribed exactly as it sounds and includes every
spoken word as well as every laugh, background noise, jargon, broken or incomplete
phrases or words. A literal transcript is a replica of the audio recording. These transcripts
include nonverbal features that give a deeper understanding of the situation represented
by the transcription, but make it difficult to read the transcription [1].

- Edited transcript: the transcriber omits parts of the audio file as long as the meaning of the
recording does not change. For example, these transcripts do not include speech errors,
false starts or sounds like "mmm", ehh", etc. Transcribers must differentiate between what
is essential and what is not. Therefore, it is crucial that the transcriber understands the
meaning and purpose of the audio content. The common uses of this type of transcription
are speeches, conferences, and seminars [1].

- Intelligent transcription: The transcriber improves the text by adding personal pronouns
and omitted articles in the rushed speech. Also, apart from what is considered in the edited
transcript, the intelligent transcript does not include filler words. The jargon words are
written in their standard version and grammar, and time conflicts are solved. A complete
understanding of the content of the audio recording is required to maintain the meaning of
the phrases. This type of transcription is useful for academic transcriptions where high
accuracy and speed of reading and comprehension of texts is essential.

Representing audible talk as written words requires reduction, interpretation, and representation
to make the written text readable and meaningful [1]. Transcribing is, therefore, an interpretative

2. Transcription process

A. Get a rough transcription by uploading a video with the audio to transcribe into
Youtube. Wait until Youtube processes the audio of the video and produces the
automatic speech recognition software.
Note: [ The resulting transcription will be more accurate if the audio recording is in
English]. According to my experience, for Spanish the results were not accurate, so I
produced the rough transcription manually by typing the text. MAXQDA provides useful
tools to control the speed of the audio, and also to stop and play the recording, but the
task of writing the content was unavoidable.
 B. Download the transcript from Youtube without temporal marks and load it into
MAXQDA. Remove spaces and break lines before upload the transcription into
MAXQDA.
C. Listen the recording while reading the transcript in order to:
a. Separate what is said by each participant.
b. Improve the spelling, complete missing parts, add punctuation marks.
c. Add temporal marks that relate what is said with the audio file. MAXQDA has
timestamps that could be used for this separation.
D. Improve the transcript to satisfy the transcription rules presented in Section 3.
E. Listen the recording while reading the transcript to make sure the text accurately
reflects the words and meaning of the original audio.

3. Style rules

These style rules compile recommendations and guidelines from Aine Humbre from the Mount Saint
Vincent University [4], Becca Thomas from the Scribie Blog [2], Mahesh Kumar from Transcription
Certification Institute, and the style guide for doing transcription published by transcribe.com [8].

The final version of each transcript will be an intelligent transcription because the main interest of
this research is to have transcriptions that reflect the content of the material as clearly as possible.
The aim is to analyze from the transcriptions what people say during the empirical evaluations
instead of analyzing how people say it. Readable text is therefore preferable and extraneous
information is removed because such oral features could make the transcripts odd looking and
difficult to read [3]

Elements to omit

Nonverbal and verbal nuances could be omitted from the transcription. For example, the
following elements should not be transcribed [5]
• Persistent Sound Events that do not interrupt the dialogue [6].
• Filler words and statements such as “ugh”, “um”, “yeah” [6].
• Conjunctions that start a sentence such as: “and”, “but, etc. [6].
• Expressions such as: “you know”, “I mean”
• False sentence starts, unnecessary repetitions, instantaneous revision of words,
incomplete words [6]. For example, in the following sentence: “For example they
can say, for example they can say in cars they often now share the same
platform”. The correct transcription is “For example they can say in cars they
often now share the same platform”.
• Pauses in the speech. However, if an interview is affected by an unexpected pause
that causes the narrator to begin a new train of thought, this pause should be
indicated explaining the reason. Example [Phone rings]. Also if this pause is due to
a change in the activity performed by the participants (for example during the
workshops), a short phase that explain what is happening should be added among
brackets. For example: [Post questionnaire], [end of the interview], [End of the
audio - continue in document 2]
 • Explanations and presentations that the interviewer does to contextualize or
explain any concept to the interviewed. Instead, summarize what was said among
brackets as explained in the style rules. Example [Framework presentation].
• Specific names of organizations or individuals or any other information that may be
sensitive, especially in transcripts of workshops, case studies or pilots with
companies.

Punctuation rules

• The first letter in each new sentence or in a new fragment should be capitalized.
• Use '--' instead of '...'. Example: "I wanted to say something, but…" becomes "I
wanted to say something, but--"

Style rules
• Make each speaker's role in the audio as descriptive as possible. For example,
"Participant", "Expert", "CEO", "Interviewer", and so on. Type single-spaced with a
blank line between each comment.
• Separate different topics with one single-spaces.
• Sound events that are significant to the audio should also be noted. Use brackets
[] for notes. The notes are always written in the lower case regardless of the
position in a sentence.
• Spell out numbers from 0-9:
• Times of the day and dates: always capitalize AM and PM. Do this: 2:45 PM, 5:00
AM. When using o'clock, spell out the numbers: eleven o'clock, nine o'clock.
• Brackets should be used to complete a name or to supply information which is not
on the recording, but which is necessary for clarity. Brackets are also used to
describe the way something is said or the reaction of the listener, such as
[Laughing]. The first letter of the word is capitalized, and there are spaces before
and after the brackets. If possible, and if appropriate, avoid interrupting the text
until after the speaker’s sentence is complete [6].
• Book titles and other references: Underscore book titles or other references [6].
• Use a comma before the last list item for lists that include three or more items [4].
• Put in italics words which are in a language different from the original interview.
• Underline words that explicitly refers to the content of the framework under
evaluation. For example, when the interviewer is reading some passage from the
text such as:
“so when you say "retain it current customer due to the variability among their
products", do you imply because that's how I would interpret it, that the same
customer wants variance?”

Quotation marks: quotation marks should be used when someone shows they said
something to another person or from another person.

Incorrect: nobody would say my goal in life is to consolidate multiple products into
a single codebase
 Correct: nobody would say: “my goal in life is to consolidate multiple products into
a single codebase”

Inaudible material: If any words are inaudible, type in red text (inaudible) in parentheses,
put the time of the recording, and write in red as much text as you can understand [4].

Example: For example, here instead of having agree or disagree you could count
what's the percentage of skill holder (inaudible -- 27:21),

Simultaneous speech: If one speaker interrupts the other in mid-sentence, but the first
speaker completes his or her thought, finish that sentence in the transcript first [6]. On the
contrary, if the speaker did not end the idea then uses slashes to show the interruption of
one speaker by another [6].
CK: It gave him a sense of independence and—
VF: Independence, yes, and that would give him confidence as well.

Stumbles: If the narrator has trouble organizing his or her thoughts, delete the stumbles
[6]. For example,

Incorrect: “if you want to enter for example into a new market, and…., then you
need to differentiate your cars”

Correct : “if you want to enter for example into a new market, then you need to
differentiate your cars”

Extraneous remarks: Conversation made while setting up or turning off the equipment, or
any conversation away from the topic of the interview can be eliminated [6].

False starts: If the narrator begins with several words and then reorganizes his or her
thoughts and resumes, delete the false start [6].

Incorrect grammar: When the oral speech has missing words to clarify the meaning such
as connectors, personal pronouns add those missing elements. For example:

“when Renault merge with Nissan and Mitsubishi, one is more focused on the
Asian market and American market, the other is more focused in the European
and African market, but they want to reuse the same components and cross the
old product line”

The correct transcription is “when Renault merge with Nissan and Mitsubishi, one
is more focused on the Asian and American market, while the other is more
focused in the European and African market, but they want to reuse the same
components and cross the old product line”.

Reassuring remarks or monosyllables: These are generally made by the interviewer while
the narrator is telling a story. They should be eliminated. Examples include “yes,” “sure,”
and “I see.”, “ok” [6].
 Ellipsis points: Ellipsis points should be used when a statement is unfinished (trailing off),
faltering or fragmented and it appears that the narrator is confused or uncertain.

EB: Phil, you know . . . turned . . . I think it was . . . MM: I . . . I . . . think he was . . .
conservative.

General formatting
• Title your transcript (e.g., “Retirement and Caregiving: Interview 1”)
• Use “Expert” for expert, and “I” for interviewer, type single-spaced with a blank
line between each comment [4].

4. Youtube shortcuts
Shift + left arrow: Seek back one second.
Shift + right arrow: Seek forward one second.
Shift + space: Pause or play the video.
Shift + enter: Add a new line.
Shift + down arrow: Edit next subtitle.
Shift + up arrow: Edit previous subtitle.
Enter: Add the subtitle.

5. Specific guides for transcriptions that involve more than one participant

Different participants: For the analysis, we are interested in knowing what the participants say but
not who says it. Therefore, if there is more than one participant in the session, they will be identified
with the letter P and a number. Example P1, P2, P3.

Explanations: The information transmitted by the session leader to the participants will not be
transcribed in order to shorten the transcription process. For example, explanations about the
framework, or about some procedure to be carried out by the participants, such as where to select
the results, how to use the framework, etc., should be omitted. Instead, a short description of the
activity taking place during the recording will be included in square brackets in the transcription.
The explanations of the research team will be transcribed only when they are the answer to some
question of the participants or when they are part of a group discussion.

References

[1] Julia Bailey. 2008. First steps in qualitative data analysis: Transcribing. Fam. Pract. 25, 2
(2008), 127–131. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1093/fampra/cmn003
[2] Becca Thomas. 2017. Beginner Transcriber Guide and Quick Tips. Scribie Blog. Retrieved
July 9, 2018 from https://scribie.com/blog/2017/04/beginner-transcriber-guide-and-quick-
tips/
[3] Christina Davidson. 2009. Transcription: Imperatives for Qualitative Research. Int. J. Qual.
Methods 8, 2 (2009), 35–52. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1177/160940690900800206
[4] Áine Humble. 2016. Guide to Transcribing. Dep. Fam. Stud. Gerontol. Mt. Saint Vincent
 Univ. (2016), 1–3. Retrieved from http://www.msvu.ca/site/media/msvu/Transcription
Guide.pdf
[5] Mahesh Kumar. 2017. Everything about transcription guidelines for transcribers.
Transcription certification institute. Retrieved July 10, 2018 from
https://blog.transcriptioncertificationinstitute.org/transcription-guidelines-transcribers/
[6] Minnesota Historical Society Oral History Office. 2001. Transcribing, Editing and Processing
Guidelines. Retrieved from www.mnhs.org/.../ohtranscribing.pdf
[7] Speechpad team. Speechpad. 2013. Retrieved from
https://www.speechpad.com/blog/types-of-transcription
[8] Transcribe.com. Style guide.

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