Verbatim transcript

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4 rules of Verbatim transcription

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1. Capture EVERY word (don’t paraphrase)

Paraphrased sentence: “I was screaming. I was screaming for my mother. And she was maybe 30 yards away in the house. She wouldn’t have heard me even if she was outside.” Verbatim sentence: “And I’m screaming. You know, I’m screaming for my mother. And She was uh maybe 30 yards away in the house [pause]. I mean…she could not have heard me. Even if she was outside, she probably would not have heard me.”

So in verbatim transcription, it’s important to type each and every word that is said.

2. Don’t leave out non-verbal communication

• Communication has a lot of components other than words – such as laughter, pauses, ambient sounds etc. Verbatim transcription captures all these in order to give a true account of what’s being said.

• For example, see how laughter has been captured in this exchange:

K: What does your mother think? N: Not much. She agrees with me . Yeah. K: Really?! [Laughs] Are you sure?!

Overlapping Conversation When two speakers talk at the same time, indicate this with /, e.g. N: Yes, I have been /living here K: /Oh you have? N: for three years. i.e. ‘living here’ and ‘oh you have’ were said at the same time and N continued on his sentence without stopping.

PausesFor short pauses add a full stop (.), ellipses (…), or [pause]. K: So in retrospect [pause] that was a bad decision. For pauses longer than 4 seconds, put time in seconds inside brackets e.g. (6) or (6 sec). N: It was like (5 sec) out of the frying pan into the fire.

InterruptionsFor interruptions use a short hyphen (-). K: I was sort of thi- N: -there was just so little time. K: Yes.

3. Catch those fillers and false starts

Fillers are the ums, ahs, you knows, that are often used by speakers to buy time to think. False starts are sentences that are started but never completed, such as “I would say that’s not such a… I mean that may not be… it’best to check with an expert before proceeding in such matters.”

4. Note external sounds

Qualitative research and even market research often requires knowing what’s happening in the surroundings while the subject or interviewee is speaking. Some examples of external sounds can be sounds of doors opening, people walking in, a side conversation between fellow participants, etc. These sounds/events should be duly noted on the transcript in brackets and with time stamps.

Here’s an excerpt from an interview with Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon

Well, yeah I guess I hadn’t thought about that, you know, that’s right, yeah. Uhm but [swallows] and then outside of that, you know, I've had lots of role models throughout my life. Yeah, uhm [swallows] some of my teachers at River Oaks Elementary School that you mentioned. I had uhm, you know I had my parents who I talked about a little earlier. I didn’t talk too much about my grandfather but he was a gigantic influence in my life. I had the great good fortune [swallows] because my mom was so young, uhm my grandparents would take me every summer. Even..starting at age four, every summer, kind of to give her a break really, uhm for the whole summer.