What is Data Transcription? Qualitative Data Transcription
Qualitative data transcription
Data that is shown in the form of numbers and which can be properly measured is called quantitative data. In order to conduct a quantitative research a large body of subjects is necessary. Math and statistics play an immense role in quantitative research, since the objective here is to put numerical assignments to findings. Quantitative researchers ask questions like “how many?” or “how the data correlate with each other?”. For example, some quantitative research questions might be: What is the demographic makeup of Memphis in 2020? How has the average temperature changed in the United Stated over the last two decades? Does remote work decrease productivity?
So, let’s now take a look at the question: why should you transcribe qualitative data?
As we already said, qualitative research isn’t about finding an ultimate, absolute, specific answer, since the possibility to measure qualitative data in the way we measure quantitative data doesn’t exist. Qualitative research is mostly done when there is a need to explore a subject or a problem and it zooms in on individuals or on whole societies. So, what are some of the methods used to collect qualitative data? Observation, surveys, interviews and focus groups are usually the way to go. Today, we will focus on the following two methods:
- Interviews – This method consists of researchers making conversation with examinees while asking them questions.
- Focus groups – In this method researches are asking questions to entice a discussion among a group of examinees.
One of the biggest drawbacks of those methods is that it sometimes difficult to document them. The problem is that even the most attentive researcher hasn’t the ability to write down notes of everything that has been said during an interview or a discussion. On top of that, if they are taking notes, it is less likely that they will be observant enough and focus on the examinees in the way that they should. That is why most of the time researchers record the interviews and discussions and, in the end, they have a video or audio file with key information. It allows researchers to focus on the interaction with the examinees, they are not distracted and it is way more convenient for them.
Choose Gglot as your transcript service provider