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Outsourcing transcription has lots of benefits for organisations, including the cost implications, efficiency, professional service standards and support as and when needed. However it also carries a number of disadvantages, Below are five disadvantages to outsourcing transcription.Confidentiality RisksConfidentiality is vital for all of our clients. Any company you contract with for outsourcing transcription is going to provide you with a confidentiality agreement or non-disclosure agreement. However, whenever data leaves your facility, you are still at risk of a confidentiality breach. For this reason, it is very important to make sure whoever you use has secure systems and strict data security in place to ensure this does not happen. There are transcription companies out there, including some of the larger websites, who send out their audio files to transcribers across the world. They have very little idea as to who is receiving access to the data. Our company is UK based, ISO & Cyber Essentials accredited (and just completing Cyber Essentials Plus - an extended security accreditation) with professional human transcribers, and we have never had a security issue with any audio data.Lack of EfficiencyThis really depends on the amount of work you are outsourcing, but it can take weeks to receive transcription work back. If you use a budget option and send the work off shore or use AI systems, it is very likely that you will need to spend considerable time correcting for inaccuracies.This really depends on the type of work you have. Two or more person interviews can usually be transcribed very accurately and quickly by professional transcribers with full accuracy. A larger sized professional transcription company should be able to complete orders of any size within a very short period of time due to capacity. We have had reports in the past of very small transcription companies taking on very large orders at an extremely low price and then failing to complete them.Significant CostsOutsourcing transcription costs less than having an in-house transcription department but the costs associated with it are still quite significant. Some transcription companies tie their customers in for a set amount each month of minimum amounts of work, or insist on ongoing payments for a fixed amount. This can build up significantly if you then do not need to use the service.You can of course lower the costs by looking at using overseas, non-native speaking transcribers, but the problem here is that you then increase costs when the work comes back and requires constant checking and amending.Lack of ControlYou send your audio and video files out to be transcribed and immediately lose control of them. As far as you know they could be sent anywhere in the world. And indeed they are by some companies. Fortunately, if you use a reputable professional business who are based in the UK this is not an issue.Contractual Obligations and ChangesRelying on an outside company for transcription services can mean that you are locked into a contract for a specific period of time. You are at a disadvantage in this because your ability to make adjustments based on your organisation's needs is impeded.I took a number of the above pointers from a US site discussing medical transcription outsourcing and the latter one is very interesting. There are still a number of transcription businesses out there who use the subscription model of transcribing, which essentially requires their clients to commit to using them for a set period of time and at a fixed price, so regardless of the amount of work sent across they still have to pay some or all of a bill each month.Transcription has moved on in recent times, and the majority of companies now use the ad hoc model - ie you have work and they complete it. This seems a lot more efficient and useful than essentially providing fixed cost services. We have even come across transcription services where a fixed fee is charged, but then the company have gone back to ask for more money when the audio was not as perfect as they thought it would be, even though the organisation were paying them a fixed montly fee.SummaryThere are lots of pitfalls to outsourcing services to external businesses. It is simply a question of managing the risks so that they are minimised as much as possible.

#transcriptionoutsourcingpitfalls

'Research needs to be conducted with the best of intentions and must not inflict harm or distress on participants, the wider public and yourself.' Teesside University research policyWe recently noticed a study released last year by Marita Hennessy et al from the University College Cork on the effects of transcription on transcribers during qualitative research.The full paper can be accessed here: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/10497323221101709. It is entitled 'Outsourcing Transcription: Extending Ethical Considerations in Qualitative Research' and was published in May 2022.Marita and her colleagues noted that whilst there is significant attention given to researcher vulnerabilities, little has been written about the effect on transcribers, who 'can potentially experience emotional distress and vicarious trauma'. The study looks into the experiences of a transcriber working on a recurrent miscarriage study.I have quoted extensively from the article and outlined the contents in order to provide further discussion from a transcription company perspective. The article has given us food for thought in improving our systems in relation to triggering and ensuring best practice is applied when we deal with our own transcribers and work coming in.Transcribers - the hidden professionalsThe study notes that audio transcription is poorly addressed in general when it comes to the study of research, although there is quite a bit lot of discussion about the value of self-completing transcribing 'in order to build intimate knowledge of the data'. There is limited guidance around the ethical issues involved in outsourcing transcription, particularly the support of transcribers.Little attention as been paid to the psychological safety of transcriptionists who can potentially experience secondary stress and vicarious trauma in a similar way to professional interpreters. Hennessy notes that transcribers can work on different projects of a similar nature, with the potential for long-term impacts. She notes that the lack of attention to transcriptionists is unsurprising, 'given the lack of status afforded to transcription work'.Do No HarmThe paper argues that the principle of 'do no harm' with research should be extended to professional transcribers. It is a core ethical principle for healthcare research and forms part of ‘the duty of care that a researcher owes to research participants, and the duty that a research institution or sponsor owes to both participants and researchers’.The study notes that:- Transcribers can become emotionally connected to the ‘characters they construct based on the tapes’- Transcribers can experience emotional distress and feelings of helplessness,- ‘emotional labour’ (dealing with the voice-to-voice contact and concern for those whose voices they were hearing),- ‘emotional work’ (dealing with the emotions of others/empathy and concern for researchers’ physical and emotional wellbeing) .A study in 2016 noted that a lack of safeguarding protocols in relation to transcription can make the role very challenging 'despite some use of coping skills such as acceptance, compartmentalising, desensitisation, rationalisation and detachment'. A suggestion in the study was made that transcribers should be briefed about any potentially distressing content to the recordings that they are transcribing, 'as this would provide an opportunity to make an informed decision regarding taking on the role and prepare them for any potential emotional impact'. Similarly the same study noted that the emotional impact is important to consider as transcribers tend to work in a more isolated manner than researchers.'Hennessy describes conducting an interview with the professional transcriber responsible for completing the recurrent miscarriage project to discuss her experience of transcribing the interviews.The transcriber's insight, as quoted in the study, is interesting:'Often people will contact me by email without giving me any information about their research topic. The only way I can get an insight, if I don’t ask them, is by the title in the signature of their email. So much communication is by email nowadays and working from home as a transcriber can be an isolating experience. If you aren’t careful you could go days without speaking to people... I had always transcribed audio without considering the personal impact of sensitive material, so I never expected the researchers to consider my feelings either. I am a people person, and sociology or psychology-based topics are what I enjoy transcribing most. I like hearing the human stories although at times I can find it hard to switch off. I don’t just type the words and forget about them. Maybe this is a skill that other transcribers have mastered better than me...The experience of transcribing was much less stressful because I knew I was supported if any issues did arise... It is an added bonus when the researcher considers the transcriber’s feelings in this process as well.'The study includes a number of recommendations for best practice:- Transcriptionists should be briefed about the project at the outset, including, but not limited to, any potentially distressing content in the audio recordings that they are transcribing.- Appropriate distress protocols, including briefing and debriefing, should be put in place if there are no such procedures within the transcriptionist’s own organisation, as applicable.- Researchers should establish what is in place as part of any tendering/pre-contractual (or more informal) processes.- The use of informal check-ins is recommended.- Potential risks, and protocols to minimise any harm should be documented within ethics applications, as a requirement.CommentaryWe note that this study was only completed based on the experiences of one transcriber undertaking one project, but as the writers of the study acknowledge, it is very difficult to get information on who completed what transcription work in order to conduct any research into it.The study gives us lots to think about as a company in terms of how we address triggering & difficult emotional subjects with our transcribers, and also how our clients notify us of any audio files that may contain particular details we need to be aware of in order to be able to tell our transcribers so they can make an informed decision as to whether to take the work on.As a company we have protocols in place for ensuring that transcribers can decline work based on informed decisions, but we take on board the advice above about briefing and debriefing. We provide all transcribers with support as and when needed, but a more formal support structure from our management team would clearly benefit our transcribers going forwards. Our own policy on trigger warnings & content notifications is here: https://www.universitytranscriptions.co.uk/trigger-warnings-content-notifications/

Transcription News from University Transcriptions and TP Transcription Limited for May 2023. The newsletter includes updates on our charitable foundation's work, a commentary on a new study into ethical considerations regarding the well being of transcribers and pitfalls to look out for when outsourcing transcription work.

#transcriptionnews

It is funny to think that in 2023, as I write this article, there is a higher demand than ever for professional transcribers (or transcriptionists as they are known in the US). As increasing numbers of interactions between humans move into an online world, there are increasing numbers of audio and video recordings that various organisations and individuals require converting into documents for ongoing use.Transcription is a service that, if you were looking back 30 years, you may think would have disappeared by now because someone would have invented an automated system that remove the need for the profession to exist. Similarly, you could say the same about the other side of our services, translation.Nothing could be further from the truth and transcription as a business is booming, and we are enjoying constant expansion over the years as we continue to trade.Which takes me back to the question – why use the services of a professional human transcriber, rather than an automated system?Professional transcribers are not a cheap option for transcribing any audio or video recordings. They will invariably cost more money, because of course there is the time it takes a human to convert your data into text, whereas for an automated system this simply happens. However, despite all the press coverage of AI at the moment, the simple fact remains that AI is unable to effectively handle multi-speaker audio & video recordings and produce useful or accurate transcripts.AccuracyThe biggest difference, and the reason that professional human transcribers exist and are so vital for lots of clients, is that the accuracy a professional human transcriber offers, together with the formatting, means that using professional transcription services reduces the time and effort spent by our clients in needing to manipulate the data into a format that it can be used in.Automated systems and self-completed transcription both require huge amounts of effort after the work has been completed, to make the data usable and in a format you can manipulate.The key difference therefore in using a professional human transcriber is accuracy. Our service is usually well over 99.5% accurate, and if there are any discrepancies or queries about a transcription then our human transcribers will have another look and correct as required. Furthermore, our transcription services are subject to quality control, which adds in an extra level of protection, because the transcriptions are double-checked.The second reason for using a professional human transcriber is that we will format your text for you in any way required. Unlike using automated systems or doing it yourself, you can interact with us and tell us how you would like your data to be transcribed, and what format to put the text into.BespokeProfessional human transcribers provide a bespoke service – if you have any specific requirements in relation to your transcription, you simply tell us and we apply it. So, for example, we can adjust names, places, paragraph layouts, names of interviewers, anonymisation and pseudonymisation, and we can be fully compliant with all aspects of ethical requirements.In short, using a professional human transcriber means you get a professional service. We provide quality, professionalism, and accuracy, which you will not get to the same level elsewhere. Not only that, we are real live human beings you can speak to!

#professionaltranscribers #qualitytranscription

April 2023 edition of Transcription News from University Transcriptions and TP Transcription Limited. Our newsletter includes updates on our charitable foundation's work, a request for charities we can donate to, improving typing speeds and using a professional transcriber.

#transcriptionnews

Welcome to the February 2023 edition of Transcription News from University Transcriptions and TP Transcription Limited. Our newsletter includes updates on our charitable foundation's work, a request for charities we can donate to, transcription price changes and turnaround times.

#transcriptionnews

TP Transcription Limited and University Transcriptions donate 10% of annual net profits to charity via the Ten Percent Foundation, a charitable trust set up to distribute monies to charities in the UK and Africa. We have been doing this for over 20 years and by way of example in 2022 our charitable donation was £25,469.80. The Foundation never incurs any administration costs - all monies are distributed to charities. We are looking for our clients and transcribers to suggest charities we can donate to in 2023.Suggest a charityWe would love to hear of your nominations for worthy causes we can donate to. To suggest a charity please email Jonathan Fagan at [email protected] with the name of the charity, anything you think we would like to know about it and any experiences you may have had of the charity's work. A lot of the charities like to know who nominated them, and if you are happy for us to release this to them and/or for us to use your name in any publicity related to the donation, please let us know.Last year our transcription clients were amazing and provided us with over 30 charities to consider, with 15 of the charities receiving donations from us.Funding criteriaThe charity deals with a range of work that appeals to us.The charity has no ulterior motive.The charity appears to do some good, does not hoard money or spend it frivolously.The charity pays its staff a reasonable and not excessive level of remuneration.The trustees of the Ten-Percent Foundation are particularly interested in the following types of charity or worthy cause:Charities that deal with poverty and the effects of poverty in the UK, support for stammering and in particular children affected by speech impediments, support for people who have Parkinsons, children with heart conditions, support for people who have had a stroke, charities working with ex-offenders, charities with links to the legal profession, charities dealing with victims (and perpetrators of) domestic violence and charities dealing with youth work in areas particularly affected by poverty.Why do we donate?We set up our companies over 20 years ago with the aim of being as ethical as possible in everything we did. As part of this we decided that a percentage of our profits should always be earmarked for charitable work and set the rate at ten percent. A sudden burst of inspiration meant we called ourselves the Ten Percent Group.Nominations 2023Last year we asked our clients, contractors, employees and candidates to nominate charities we could support and were overwhelmed with the large number of suggestions received. We had a large number of well thought out nominations from academic clients using our transcription services.Our trustees went through each nomination to ensure the charity fell within our criteria for donations. The trustees also called each charity where possible to discuss potential funding requirements. We always check the charity accounts as well.A wide range of charities were selected and we have been showcasing them in our newsletters over the past year. These included the The Children's Heartbeat Trust (Northern Ireland), Arun Sunshine Group, Ichthyosis Support Group, Men in Sheds, First Steps, Rights of Women, Cure Parkinsons, Prison Choir Project, Dundee Stroke Exercise Club, The Proud Trust and Leeds Womens Aid. We have a strict list of criteria in relation our donating which is available on the Ten Percent Foundation website. Donations tend to be within the range of £500-£2000 per charity per year,

#charitynominations

We have as much capacity as you will ever need to get your work done. Whether you send us one minute or 500,000 minutes of recording, we will be able to handle your work. Our team of transcribers expands according to the work we have available. Large enough to handle bulk work, small enough to careRecently, we were involved in a tender for an organisation in Scotland who were looking for a transcription provider to undertake interview transcription work in relation to a research project. We completed the tender, indicated our price, but were later informed that we had been unsuccessful in getting the work. However - six months later we were contacted out of the blue to ask if we could take over the contract. The transcription provider who won the contract had not been able to handle the quantities of work. We were delighted to assist! Bespoke serviceA few years ago we completed a project for a large insurance company who had been let down by another provider just before Christmas, who needed 100 hours of recordings transcribed by the new year. We took the work, set up our transcription teams and as a business we completed the project on time and within budget by the new year, working over the Christmas break to get it done. Our teamWe have a team of 110 professional transcribers who work with us regularly on projects, and indicate their capacity each week. We are able to complete well over 1000 hours of work per week if needs be. Bulk capacityOur company does not just have 110 transcribers able to complete 1000 hours of recordings per week. If you were to send us half a million hours of recording, we would take the work on, because not only do we have our regular 110 transcribers, our management team and our team of proof readers, but we also have a secondary bank of professional transcribers who we tap in and out of as and when needed in order to complete projects. We are able to expand and contract our services according to the workload we have on at any time. You may have read in other articles that all our transcribers prefer to work on a flexible basis, because they undertake the work to fit into their own lifestyles. This is one of the reasons why we are able to provide our clients with this flexibility, so that if a large project comes in, we can take on more transcriber hours in order to get the work done. No outsourcingWe never sub-contract to third party companies, and we do not send the work out overseas at any time. Because we do a lot of work for the NHS and academic institutions in the UK and around the world, with specific and highly confidential data sets, we have servers based in the UK and our upload facilities and dashboard services are all operated behind stringent security and firewalls. Unlimited capacityOur capacity is unlimited. We may not be able to get back half a million hours of recording to you within 48 hours of you sending it to us, but we would be able to handle the work on your behalf. No order is too smallAt the same time, we are more than happy to have a conversation with somebody with a page of copy typing or a three-minute recording, which is as important to us as the half a million hours of work a large company send us.Call us for a chatTo discuss your project, large or small, please contact us using the contact page above, or get in touch with our Managing Director, Anna Gresty, who is always happy to have a conversation with you.

#bulkorders #capacity

We were recently asked this by a client looking around at transcription services, and we had to think about it for a while! In fact, we also asked our transcribers for their thoughts.A selection of three responses is below:GillAs soon as the audio begins you are immersed in a monologue, or dialogue with any number of people, anywhere in the world, about absolutely any subject. I have always been nocturnal and absolutely love being able to work through the night. I have an illuminated keyboard, which can change colour, a bit like a mood ring!SarahBeing a good transcriber is not just about having fast typing skills – although that is a must. I've come across so many transcripts that have different regional accents as well as a variety of worldwide accents, so having a good pair of ears to decipher what is being said definitely helps – together with noise cancelling earphones of course. You also need good research skills to look up unusual names, places, medical terms, legal terms, religious terms etc. Patience when transcribing a more challenging transcript and not forgetting good proof reading skills to check what you’ve heard and typed actually makes sense!JenniferMy first thought was patience! I’d say the main qualities needed range from the ability to understand how to research a wide variety of topics; sometimes a great deal of emotional strength and mental resilience (ie being a tough cookie) is needed when the material is distressing and heartbreaking; a curious and inquisitive mind helps in maintaining interest in the variety of material we work with, and of course excellent English and a good grasp of regional accents and non-native accents.Our thoughtsA transcriber needs to be able to listen very carefully to a recording, quickly process it, and then instantly be able to type that out at high speed into a document. A good transcriber will do this subconsciously and will be typing as they listen without necessarily needing to concentrate on every word.Fast typing skillsBeing able to type at high speed is essential. Anyone who is not able to quickly convert the audio they are listening to into a written document will not be able to remember what they have just heard for a long enough period of time in order to be able to accurately reflect that in their written work.However, fast typing skills do not assist if, as Sarah & Jennifer both mention above, you do not have good research skills to be able to accurately transcribe in a range of fields.UnderstandingTranscribers need to be able to understand the terminology they are listening to in the audio or video recording. Quite a lot of our work is high end academic research, but similarly quite a lot is academic research based on conversations with ordinary people. Our transcribers are all native English speakers living and working in the UK. We have transcribers who are specialists in understanding particular regional accents and use of language, as well as transcribers who are able to cover all differing types of accents across the UK and around the world. We also, somewhat uniquely, provide transcription services in a large number of languages.Professional transcribersWe very often have academic transcribers who are experienced in particular research areas. This means that when they hear particular terminology within those interviews, they are able to accurately transcribe it.FlexibilityOne of the key benefits of using our company to do your transcription work is that we provide a bespoke service. Unlike some of our larger competitors, we never return work uncompleted because we have not been able to hear words. Furthermore, if you have specific requests in the way you want the work returned or undertaken, you can tell us and we will do it. You are not restricted to our templates or our way of producing transcription – you can request your own style or layout as needs be. You simply have to tell us.IntegrityWe work with transcribers over a very long period of time, and a good number of our team have been with us for over 10 years or more. We benefit from our transcribers’ integrity and honesty when it comes to telling us how they have found particular recordings, whether there have been particularly hard to hear bits, and to notify us about any issues or errors that have cropped up in the work.Adhering to deadlinesA few years ago, we were called by a large company with a court hearing right after the Christmas break and over 100 hours of audio recordings that needed transcribing. They had been let down by another provider who had failed to keep to the deadline specified. We worked over the Christmas break and into the new year to complete the project, and it is testament to our transcribers’ commitment to deadlines that meant we were able to complete the project and get all the recordings done in the time specified.Being humanWe have humans at the end of telephones, and you can have a conversation with us about your work at any time, and we are more than happy to help. If you want to use a small UK business providing high levels of accuracy with transcribers who are humans, then TP Transcription is for you!

#professonaltranscriber #transcribercharacteristics

Part 1We were asked this question this week by someone within the NHS looking to undertake a series of interviews with patients, and enquiring whether they needed specialist equipment.Smartphones are the bestFirstly, smartphones are so advanced in terms of their audio technology, that the sound quality you will get from using a standard iPhone put on a table between the two speakers is, in most cases, absolutely fine.Voice recorders are old hatIt used to be the case that voice recorders, such as the Olympus DSS range were much more useful than a smartphone or other type of phone, but the smartphones now are so advanced, and the software so good, this is easily the best way of doing it.NB: there has been a lot of debate over whether the correct spelling is 'smart phone' or 'smartphone'. It seems that over time 'smartphone' has become the dominant spelling in the same way that VHS trumped Betamax!However, there are a couple of caveats to this. If you are in a very busy environment with lots of background noise, then unfortunately not only is your smart phone is going to pick up your voice but also all the noise around you. The noise around you may well be so loud it makes the job of the transcriber very difficult when it comes to providing you with a transcript of the interview. With this in mind, you may want to consider the use of a unidirectional condenser mic plugged in, or even two unidirectional microphones pointing at you as the interviewer and at the interviewee. This would then in theory cut out most of the background noise for you, or at least reduce it to more acceptable levels.Group recordingsThe advice above is completely different if you are interviewing a group of people rather than just one or possibly two. In this case, you definitely need a quiet environment to complete the recording, because otherwise you are going to pick up lots of background noise, together with lots of speakers all speaking into the recording at different directions, which will make it very difficult to phase out any of the background noise.If you are recording a group, for example a seminar or a focus group, then the optimum way of doing it is to consider the use of an omnidirectional or stereo microphone, which plugs into whichever type of recording device you are using (or connects via Bluetooth), and picks up the voices without too much interference. You can get unidirectional and stereo/omnidirectional mics that connect up to smart phones, and by way of quick example, a Zoom iQ7 Professional Stereo Microphone for iOS will set you back about £89. Microphones also have condenser options as well, which reduces some of the room effect or background noise.You may find that the smart phone is fine for multiple speakers on its own, but it does depend on the acoustics of the room.Background noise and multiple speakersQuite a bit of the background noise on a recording can be traced back to the acoustics in the room the recording was completed in. For example, if you have multiple speakers spread out around a church, then there is a very good chance that the recording you get will be very echoey, and voices will be hard to pick up. Similarly, if you record a lot of people squashed into a very small room, it can be very hard to detect the difference between each voice and provide a transcript with individual speakers identified.Room sizesA good sized room for completing one to one interviews is a small hotel bedroom sized room, with the smart phone or microphone placed equal distance between the two speakers.The optimum size room for a group of speakers is one that probably is the size of a hotel suite, assuming you have less than 15 speakers.If you have more than 15 speakers then you probably need to be looking at a room double that size in order to get the right acoustics for a good quality recording.Good recording practiceOur advice is usually to start a recording by getting the interviewer and the interviewee to say a few lines and then play back the recording to make sure that it has picked both of them up equally well, and that the recording is clear and crisp wherever possible.SummaryIf you are recording on a one to one basis in the right sized room with very low backgrouind noise , you will not need to worry too much about specialist equipment. However if you are going to regularly be recording groups in loud or difficult environments, you may want to consider investing in a condenser stereo microphone.Part 2What is the best way to record a qualitative research interview? Follow up article and corrected adviceIn the November edition of Transcription News, we included an article on the best way to record a qualitative research interview for a new NHS client and whether they needed specialist equipment. Our advice, as ever for achieving a clear and accurate recording, was to use a smart phone.CorrectionOne of our regular clients very kindly responded to point out an issue with our advice as follows:"As regards ethical issues, smart phones are not acceptable for recording, especially if the content is sensitive or involves patients. For ethical review boards, especially for medical projects, traditional recorders are the only option, unfortunately. Smart phones would either not be accepted by review panels or would break ethical regulations, if used. The NHS person you mention .. will almost certainly be required to use a digital recorder (and one with added security) so you may have mis-advised them, in this case. This has been a source of contention (and researcher frustration) for many years, and it seems to be about security and keeping sensitive data under control and smartphones are not believed to do this."So whilst our advice is the same to anyone - if you are permitted to use a smart phone - it is clear that researchers working with the NHS need to be aware of the issue above and establish what recording devices are permitted.We had a look around at the various policies at a range of NHS organisations, and noted the following guidelines available online:Medway NHS Foundation TrustPersonally owned devices, e.g., mobile phones, personal digital cameras, MP3 players, must never be used to take or store images or other recordings.University Hospitals Plymouth NHS TrustStaff should take recordings of patients for direct care purposes using a Trust ownedsmartphone or iPad...Staff should only make recordings of patients on their own mobile phones in exceptional circumstances. NB: the policy goes on to say that 'staff that have no option but to make a recording on their own personal device must upload the recording to the Trust network as soon as possible and ensure it is permanently deleted from the device and cannot be recovered. It is the responsibility of the staff member to ensure that features such as “recently deleted items” and cloud storage backups have not inadvertently stored the recording.'Tees, Esk & Wear Valleys NHS Foundation TrustRecordings should only be made using Trust approved equipment. Audio recordings must be made using trust approved digital dictation devices and Video recordings must be made directly onto Trust-approved equipment. The preferred configuration is to use a webcam to record directly onto the Trust’s network via a desktop PC or laptop.University of Sheffield - Clinical Psychology Training ProgrammeEncrypted digital recorders are required for use as they provide enhanced security andhave a record of being used in the NHS. The department has some DS5000 (Olympus digital voice recorder).It looks as if Olympus are the preferred manufacturer of choice, and indeed they are the company we have recommended to clients ourselves.Universities seem to have a different approach and are more focused on discussing which platform an audio recording is made with and stored on, rather than the equipment being used. UWE like One Drive or Teams for the storage of transcriptions, but not Google. The University of Manchester does specify a requirement, and an extract from their policy is below:University of ManchesterAn encrypted University-provided device must be used for recording eg an Apple iOS device such as an iPod touch, iPhone or iPad which has been enrolled onto the University Exchange email service to activate device encryption.Speaking simultaneouslyAlso in response to our article last month, Gloria Fulvia, one of our transcribers, writes:"I think it should be standard practice to ask one person to speak at a time. If the transcriber is working from a video, or if there’s a video included as well as an audio, and if it is easy to see who is speaking, then fine, but when multiple respondents speak at the same time it can be very difficult to transcribe and very easy to miss something, even an incomplete sentence, that might make all the difference. This is especially true when there are some respondents who are more confident than others, as they usually hog the air time."SummaryWe stand corrected and are so grateful to our client for raising the issue so we can take the opportunity to point this out. If you are doing NHS-linked research, it is likely you will need to be using a digital recorder. Anyone else - we see no reason to spend money on additional equipment, when your smartphone will do the job and the audio recording will be of very high quality.

#bestpractice #qualitativeresearchinterviews

Welcome to the November 2022 edition of Transcription News from University Transcriptions and TP Transcription Limited. Our newsletter includes updates on our charitable foundation's work, best way to record an interview and being charged VAT if a charity.

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Quite a lot of our work these days involves correcting machine transcription work (AI transcription), as it is not yet sufficiently accurate for most qualitative research work. Enquiries from researchers looking for assistance tend to include queries on cost, particularly if they have already got a transcript from their use of the AI transcription service.We regularly conduct studies to check on the progress of AI transcription, and this is the most recent test we have undertaken, which relates to a piece of qualitative research.Recent AI Transcription TestWe took a recent recording and sent it off to one of our competitors who offers AI transcription services. One of our senior human transcribers a) completed the transcription from scratch and b) proof read and adjusted the machine version.We only used a short recording and the paragraph below is an extract from that recording.AI (Machine Transcription) version of sample paragraphBecause I would always cheque the cost of something, because I know these things can be expensive, but even if there had been a cost of up to $150, we have income that we would have been able to wanted to pay for that. It did surprise me whenever it was up to 18 years. And I thought, well, I think that makes sense. I think that's really lovely that they do that for me, for the , the size it was, I didn't think it would cause them a lot of well, I mean, yes, but such a small amount of matter. So, yeah, I was slightly surprised, but more surprised that they do it for kids up to 18. Yeah. Not so surprised for a piece because it's such a small and they were lovely. They really made sure we had all the information we needed, the paperwork for us.Human version of sample paragraphPAR2: ..because I would always check the cost of something, yes - because I know these things can be expensive, but even if there had been a cost of up to £150 or £100, I would have still have paid it because we have income that we could have, you know, we would have been able to, wanted to pay for that. It did surprise me when I read that it was up to 18 years, and I thought, well I think that sort of makes sense. I think that's really lovely that they do that. For me I didn’t fe- yes, for the the size it was, I didn't think it would cause them a lot of- Well the admin, yes, but such a small amount of matter. So, yes, I was slightly surprised but more surprised that they do it for kids up to 18. Not so surprised for a because it's such a small - yes and they were lovely, they really made sure we had all the information we needed, did the paperwork for us, on our behalf.Our transcriber had the following comments to make about the machine transcription version:"I've proofed this one and changed it to our format. I've left the timestamps in, as if the client wanted timestamps on change of speaker. I have called the speakers PAR1 and PAR2 for ease of reference. The machine transcription software picked up three voices for some reason; there were only two people speaking. The machine also added a ‘Yeah’ or ‘Okay’ that speaker PAR1 said in the middle of PAR2's speech, so it couldn’t clearly differentiate between the two speakers. It took me around 35 mins to change it over to our format and to proof (but if we were changing to adding in and deleting timestamps I’d say about 40 mins."Our transcriber then typed out the audio recording from scratch, without referring to the machine version.“I had a go at typing up the file and it took me 25 mins to type it up (including double checking spelling) and then giving it a proper proof afterwards. Without the proof it took around 16-18 mins to type up.”ConclusionFor accurate qualitative research interviews, it is still faster, cheaper and more efficient to use human transcribers. It took almost half the time to manually transcribe the file rather than correct all the errors in the machine version and then produce an accurate transcript.The machine transcription was not at all useable and we think that when transcription companies (including ourselves) advertise 'machine transcription polishing services', they are likely to be offering a completely fresh transcription service and ignoring the AI version.

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October 2022 edition of Transcription News from University Transcriptions and TP Transcription Limited. Our newsletter includes updates on our charitable foundation's work, machine transcription polishing and transcription as a career choice.

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Welcome to the September 2022 edition of Transcription News from University Transcriptions and TP Transcription Limited. Our newsletter includes updates on our charitable foundation’s work, DIY transcription, advice for students looking to transcribe and advice articles on transcription.

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If you are an undergraduate or postgraduate student at a UK university, you may be surprised to hear your tutors instruct you to transcribe research interviews you undertake as part of your course yourself. I know this because very recently I attended a business management course at the University of Salford and one of the lecturers indicated that this was the approach of her department.Immersion in the workThere are a number of reasons for this; the main one of these is that the tutors feel that if you undertake the transcription yourself, then you are more likely to immerse yourself in the actual research you have undertaken, and you will know it well. Furthermore, because you have been the interviewer, you will know what answers are being given and be able to transcribe it quite accurately.Efficient use of time?We agree that if you have been involved in a recording you are more likely to be able to accurately transcribe it. Moreover you usually know the terminology and by transcribing the recording you will also retain a lot more of the content in your memory. However we are not sure about the efficiency of transcribing your own recordings.Dead timeIt takes a huge amount of time to transcribe recordings with the usual for most students being about five hours to transcribe one interview of up to one hour. This in our opinion is a huge drain on your time as a student, and perhaps tutors feel that this is quite important, but similarly I suspect a lot of students feel that it is dead time and could have been spent doing something more useful.Our experience of a lot of people who do embark on this and follow their tutor’s advice is that they will have a go, realise how much time it takes to complete and then look around at options for transcription.Zoom/TeamsThere are other options out there, one of which is to conduct your academic research via Zoom or Teams, and then use the automated transcription on Zoom or Teams to prepare a written version of your recording. This can be very effective in certain circumstances, but our anecdotal experience is that unfortunately there is no easy solution. Even using Teams or Zoom and utilising the automated systems will still result in needing to spend around two to three hours going through the transcription that has been prepared, and putting it into some kind of order. Automated transcription systems are not yet accurate enough to provide you with anything that is usable without a considerable amount of extra work.Using a transcription serviceThe advantage of using transcribers is that you free up your time from the many hours you would have spent transcribing your interviews, to enable you to do other and more fruitful things. So, for example, if you have say five hours of recordings, then you are very likely to be needing to spend at least 20 hours of your life transcribing them, assuming you are able to type at a reasonable speed of more than 40 words per minute, you have a good ear for the spoken word, and you have downloaded some software to enable you to rewind and fast forward quickly through the recording to get to the bits you need to hear again.The disadvantage of course of using an academic transcription service to do the work for you, is that it’s not instantaneous and it does cost money, something most students have little of. You can be assured however that the version that comes back to you will be virtually 100% accurate and you will be able to use the documented version almost immediately without needing to go through and spend copious amounts of time checking it.Life is too short?We appreciate pressures on finances for students, but similarly we are very aware that there is a time limit for most students as to how long they can spend doing something like this, and transcription is a particularly time consuming job. There are no really easy ways of doing it, even with the advances in automated transcription technology.

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Sometimes we think that bosses and senior staff see transcription services as the title from a Dire Straits song – Money for Nothing.. Senior managers at companies we speak to about our services will often suggest that their staff should really be doing the work themselves; after all why would you need to use a human transcription service to transcribe audio and video recordings in this day and age with all the software that’s out there to assist.Well, absolutely, and we would strongly suggest to anyone who has advised other people to do their own transcription to have a go at it themselves.This article is a quick guide on DIY transcription.Have a go yourselfThe easiest way to have a go at transcribing is to make an audio recording of yourself. Speak in to your phone using your voice recorder (on Apple phones it is Voice Memos) for about three minutes, perhaps talking about what you had for tea last night, your route to work or your favourite sports team, and then try and transcribe it. The fastest way of doing this is to simply open a Word document or similar on a laptop, press play on the recording on your phone, and see how much of the recording you are able to transcribe. Also, see how long it takes you to do it.Transcription is straightforward?Transcription can be quite a straightforward thing to do, but similarly it can be incredibly time consuming. One of the primary reasons for our clients using us is that they do not have the time themselves to be able to transcribe the work. For every minute of recording, if you do not type at a speed of more than 50 words per minute, then you will find it’s incredibly difficult to complete the transcription of an audio or video recording in less than about 7 minutes. So at that speed, if you have one hour of recording, you are probably looking at about 7 hours of time to actually sit and transcribe it. This of course is completely different if you type a bit faster, because you can probably narrow this down to about four or five hours at a typing speed of around 45 to 50 words per minute.AutomationThere is a way of speeding things up ever so slightly, by using an automated service, so for example if you conduct your interviews using Zoom or Teams, then both of these online services will provide you with an automated transcript of your recording. You can then use this transcript to go back through the recording and put something together that is accurate. The actual recording on Team and Zoom will not be accurate enough for it to be used without quite a bit of work by yourself, and our guidance is usually to clients that it is much easier for us to work from scratch rather than to use the Teams or Zoom transcripts. You may still find it useful for giving you some text. This is particularly so if the audio is fairly clear, and the people speaking are not speaking over the top of each other, or speaking quickly, with background noise or with a strong accent.Using Teams or Zoom will speed things up, but will still require you to spend a considerable amount of time going through to ensure accuracy.Transcription softwareIf you use online free transcription software, this will also help, because you can slow down and speed up the recording as you transcribe it, as well as quickly go forwards or backwards as required to listen to something again.Express ScribeThis is free of charge, and our usual recommendation is to take a look at the NCH software, Express Scribe. This piece of software is amazingly powerful and costs very little. In fact one of their versions is free. Try transcribing the recording again and see what a difference it makes. Express Scribe allows you to slow the recording down so that you can work at a more manageable speed.Notes (iPhone)If you are dictating as a single speaker, then on an iphone you do have the option of using voice recognition software in notes to transcribe your recording. This can work well with a single speaker, although it does seem to cut out fairly regularly and have to be reloaded.Work experienceNot sure the interns or work experience students will be particularly overjoyed, but if you are in the fortunate position of being able to take on work experience students, or have someone junior with lots of time on their hands, then another option would be to give them the transcription work to do, as it will certainly fill in the hours for them. They will of course not love you for it!SummaryThis article was to give you some tips on undertaking DIY transcription. If you, as a number of our clients do, start transcribing but realise how much time it is going to take to do it, life is too short and you want to use a professional transcriber to complete the work for you with full accuracy, bespoke layouts, and the provision of a quality service, please get in touch with us.

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