Your methods section shows how you reached your results. That includes transcription, because it affects how you can analyze your interviews. This guide shows what readers usually expect and gives you a sample paragraph to adapt.
Note: Expectations differ between fields and departments. Ask your advisor whether there is a template or specific requirements.
What to include
- Scope. How many interviews did you conduct, and how long were they in total?
- Recording. How did you record, and did participants consent first?
- Transcription rules. Did you use verbatim or clean verbatim, and which conventions did you follow? See our guide on transcription rules.
- Process. Did you type the transcripts yourself or use software? If you used software, name it and say how the data was processed.
- Checking. Did you check the transcripts against the recordings and correct them?
- Data protection. Where was the data processed and stored, and how did you de-identify it? Also mention what your IRB or ethics committee approved, if that applies.
A sample paragraph to adapt
This text is a made-up example. Only use what is true for your study and change the details to match.
The twelve semi-structured interviews (about ten hours in total) were recorded with the participants' consent and then transcribed in full. A first draft was created automatically with software that processed the recordings on the researcher's own computer, without sending them to an external server. Each transcript was then checked against the recording and corrected. Transcripts follow clean verbatim conventions: filler words were left out and obvious slips were fixed. Names, places and employers were replaced with placeholders.
Common mistakes
- Naming only the software. A product name says nothing about how you worked. Describe your rules and your checking as well.
- Leaving out the review. If you used automatic transcription, say that you checked the text against the recording.
- Claiming too much. Only write "anonymized" if identification is truly no longer possible. If you keep a key that links placeholders to names, "de-identified" or "pseudonymized" is more accurate.
- Skipping changes. If you had to change your rules along the way, briefly explain why.
If you go on to code your interviews, see our guide on how to code interview transcripts.
How Stillscript can help
Stillscript creates a paragraph for your methods section with one click, with the number of interviews and their total length. You adapt the last sentence to what you did. For your advisor, IRB or ethics committee, there is also a processing record with checksums. Your recordings and transcripts stay on your device.