University students and scholars have depended on digital recordings — both video and audio — to capture academic content for decades. These notetaking strategies have proven to be effective, especially because they allow scholars to fully focus on the task at hand rather than taking notes.
While practically every academic recognizes the value of digital recordings, there is one caveat: digital recordings take a long time to examine. When listeners are ready to examine the content, they must listen closely to capture every detail while typing furious notes and rewinding to double-check statements. Transcription of a one-hour recording can easily take more than four hours. That is not a good use of anyone’s time. Unless you are a professional transcriptionist, of course.
So, how can academic scholars ensure that they are making the most of their time? Take advantage of professional transcription services. Automatic transcription is ideal for individuals on a tight budget, whereas human transcription is ideal for those who require accuracy. Both are now quite accurate and inexpensive because of technological advancements.
How many times have you had to rewind a movie or an audio clip because you missed a phrase? You listen again, but you still can not grasp the content quickly enough to write it down. You rewind once more. This procedure is quite inefficient. Transcription services minimize the need to rewind and replay audio/video.
Hours are already spent on research interviews, lectures, and focus groups. It takes a large amount of time to perform background research, create appropriate questions, and gather qualitative data. The interviews are then transcribed, which might take more than four hours for only one hour of audio. This is a difficult, time-consuming, and exhausting exercise. It is also conceivable for researchers to burn out at this point, which is completely unneeded. Researchers can focus on the specialized duties that will actually make a difference by using a transcribing service.
When it comes to quantitative data, researchers can take action almost immediately after receiving the research. The figures are clearly laid out, and trends may be detected. That is not always the case with qualitative data, especially when it is recorded digitally.
Before evaluating qualitative research, a researcher needs complete a large amount of labor.
Analyzing content directly from audio or video recordings may be achievable for a one-person research team. But how often does a researcher operate completely alone, with no one to examine their work or offer advice? Transcriptions make study content available to anyone. Transcriptions will be useful if team members require help navigating the digital recordings. Everyone will be able to participate completely and contribute comprehensive insights to the research effort.
The review process is an important part of academic research. The team must guarantee that all of the information supplied is correct. Working simply with audio and video recordings can make this difficult. Because these files are not searchable, entering in a term or phrase used by a speaker will not bring up the relevant file. This is when transcriptions come in handy.
Wrap-up
An academic study necessitates a large quantity of time, energy, and other resources. To save yourself hours of laborious transcription work, consider investing in a transcription service.