Abbie’s got these A#1 posts that generate most of the traffic on this blog. Remember the one about the Superhero Birthday Party Craft? Or perhaps the more recent blockbuster, Butterfly Collage?
That’s one of the things I like about doing this blog. I read reviews of hotels and products and get ideas or advice from The Internet. So I think it’s kind of nice to be a part of contributing to that collective knowledgebase in some ways.
However, I have nothing to offer you in terms of crafts or children’s activities. I can knit a bit, but I can only go in straight rows. Knit-a-row-purl-a-row blankets are my forte. So I don’t think I have a lot to offer the crafting community on that. It’d be a bit strange for me to have a lot of children’s activities up my sleeve since I am neither a mother nor an early childhood educator at the moment.
No, no. This one’s for the qualitative researcher set. Big audience, I know. You’ve heard of Mommy bloggers? Well, we’re jumping into the big, wide world of Quali Bloggers now. I’m gonna reset the hit counter just for this one, cause I know we’re going off the charts, baby.

Here are my Top 5 Tips for Transcribing Qualitative Interviews.
1. Learn to type fast. I think that every minute you spend on Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing or whatever, will pay off 100 fold in life. This return is exponentially greater if you ever have to do transcription. I’m so glad that my high school curriculum included typing.
2. Use transcription software. I use InqScribe, and it’s really useful to have the hotkeys to pause, rewind, restart the recording without having to reach for the mouse. Also, I really like that you can insert speakers' names and timestamps with just the touch of a button. Like this: 'Ellie [16:23]: Blah blah blah'. You save a lot of time by not having to type out the name and elapsed minutes and seconds every time a speaker changes.
3. Use a real keyboard. Laptop keyboards are not as comfortable for long-term typing. In general, the more time/energy/money you invest in getting your ergonomics right, the happier your wrists, eyes, shoulders and back will be.
4. Have a backup to typing. I prefer typing, but my ergonomic set up isn’t great. So I have used Dragon Naturally Speaking. The way I do it is that I hear the interview in my headset and then speak it into the microphone. This is a great relief if your hands are hands and arms are getting cramped. I like to alternate and do one interview by typing it and one interview on Dragon. Dragon is a bit annoying and slow sometimes, by it can be nice to give your hands a break.
5. Pace yourself. Even if the topic you’re researching is really interesting, the process of transcribing is tedious. There’s no way around that. It’s best not to do too much transcription in one day. But if you do have to devote whole days to transcribing, try and break it up by scheduling little breaks for yourself. It always takes longer than you think to transcribe an interview, so plan plenty of transcription time into the project.
Hope you enjoy my tips. Happy researching!
