Transcription Information

The following is some general information about how I typically do transcriptions. If you have any questions, please contact me at sgshoop(at)gmail(dot)com.

• For transcription, I follow a True Verbatim format. This means that I will type exactly what the person in the audio says while leaving out unnecessary words/phrases such as “um,” “OK,” “you know,” and the like. I will also cut repeated words/phrases when it distracts from the flow of the conversation. If you would rather have your transcription performed Verbatim (all speech included), please let me know.
• Moderator speech will be typed in bold while respondent speech will remain in normal font. If you would like certain identifiers for each moderator and respondent (names, generic labels, etc.), I can do that upon request.
• Any audio that is difficult to hear or understand will be replaced with [INAUDIBLE]. Conversation that overlaps will be labeled with a [CROSSTALK], and laughing will be identified as [LAUGHTER]. No other ‘background’ noises will be identified unless it is obviously a background conversation that is not related to the subject, which will be identified as [BACKGROUND CONVERSATION].
• Time stamps will be inserted into the text every five minutes or as close to this time as possible.
• All transcriptions are completely confidential. Please let me know when requesting transcription services if you would like to fill out a confidentially form/statement.
• Since audio files are usually large, the best way to get the files to me is through a file sharing site such as Dropbox. You may share files with me on Dropbox through the email address above. If you do not have access to Dropbox, please contact me to work out another way to get the audio files to me.
• At the beginning of the project, we can discuss how you would like things to proceed throughout – deadlines, communication, invoicing, etc. – and I can give you an overall idea of how long the transcriptions will take. This is not really anything official. It’s just something like I like to do so that we can lay out a plan from the beginning.

Please contact me if you would like to review a sample transcription.

I look forward to working with you!