getting started

[Anonymous]

Hi Ben. I will be purchasing recording equipment soon (I haven't yet leased NVivo) and want to be clear about a few things since I have never used this program. What is the best way to record and transcribe interviews? I have a MAC and am able to record through garage band. I am wondering if I should also purchase Dragon Speech for transcription but i am concerned about the quality of the audio file. I have been told that Dragon has difficulty with voice recognition. I have seen on your site that transcription services are available. How does this work and is it better for me to simply use this option? I have anxiety about this since I have never used any of these programs and the transcription is critical to both my dissertation in general, and the amount of time required for me to import a transcript into NVivo. Please help me to get started so that my project goes smoothly. Thanks! Lisa

[QDATRAINING Admin]

 

Hi Lisa,

I think I have partially addressed this in my last mail.

We can support you in getting up and running with NVivo whether you use our transcribers or not.

That is no problem and there is no cost attached to this support

Dragon Naturally Speaking is a good piece of software once you know its strengths and limitations.

It is really useful for people with no keyboard skills whatsoever. It does type very fast.

However, it can only work with your voice as you have to train it. You cannot use it for your participant voices.

In addition, it does not punctuate, and frequently (very frequently actually) types a completely different word to the one spoken.

Our experience (we don't use it) is that it takes at least as long to correct the errors and punctuate as it does

for a competent typist to type it in the first place.

Hope this answers your question but do come back if you need more information.

Kind regards,

Ben

[Joe Barry]

It’s my first time visiting here. I discovered countless intriguing stuff within your weblog especially the on-going conversation. From the tons of comments on your articles, I guess I’m not the only person relishing reading your website. Carry on the good work…

[QDATRAINING Admin]

 

Hi Joe,

I’m not sure from your posting if you fully understand what Dragon Naturally Speaking actually does. You have to train the software to your voice. You play the tape through your earphones and repeat what you are hearing while the programme types. It does not punctuate properly (even worse with interviews because people don’t talk in sentences so the transcript needs to be punctuated to bring it to life). It frequently types a completely different word to the one you just said. So there is considerable time involved correcting and punctuating sentences. I think the package is great for people with no keyboard skills but I also believe that a touch typist would work just as fast without it. There is no doubt that there can be great merit in transcribing yourself because it is like a round of coding. You become much more familiar with the data before you ever start to code and analyse. Many people do outsource transcription services for a variety of reasons and there are lots of services out there that do this including ours.

Hope this helps!

Kind regards,

[Author]

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