Analyzing Qualitative Research Interview Transcripts: All You Need to Know

Qualitative research involves a comprehensive approach that provides deeper insights into real-life issues. In fact, it’s one of the most popular methods used in conducting research. According to a study by the National Library of Medicine, this is because qualitative research can explain human behavior and processes that are usually difficult to quantify.

Conducting qualitative research is a task that requires a few steps to complete. First, you need to gather the relevant data for your research. One popular method of collecting data for research is through interviews with focus groups or individuals with  relevant expertise in the area of study. Once the interview is over, researchers may begin to transcribe their interview's audio recording. 

Qualitative interview transcription is the process of converting an interview's audio or video files into text. It's an essential step in the research process. This is because it allows researchers to analyze interviews for their study or create a written record that others can also view and examine. But how exactly does one analyze an interview transcript for qualitative research? This blog will teach you everything you need to know on the subject.

The Importance of Analyzing Qualitative Interview Transcripts

Once you’re done transcribing the audio files of your interviews, the transcription should then be analyzed. This is because analyzing the transcript gives more context to your gathered data. As a result, your research becomes more digestible for those who are reading them. It also helps your study have more substance than cold, hard numbers.

Analyzing qualitative research interview transcripts may sound complicated. Fortunately, however, there is a process that can make the task easier.

A Step-by-Step Guide to Analyzing Qualitative Interview Transcripts

1. Read Your Transcripts Properly and Take Notes

The first step you need to take when analyzing your interview transcripts is carefully reading them. Whether you transcribed your interview audio on your own or enlisted the services of human transcriptionists, it’s always a good idea to further familiarize yourself with the material you gathered.

Reading through your transcripts lets you take quick notes of common themes in your data. Insights and even biases in your research can also be spotted as you read the transcripts. This allows you to see what needs to be retained or removed from your research.

Biases, in particular, must always be removed from your data as early as possible. That way, any preconceived notions can be neutralized, and you can take an objective standpoint throughout your study.

2. Annotate the Transcripts

After you’ve transcribed your interview and taken the proper notes, the next step is to annotate your transcript. Through annotation, researchers can label the relevant words, phrases, sentences, and sections with codes. The annotations also allow researchers to identify vital patterns in their data.

Thanks to the patterns identified by the annotation, the data you’ve gathered can be organized much easier. This helps researchers cut down the time it would take to analyze their interview transcripts further.

3. Conceptualize and Segment Your Data

Whether you transcribed the interview yourself or enlisted the help of rush transcription services, you need to examine the transcripts properly. That way, you can conceptualize and segment the data you’ve gathered. In fact, this is the third step in analyzing interview transcripts for qualitative research.

When conducting qualitative research, the team must be able to identify the critical themes of their study. Usually, this is done during the initial review of the interview transcripts. 

To conceptualize your data, researchers need to group their annotated codes by categorizing and sub-categorizing them. At this stage, they can also begin to decide which codes are relevant enough to keep and which codes to discard. Once they’re done with the conceptualization stage, researchers can move on to segmenting their data.

Segmenting data involves the positioning and connecting of the categories you created. To accomplish this, researchers need to label said categories and then describe how they’re connected. Researchers can also consider the method below to segment their data:

• Compile the data in a spreadsheet.
• Structure your data’s essential variables by putting them in a column and labeling said columns with the appropriate codes for reference.
• Create a different tab that contains the coding table. By doing so, researchers can easily find and identify what the codes are referring to.

Segmenting your data is a task that can be done via computer. However, if you work better with paper and highlighter pens, then feel free to do so. Be sure to save an electronic copy of the transcripts from your human transcriptionists so you can print them out later.

4. Analyze the Segments

Now that you’ve conceptualized and segmented your data, the next step is data analysis. To do this, researchers must determine which category is more important than the other. By doing so, they can discover if there is a hierarchy within the categories created. In addition, if you were able to gather quantitative data, this stage also allows you to align it with your qualitative data.

5. Write The Results Down

Once you’re done analyzing your data, you can begin to write everything into your research body. With the insights you gathered, you can build your theories, verify them, and answer any important questions in your field. You can even achieve your research objectives after analyzing your data. At this stage, you can also take the time to objectively describe your categories.

Finally, be sure to include studies, theories, and concepts related to your field of study. That way, your research can hold more weight thanks to the credibility provided by the studies of experts in your field.

Interview transcripts for qualitative research are a must-have when conducting a study. However, if you find yourself strapped for time, turn to TranscriptionWing! With a wide variety of turnaround times, our expert team of transcriptionists can deliver precise and accurate transcripts when you need them. TranscriptionWing also boasts ListenLink™, a feature that helps you understand unclear words from your audio. Enjoy high-quality transcripts by trying TranscriptionWing's services for yourself. Contact us today!