Recording and transcription of group discussions
We will transcribe group discussions, focus groups and all recordings with multiple speakers for you at no extra charge.
This is independent of the number of speakers and includes a speaker assignment.
Especially in group discussions, however, there are a number of preconditions on which the quality of such a transcript strongly depends.
You can also find many more useful tips in our eBook Recording, Typing, Analysing - Guide to Conducting Interview & Transcription.
The book is available as a free download: Find out everything about Transcription & Co now!
Important: Recording quality
When recording with many speakers, it is important to ensure that all speakers are equally well picked up by the microphones. Otherwise there is a danger that individual speakers will be heard loudly and clearly, while others will be quiet and barely intelligible.
While a standard smartphone is completely sufficient as a recording source for individual interviews nowadays, you should pay attention to professional equipment for group discussions. Before you start, you should make a test recording and check whether the speakers can still be easily understood from each position on the recording, even with quieter speaking parts.
Two tips for a good speaker assignment
A speaker assignment is important for many evaluation purposes. If you follow some of the tips below, it can be displayed well in the transcript even with many speakers.
It is important to know that sometimes a simple audio recording of 3-4 speakers is not sufficient for correct speaker attribution. Voices simply sound too similar and can often no longer be clearly distinguished from each other by outsiders. Of course, our staff always try to make the best possible attribution. However, without further aids, there are narrow technical limits to this. If only an audio recording is available, it is often only possible to identify a very large number of speakers.
However, there are two simple tricks that can be used to ensure that the speaker assignment is as complete as possible:
Video recording: On a video you can immediately see who is speaking. This makes it easy to allocate speakers even if there are many people. The only important thing is that all speakers are clearly visible on the video and, for example, that no person is obscured. It should also be checked whether the microphone of the video recording device is sufficient to capture all speakers well.
Speaker log: If video recording is not possible, a speaker log can be used. With this simple list, a participant records an abbreviation of the person speaking for each minute of the conversation. This is then used in the transcription as an aid for speaker attribution.
Elsewhere, it is sometimes recommended to ensure speaker allocation by having each person say their name before a speaking contribution. However, experience shows that this is only done for a few minutes at most and is therefore not recommended.
If you take these tips into account, abtipper.de will provide you with excellent transcripts of group discussions, focus groups and all recordings with multiple speakers at no extra charge!
Order your transcription from abtipper now!
Further questions and answers
For a good recording of Group talks professional equipment is necessary. For example, you should work with several microphones.
If, on the other hand, you want a Recording an interview If, on the other hand, you want to record an interview in which only two people are present, then a standard smartphone is sufficient for the recording.
A transcription with speaker attribution at a Focus group is possible if you follow one of the two tips below:
- Video recording: With a video recording you can visually determine who is speaking. This is usually not possible based on an audio recording only.
- Speaker log: In a speaker's log, it is noted during the recording who is speaking and when. This makes it easy to identify who is speaking and when. Transcribe simple.
Depending on the provider, the transcription of a recording with several speakers sometimes costs extra.
With other providers, e.g. abtipper.de there is no extra charge for transcription, which costs from 0.99 euros per audio minute.
