How to Record Focus Group Discussions

Date: August 13, 2017 Author: Isaac Comments: Leave a reply

How to Record a small focus group discussion

A few days ago, I got this email from a researcher. “Hi, I’m doing an eval of a math program, 1 focus group with max 8 grad teaching assistants, 1-2 focus groups with students in intro math classes. 60 min each (max 3 60 min sessions). What kind of recording equipment/software would I need? Thanks, [Maggie].” I’ve been meaning to write a detailed post on how to record focus group discussions, but seem to never get to it! And this is the 3rd researcher that has emailed me asking for advice on how to record focus group discussion in the past 3 months! And recording focus groups can be tricky. You’ll have a room with 4-15 participants and making sure you clearly record each one of their responses is challenging. A couple of disclaimers. This is not a post on how to conduct focus group discussions. So don’t expect the do’s and don’ts of conducting… Continue reading…

3 Tips for Recording Research Interviews

Date: January 19, 2017 Author: Isaac Comments: 16 Replies

Recording research interviews is a great way to capture qualitative data in thesis or dissertation research and ensures descriptive validity. While taking notes and writing down your observations is important, it’s likely you’re going to miss out on some details. An audio recording of an interview also allows you to refer back to the interview and take a fresh look at the interview data, these are some of the advantages of recording interviews in qualitative research. While recording an interview can be as easy as placing your iPhone on the table and tapping record, researchers tend to underestimate the challenges of getting an interview recording with good audio quality. This, coupled with the fact that the descriptive validity of qualitative data is directly related to the quality of the recording, means that researcher need to pay closer attention to how they record their research interviews. Why is audio quality so important? When transcribing interviews, the… Continue reading…

How to Auto Code Synched Transcripts in NVivo 11

Date: September 13, 2016 Author: Isaac Comments: 2 Replies

Weloty’s NVivo Transcription Service offers 3 types of transcripts that you can import into NVivo. Synched NVivo transcripts are great for research projects where data analysis of the videos/audio may be as much as the verbal output which is transcribed. For those of you who plan to use NVivo to analyze their interviews and or focus groups, this video is a step by step guide on how Auto Code Synched Transcripts in NVivo 11. If you’d like us to transcribe your interviews and or focus group discussions using the NVivo synched format, which does eliminates an enormous amount of work for you, please get in touch. Transcript In the previous tutorial, I showed you how to import a synchronized transcript into NVivo 11. In this video, I’m going to show you how to segment the transcript using the auto code feature in NVivo 11. Now, I wish to code everything that the interviewee said… Continue reading…

How to Auto Code Header Formatted Transcripts in NVivo 11

Date: September 6, 2016 Author: Isaac Comments: Leave a reply

Weloty’s NVivo Transcription Service offers 3 types of transcripts that you can import into NVivo. Transcripts formatted with heading styles are our default and most popular NVivo transcription format. For those of you who plan to use NVivo to analyze their interviews and or focus groups, this video is a step by step guide on how to auto code header formatted transcripts in NVivo 11. If you’d like us to transcribe your interviews and or focus group discussions using the NVivo heading styles format, which eliminates an enormous amount of work for you, please get in touch. Transcript In the previous video, I showed you how to import a header formatted transcript into NVivo 11. In this video, I’m going to show you how to segment the transcript using the auto code feature in NVivo 11. Now, I wish to code everything that the interviewee said into a node. Why? Well so that I… Continue reading…

How to Format Synched Transcripts in MS Word for Import into NVivo 11

Date: August 22, 2016 Author: Isaac Comments: Leave a reply

Prepare MS word transcript for autocoding

Weloty NVivo Transcription Service offers 3 types of transcripts that you can import into NVivo. Synched NVivo transcripts are great for research projects where data analysis of the videos/audio may be as much as the verbal output which is transcribed. For those of you who plan to use NVivo to analyze their interviews and or focus groups, and are inclined to DIY, this video is a step by step guide on how to format Synched Transcripts in MS Word for Import into NVivo 11. If you’d like us to transcribe your interviews and or focus group discussions using the NVivo synched format, which does eliminates an enormous amount of work for you, please get in touch. Transcript Hi, welcome to this short video series on how to format, import, and auto code NVivo synched transcripts. In this first video, I’m going to show you how to format synched transcripts in Microsoft Word before you import… Continue reading…

How to Format MS Word Transcripts with Heading Styles for Import into NVivo 11

Date: August 15, 2016 Author: Isaac Comments: Leave a reply

Weloty’s NVivo Transcription Service offers 3 types of transcripts that you can import into NVivo. Transcripts formatted with heading styles are our default and most popular NVivo transcription format. For those of you who plan to use NVivo to analyze their interviews and or focus groups, and are inclined to DIY, this video is a step by step guide on how to format MS Word Transcripts with Heading Styles for Import into NVivo 11. If you’d like us to transcribe your interviews and or focus group discussions using the NVivo heading styles format, which eliminates an enormous amount of work for you, please get in touch. Transcript Hi, welcome to this short video series on how to format, import, and auto code NVivo header formatted transcripts. In this first video, I’m going to show you how to format Microsoft Word transcripts with heading styles before you import them into NVivo. 2 Key Elements you’ll… Continue reading…

Best Recorder for Lectures

Date: July 21, 2016 Author: Isaac Comments: 8 Replies

When I was in college, I recorded a lot of the lectures and found it to be incredibly, incredibly useful. Why? I found the recordings to be a useful learning tool, and used recorded lectures strategically to revisit sections I wanted to reinforce and when preparing for assessments. I was amazed when I listened back how much stuff I didn’t write down! My friends took the piss a bit during the first year, but a few of them borrowed the recordings after they’d missed a class and soon everybody realized how useful it was to have a recording of the lecture. By the second year, everyone expected (including the professors), that I’d record the lectures and the few times I forgot to carry or switch on my lecture recorder, they were mad at me! TL;DR – the best recorder for lectures: Sony ICD-UX560. Should you Record your Lectures? Yes. If you’re still on the fence,… Continue reading…

NVivo Transcription Services

Date: July 18, 2016 Author: Isaac Comments: 2 Replies

Let me take you back to the beginning of this millennium, when I conducted my first qualitative research (bear with me, this is a short story in lieu of why we provide NVivo transcription services). I interviewed 6 key informants. Recorded the 1-on-1 interviews using a mini tape recorder – lots of background noise. Had a horrid time transcribing the 6 interviews. Ultimately, I had about 150 pages of transcripts and it was time to code and analyze the data. My “codus” operandi involved 1) printing the transcripts 2) re-reading the transcripts while making notes on the edges, highlighting writing codes. 3) Cutting up the transcripts and trying to place these cut up strips into categories/themes. On one occasion, I had everything categorized and spread out on the living room carpet and left it overnight. You can imagine my horror the morning after, when I found all my transcript strips neatly piled up on the… Continue reading…

Recording Research Interviews; Using Your Laptop

Date: March 6, 2016 Author: Isaac Comments: Leave a reply

Recording academic interviews on a laptop

Can you use your laptop to record your research interviews and focus groups? Yes, you can. But there are 2 mistakes that researchers make when recording their interviews using a laptop that I don’t want you to make. Also, what are the best microphones for interviews? But first, what are the 3 main advantages of recording research interviews on your laptop. 1), If done right, you’ll get awesome audio quality which leads to more accurate research transcripts. 2), You also don’t have storage constrains, especially if you have an external HDD drive. And 3), laptops are versatile. You can use your laptop to record 1-on-1 interviews, Skype interviews (here is a great post on how to record Skype interviews), Google hangouts, WebEx meetings et al. The 2 mistakes Researchers who record their interviews using their laptop type during the recording! This is a big mistake. Because, the sound of your keystrokes is recorded. And it’s… Continue reading…

Choosing the Best Recorder for Interviews

Date: January 2, 2016 Author: Isaac Comments: 33 Replies

UPDATE 08/2017: Updated with 2017 Best Recorder for Interviews recommendations at the bottom of the post. There’s a myriad of ways to record your research interviews. You could use your phone, laptop, or even a camcorder. However, I strongly recommend using a digital voice recorder. Handheld digital voice recorders are compact, affordable and enable you to easily manage the audio recordings, which makes the process of getting your dissertation transcription easy and cost effective. TL;DR – the best recorder for interviews; the Sony ICD-UX560. The greatest advantage of digital voice recorders over older digital tape recorder is that they have no moving parts, which make a lot of noise. Thus, your interview recordings are crystal clear, which makes interview transcription easier. In addition, modern handheld digital voice recorders are less bulky, can hold more audio data (up to a 1000 hours) than their analog digital tape recorder counterparts. What are the 3 key features you… Continue reading…