Do researchers, students and teachers really need transcription services? Many people believe transcription services for people in the educational field are not very important. But that just is not so in this age of technology. The truth is students, teachers and researchers are having to wade through mountains of audio files they create from conferences, interviews, notes and more. The time they spend organizing this information, and placing it into written form so they can access it in their research and writing, is time they could spend more productively in analyzing and reaching the findings of the work.
Still Confusing?
The easiest way for us to explain what academic transcription services are and how they can help you, is to give you an example, a type of case study. Let’s analyze the situation Jennifer is in:
Jennifer Lee is a PhD researcher at the University in Berkeley. She is conducting a study related to current building stress and how well structures stand up to natural disasters like earthquakes. In her role as researcher, she conducts interviews with industry experts, design experts and Architectural construction experts. She spends time getting interviews, listening to symposiums, recording her thoughts, looking for research from verifiable sources. It all works wonderfully, but she comes to a huge obstacle as she progresses in her work. Suddenly, she has a ton of information, but now needs to review it to get the specific information she needs for her academic work. It is near impossible to get specifics directly from the audio files, they need to be placed into written form so she can underline and select pertinent information she can refer to in her final work. She finds that she has to dedicate a large amount of time to transcribing her interviews to her personal written notes. She has very little experience in transcribing so typing and listening to the audio takes a huge chunk of time. This prevents Jennifer from progressing in her research and findings as quickly as she would like. In this case, and many others like it, the solution is to hire a professional transcription services with specific experience in academic work. This makes the academic transcription process faster, thus less expensive. Like Jennifer, this is a problem that many researchers in academics find themselves having.
Technology Makes Research Both Easier and More Difficult
Technology has given academics and researchers many different opportunities. The use of recording devices allows researchers to conduct interviews, surveys and record thoughts. However, wading through these large amounts of recorded information to get data takes a lot of time, and most teachers and academics find themselves spending a lot more time ought possible in reviewing the hours of digital research to find the information they need. The entire process is definitely not an easy one.
What Happens?
Due to the meticulous standards that are required for their research data, researchers often find themselves compromising sleep just to get the information they need organized. At this stage of the game, it’s almost as if a researcher has been thrown back into the dark ages where an academic (in this case, a monk) had to write books and manuscripts out by hand.
Is There A Solution?
The best way to deal with this issue is to outsource audio research and get it transcribed by a professional into a written format. This conversion of audio data, thoughts and research into a specific written unformatted text is known as academic research transcription.
University students, teachers and researchers find the use of professional transcription services very helpful when juggling the reams of audio information that comes with academic work. It saves time and promotes better accuracy in research results. A reliable transcription company can type research audio materials and convert them into text allowing the researcher to easily identify information pertinent to the research in hand, and so this service can be one of the best options to getting your audio information carefully transcribed into written form.
What is the difference between an academic doing his own transcription work and that of contracting an academic transcription services?
A academic transcription service provider has a lot of experience in transcribing audio to written format. They say you need 350 hours of practice in a certain area to be qualified as an expert. Researchers and academics are not experienced in transcribing, so it takes them longer to learn and to complete the job. In addition, professional transcribers have a trained ear and can filter out exterior noise, voices and conversations.
How do you get your audio files transcribed correctly?
Finding academic transcription Services is not difficult. In fact, there is probably a service provider in your community, town or city.
However, finding a Transcription Services specializes in academic research is another story. These types of transcriptionists are more experienced in transcribing all the important information from conversations, conferences, surveys, and other audio material. This type of transcriptionist understands the importance of the academic audio material and is more proficient at handling all the elements that are related to specialized academic transcription Services. These skills include detecting accents, listening to complete details as well as filtering out outside sounds. The following are a few of the types of categories a transcription service specializing in academia might work on.
Categories of academic transcription services
1. Seminars and Conference transcription
This includes the transcription of audio from conferences or seminars. Precision and skill are vital when working with this type of audio file. The professional service you choose must be able to capture the most complex audio recordings accurately and quickly.
2. Group Discussions
Group discussion transcriptions are also an important part of research and academic work. This is not a straightforward transcription process because of the amount of data embedded into the recordings. Note that the multiple group members, voices and other noises can make it a difficult task to complete, especially when the communication overlaps.
3. Question Answer Sessions
The interview or question and answer session also takes special transcription skills. This is where two or more people are in an interview setting. The conversation needs to be transferred into text document quickly so that it is cost-efficient for the academic or researcher, but it also needs to be carefully transmitted.
4. Academic Symposia Transcriptions
Many academics require symposia or narrations to be transcribed. These are speeches usually delivered at a conference, training session or lecture. There is often interfering sounds from A/C, audience and other unfamiliar noises. The transcriptionist must be able to wade through this noise to properly transcribe the narration correctly.
5. Classroom Lectures
Qualified transcribers are experienced with disseminating information from classroom lectures and spoken study material.
8. Notes
The largest body of work we see when it comes to academic work is the dictation or note taking. Often it is easier for a researcher to record his thoughts as he is conducting research or reading important information. Skilled and proficient transcriptionists are needed to successfully transcribe the notes taken within a very short span of time.
Consider these Factors when Outsourcing your Academia Transcription Work
Because you have a large body of work in audio files, affordability needs to be a key element but so does quality. Find a transcriber that follows strict confidentiality agreement and one who has workstation data security policies. In addition, find a provider who has an in-house process that gives them the ability to deliver the completed transcripts quickly. This is easily done, when a transcriber uses the latest transcription tools and technologies.
It is a Skilled Team That You Need
At the end of the day, it is a skilled transcription team that will assist you in getting your research and academia work completed on time. Always use a qualified and expert team of transcriptionists who can give you a quick turnaround of your audio files.
