With the prevalence of academic research culture, the number of students participating in research projects has been on the rise for over a decade. Surveys conducted in academic institutions have shown that 49% of undergraduates opt for research during the course of their degree. Conducting research is a detailed process requiring meticulous attention of the researcher.
In order to collect data from sample populations, qualitative studies usually require long-term procedures like in-depth interviews, one-on-one interviews, and open-ended surveys and questionnaires, to name a few. Collecting data can be a tough and arduous task in itself, and it is not even the main part of your research!
The quality of their analysis and interpretation of the collected data decides the worth of a researcher’s work. Moreover, the entire process of conducting the research, from developing a framework to collecting and analyzing the data, is time-consuming indeed. Therefore, an efficient way to deal with all the hustle is to look for ways to reduce unnecessary burdens to save time for working on the parts that require more attention from you.
That is where transcription services come in. Leaving the transcription of your collected data to a trusted agency can save you a lot of trouble. Otherwise, every step of the research process, from transcription to interpretation, can become quite burdensome. So don’t think twice before jumping to https://www.taurho-transcribes.co.uk/ and choose the most suitable option for your project from a number of different services.
Transcription services are especially useful for academic researchers as they are a cost-effective method to improve your quality of work. You won’t have to buy the special software and hardware to conduct a manual transcription yourself. The professionals will use their own equipment to prepare your data accurately in exchange for per-minute charges.
Aside from the cost, here is a list of some benefits of using transcription in academic research related to the proceedings of your project itself.
Get Unambiguous Content and Save Time
A big advantage of using transcription for your academic research is that you will receive all your data written in front of you in a detailed manner. This greatly reduces ambiguity while you are referring back to the data during the interpretation phase. Think about it! If you are working with recorded interviews in audio form, listening to the recording every time you need some data for your analysis will do a lot more than taking much of your valuable time. Finding the exact part where your target content occurs during the audio is not the only problem. You might need to replay some parts if you cannot understand what the interviewee is saying at some point.
Make a Comparison
Compare that to having transcribed interviews available at hand containing every detail about who is saying what. The clarity of transcribed data will save your time as you can quickly jump to the item you require for your current analysis. Additionally, the content prepared by professionals is prone to fewer errors, leading to greater accuracy.
Have Time to Focus on The Crux of Your Research
The phases before transcription take enough of your time and effort:
- Creating interview questions
- Formulating data collection tools
- Conducting the interviews
And after all that, if you start transcribing the data yourself, it may take double or triple the time you actually spent collecting it.
A 30-minute interview may need one or two hours to write down on paper. You’ll have to pause it after every question to make the time for jotting it down accurately. This is highly inefficient. So, to make the process more effective, save yourself some valuable time. Hand over the manual or digital transcription of your data to some credible service and focus on the real aspect of your research that requires your intellectual skills.
Get Immediately Actionable Data
If you allow a transcription service to relieve some of your burden while doing academic research, the end results will probably be in your favor. Saving yourself from the unwanted effort required for data transcription, you can get ready-made data available at your table, waiting to be interpreted immediately. It will make things easier for you by showing you the trends and patterns in the data that you need to conclude your research.
The DIY Approach May Not Work
Without the transcription service, however, the data you get will be a little haphazard, making it difficult to spot the relationships and trends you seek. And it will take quite a while and considerable labor before you can give it the shape to enable the interpretation phase to begin.
Have Efficient Data Storage
One of the perks of transcription for academic research is storing your data in written or typed form. It greatly reduces stress and makes searching for the data much more efficient. Whenever you need to look for an item, just type certain keywords and instantly reach the file you are looking for.
However, searching can become frustrating with audio or video data as you may have to go through every file individually to reach the one you seek. You will also have to go through the entire file from start to finish to be sure you don’t miss anything important. So, when it comes to reducing academic stress, the importance of transcription for academic research is undeniable.
Give Easy Access to Everyone on Your Team
Since most research projects are undertaken as a team, it is vital that all team members get access to accurate data to contribute their respective interpretations and insights. If the data is transcribed, you can ensure that all team members have quick and easy access to the same content prepared by professionals. Viewing the data in such an organized form makes the obvious patterns and trends visible to everyone. So all team members can be on the same page when starting data analysis.
Conclusion
Academic research requires accuracy and attention to detail at every step to generate authentic and credible reports. But if you take it upon yourself to perform every step of the process manually, you might become weary when you reach the core of your project. So, it is better to let professionals share some of your workload, like data transcription. By doing so, you can avoid wasting your time and energy on things that lie outside your skill domain. Hence, you can ensure an accurate and timely research process by focusing more on what really needs your expertise.
