In order for an interview/focus group to be well transcribed, it needs to be conducted and set up in the correct way, irrespective of how many voices there are. Just like decorating, preparation is key.The room in which the interview/discussion group is conducted should be the right size - no point in having an auditorium for a one to one interview. It may possibly sound unnecessary, but the better the acoustics the better will be the end product.
It should also be free from extraneous noises, so only the interviewer(s) and respondent(s) are captured on file. Don't try to conduct an interview in a canteen or outside by a motorway!
The microphones should be of good quality (worth the extra cost) and placed at the correct distance from all parties, so every person can be heard clearly. Experiment before the interview to get the optimum distance. If the equipment allows, and the interview is a multi-voice focus group, don't just have one microphone as some voices may end up faint and difficult to hear properly.
It is imperative that the interviewer keeps control over a multi-voice focus group. There is absolutely no point in having a general free for all and having people over speaking - a transcriptionist's nightmare. Some over speaking is inevitable, but it should not be the norm. Where possible, it helps if each respondent can introduce themselves prior to speaking, so that they can be annotated accordingly, if this is required. This is not always that practical, but trying to discern different voices can be difficult and very time consuming.
Try to avoid stutters, ums and ers, mumblings, repetitions and non contributive agreements during speech - such as okay, right, sure, yeah etc. These are very time consuming to transcribe if the transcript is to be Total Verbatim - where everything that is spoken is transcribed.
Punctuating people's speech can be quite daunting. Unfortunately, people tend not to speak in grammatically correct sentences at interview or discussion groups, so punctuation can be awkward. However, the transcriptionist should do their best to punctuate so that the spoken word makes as much sense as possible - so often you see great long speeches with little or no punctuation, making it very difficult to read. Having a good command of the english language, its grammar and its foibles is a prerequisite for a good transcriptionist and an audio transcription company should ensure that their transcriptionists are both confident with and competent in the english language.
By default, many interview and focus group transcriptions are typed as Intelligent Verbatim by many companies, as this is normally good for the majority of clients. It avoids including stutters, repetitions, and including non contributive agreements. Plus the fact they tend to be much cheaper!! However, it is imperative that you tell the transcriptionist how you want it - Total Verbatim or Intelligent Verbatim.
Much of the above also applies to telephone interviews, but here you have to be aware of the quality of the telephone connection. Additionally, overspeaking can be a little more difficult to avoid as there will be no visual clues as to when a person is about to stop speaking completely. This could be more apparent with conference calls.
And one final point to consider; try to remember about accents. For example, a very strong Scottish accent may be almost impossible to understand by someone who is not Scottish. Likewise, foreigners speaking English with strong accents are equally daunting. Consequently, these sound files can be very time consuming and will almost certainly cost more to transcribe.
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Source: http://www.goarticles.com/
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