# Two questions: Transcribing interviews (cost) and coding data

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-questions-transcribing-interviews-cost-and-coding-data/644599>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [December 20, 2012, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-questions-transcribing-interviews-cost-and-coding-data/644599 "2012-12-20T03:30:27Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![EmAnJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@EmAnJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmAnJ)\
**Post date:** [December 20, 2012, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-questions-transcribing-interviews-cost-and-coding-data/644599/1 "2012-12-20T03:30:27Z")

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I’m starting my research in the new year and am considering hiring a transcriptionist to transcribe the video tapes of the interviews. How much should this cost, in your opinion? I am in Calgary, Alberta, but could probably outsource to somewhere else in Canada (can’t outsource to the U.S. - privacy act and all that). I’m just looking for a general idea.

Should I be looking for a certain type of transcriptionist? Research transcriptionist, or is are there even ‘specialities’ in the industry?

Second question: any suggestions on the most user friendly CAQDAS (Computer Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis Software) out there? I’m also on a Mac, and have heard most only run on Windows. I could buy a cheap PC laptop, but would space be an issue running the data analysis?

Thanks! 🙂

P.S. I’d love it if any of you have some good websites for the beginner researcher to share. I need to start building a network of knowledge.

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**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\
**Post date:** [December 20, 2012, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-questions-transcribing-interviews-cost-and-coding-data/644599/2 "2012-12-20T04:30:06Z")

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I’ve transcribed dozens of hours of interviews. The technique I use is a well-trained copy of Dragon Naturally Speaking, a headset microphone and an audio player. Dragon does a very good job right off the bat, but once you spend the time going through all the training material they offer, it can get very close to 100% accurate. I play the original audio file through the headphones and _repeat_ what I hear into Dragon. The technique is generally called “parroting”. Once you get the hand of it, you’ll be able to do long stretches. I usually do a chunk, then play the material again, checking what I dictated and noting who said what.