Transcription Services

Babbletype supports quick, high-quality transcription for almost any conceivable type of transcription need.

Supported areas of transcription include, but are not limited to:

• Phone/Conference Call Transcription
• Focus Group Transcription
• Interview Transcription
• Deposition Transcription
• Lecture, Speech, Seminar Transcription
• Single Speaker Notes, Memos, Dictation Transcription
• Training Session Transcription
• Meetings and General Events Transcription
• Panel Discussion Transcription
• Teleconference and Webcast Transcription

Verbatim Transcription

With our Verbatim service, the entire event is transcribed exactly as recorded, including back-and-forth, word-for-word conversation for both moderator and respondents. Stutters, word crutches and mis-started sentences are eliminated for all speakers unless otherwise requested.

The key point about Verbatim is that it is the whole enchilada, exactly as it happened. This is terrific if the primary goal of the transcription is to provide a critical documentary record of an event (exactly what happened, when, what exactly was said, etc.). Note that it is not always the most practical form for more pragmatic uses, such as helping you do analysis and write research reports.

Here’s a small example of the verbatim format:

Edited Summarized Transcription

Our edited summarized format creates a much more concise, easier to read and use document in research situations where the format of the discussion and the questions to be asked are known at the outset. The researcher’s questions, directions, exercises and concepts are all edited, condensed and paraphrased. Respondents’ comments are transcribed in full; however, their mis-started sentences, word crutches and irrelevant tangents are eliminated.

The Edited Summarized format begins with the assumption that you are following a research plan and know the questions you intend to ask. If you are conducting scores of focus groups or in-depth interviews, to have your own questions repeated over all of those transcripts is not only unnecessary, it’s downright inefficient, making you read more and search more than necessary through a transcription. So the most key thing Edited Summarized does (and the only thing we truly edit and summarize) is the moderator/researcher’s questions, introductions, explanations and concepts.

Second, we consolidate responders’ comments into tighter, cohesive, more readable and accessible content. We do not edit anything they say, but instead remove all of the moderator’s intervening questions and simply provide their answers where the meaning and context of those answers is obvious.

Here is the same transcription example provided above, but now in the edited summarized format:

The edited summarized example is about 40% shorter, contains less than half the line count, is much simpler to navigate and use, while also being 25% less expensive than the verbatim transcription.

Service options

In addition to the basic choice of verbatim or edited summarized transcription, we offer a number of additional service options you can add at no additional charge when you place your order.

Rush draft

If your hair is on fire and you need to see something ASAP, select this additional free option with your order. Just keep in mind that this document is an in-process draft and is pretty much guaranteed to contain errors. By all means, make use of it yourself, but do not send it to your clients! Also do not contact us about any errors in the work, and don’t send us corrections. By the time you do, we’ll already be far along on the perfected final transcription.

You’ll receive an early, rough version of your transcript about one day in advance of your final version.

Timestamping and time-coding

When transcribing from audio, we routinely place time stamps at every major moderator question and every few minutes thereafter. When transcribing from supplied, time-coded video, we follow the video time-code instead, using the same frequency and format as for regular time-stamping. While many firms charge extra for this service, it’s provided standard and at no charge with us. You can of course let us know if you don’t want time-stamping.

Personalization and customization

We’re anxious to deliver the product you want, when you want it, the way you want it. We’re more than happy to customize our services to fit your specific needs. If you have a standard format, language, or other preferences, do let us know and we’ll be happy to accommodate.

Downloadable samples

To download complete versions of these sample transcriptions in pdf format, click Verbatim Sample or Edited Summarized Sample.