Focus group transcription is the process of converting the verbal spoken by each and every speaker taking part in a Focus Group discussion, into text. When transcribing a focus group discussion, there are certain things that one must take care of in order to deliver a quality transcript. These are the essentials which have been discussed below –

1. Accuracy – Needless to say, any transcription is incomplete without an accurate and verbatim transcript. The transcriber should take utmost care in typing the spoken words as correctly as possible. Many a times there will occur cases in which the person who is transcribing the audio or the video file, may not be aware of certain locations, names, slangs , jargons and other nouns and adjectives. In such cases, it is recommended that the transcriptionists should not guess the spoken word. Instead, the inaudible portion should be left blank and be marked properly. In this way, the transcript can later be proofread and corrected by the person who ordered for the transcripts ( most of the times – the moderators of the focus group)

2. Time stamping – Although many Focus Group transcription service providers charge extra for time stamping services, these add-on services should not be avoided if possible. Time stamping helps the reader to come back and refer certain parts of the scripts without reading the whole text. Often multiple speakers take part in a focus group discussion and as a result there could be thousand of words that would be spoken during the entire length of the discussion. Hence checking for accuracy of the transcript is essential in order to maintain coherency. Time stamping helps to control the quality of the transcript as the proofreader can pick out any time slot on the audio file, locate it on the transcript using the appropriate time stamp and then check for errors. It immensely helps in saving time.

3. Color Coding – When does a transcriber know that the transcription done by him is of a good quality? Firstly, if the transcripts contain no errors and secondly, the most important factor, the transcripts are easy to read. Often, transcriptionists tend to make a simple mistake – They forget to color code the speakers in the transcript.

Color coding is the process of assigning a color code to the text for a specific speaker. After the color codes have been assigned, the transcriber types the text in exactly the same color for that particular speaker throughout the document.

The best color codes are the ones that are not too bright

Conclusion- Companies of all types use focus groups to improve the understanding of their businesses. Whatever the intent of the focus group, the expense and time it takes to plan and conduct the focus group are recouped in the information gathered that enables the company to grow its business based on real-life data and customer opinions.

Data is gathered from focus group discussion usually in a 3 way basic process. The recording of the discussion is done, and then the recordings are sent for transcription. After the transcripts are received, the text is analyzed and data is extracted.

It is essential in the whole process that the transcripts should be of excellent quality, otherwise the whole purpose of a focus group discussion may get defeated.