Transcription for researchers: qualitative interviews and focus groups

Qualitative research runs on transcripts. Paying a service per audio-hour adds up fast; a phone-first app covers most interview material.

Short answer: Record or import on iPhone with AI Transcribe — transcripts arrive with speaker labels and timestamps, in 32 auto-detected languages — then use the AI tools (Summarize, Create a todo list, Proofread and 12+ more) to turn the transcript into the document you actually need.

Where transcription earns its keep for researchers

• One-on-one interviews — speaker-labeled transcripts with timestamps, ready for coding.
• Focus groups — labels are reliable for a handful of distinct voices; expect some fix-ups in heated cross-talk.
• Field notes — dictate observations between sessions; Organize structures them.

What to know first

Participant consent and your IRB/ethics protocol govern recording and data handling — cloud processing should be declared in your data-management plan. For anonymization, transcripts export as editable text.

The workflow

1. Capture: record live (up to 2 hours) or import audio/video files up to 3 hours — any common format.
2. Transcribe: automatic language detection, speaker labels, timestamps.
3. Process: run the AI tools on the transcript — summary, key points, to-dos, dates, rewrites.
4. Export: text or PDF via the share sheet, into whatever system your work lives in.

Frequently asked questions

Can I export transcripts for coding software? Yes — plain text export drops into NVivo, ATLAS.ti or MAXQDA workflows.

Does it handle non-English studies? 32 transcription languages with auto-detection; note speaker labels are unavailable for a few languages (including Japanese, Korean, Hindi, Chinese, Vietnamese).

What does it cost? Free to download and try; the Pro subscription (weekly or annual) unlocks up to 3 hours of transcription per day.