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How to Choose a Transcription Services Vendor
Edited by Teresa, Livelaughlove37, Maniac, Wag15 and 2 others
Using a professional to transcribe your recorded audio files can greatly reduce the time it takes to prepare the data for analysis for research and other purposes. By considering your resources and project needs carefully, you can find a service that works for you and provides good results. Always remember that the key value of transcription is the accuracy of the transcribers. Finding a service therefore need to account not just on price, but on quality.
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EditSteps
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1Write a quick description of your projects. Write a 3-4 sentence description of your project detailing such things as what type of setting the recordings are taken in (cafe, office, over the telephone), how many people are speaking in each file (dictation, one-on-one interview, focus group), how quickly you need the data returned to you (hours, days, weeks), and any other unusual needs (return file format, payment mechanism, whether you want the record "smoothed" of um's and such). The more flexible you appear, the lower the quotes you will get.Ad -
2Ask for recommendations. Ask your friends and colleagues for vendor recommendations or to refer you to people they know who use transcription services regularly. If you get none, do a simple Google search and check out a few websites and pick a few that seem promising. There are lots of cowboy transcription services, so to avoid getting burnt go with one that seems sizeable and professional, and that has no spelling or grammar errors on its web site! -
3Send out a request for a price quote from 2-4 vendors. Things should work fast in this business -- if they don't get back to you within a couple of hours, they're OUT! -
4Compare prices and service delivery details and make an informed decision.Ad
EditTips
- Provide a list of technical jargon to speed the work of the transcriber.
- Rates are competitive (and thus fairly similar) in this industry, but you might see variation in when they require full payment.
- Negotiate for a bulk discount (5-10% is common) if you have many (i.e., 50+) hours of recordings to transcribe.
- Services should also ensure they can provide the quality of transcription required so although price may be a factor, you should always be confident that your transcription is done by someone or a service that clearly advertises their service speciality.
- Warning: You should always be wary of transcription service providers that offer "big discounts" or carry multiple services such as translation, data capture, virtual secretary, and others. These services are usually not great on quality as they often lack commitment to the core business and may likely not be able to invest in required transcriber training, proper recruitment and selection processes and dedicated quality control. They invest heavily in their employment processes and the training of select transcribers worldwide. This company is therefore able to offer quality transcription in many subject matters and industries being an English-language transcription service only.
- Any service that is worthwhile should be willing to transcribe a 5-10 minute "sample" for you for free to give you sense of their product.
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