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Digital Recording for Transcription of Focus Groups – Top Ten Tips

While targeting a focus group for recording, you must contemplate the following ten tips:-

  • Before you begin with the recording, approach the participants of the targeted group and ask them whether they’ll mind getting recorded for later transcription or not. It’s better to ask before because you ought to abandon the recording if they’ll object later.
  • Do introduce yourself and give them the background information why you need to record them before you actually switch on the record button.
  • Tell each person to introduce himself/herself, if you want the speaker to get identified while transcribing.
  • Before you begin with the recording, lay down the ground rules to the participants to avoid all sorts of troubles.
  • For clear recording, you ought to plug in the external mikes because the internal microphones don’t catch the surrounding sounds. Use a series of microphones if you’re recording with more than four people.
  • For recording, try to look out for a quite ambience because background noises drastically reduce the sound quality.
  • Use only that recorder which is compatible with your computer.
  • Use a file format that can be compressed. It’ll assist you to transfer the recorded files over the internet to the transcriptionist.
  • Rigorously test and check your recording devices whether they are working perfectly or not.
  • Do not record till the time participants are eating or don’t serve the food when the participants are getting recorded.

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