From the Past into the Future. How Technological Developments Change Our Ways of Data Collection, Transcription and Analysis

In the last fifty years, recording devices have taken a central position on stage in the empirical social sciences during data collection (tape and voice recorders, photo and video cameras). As Qualitative Data Analysis software (QDA software) enables us now to directly code digitalized media files, one might question the need for transcribing data files, thus transforming them into textual files. The central issue addressed in this article then, is whether or not QDA software enables us to skip the transcription of data (audio files and video files). To address this question, the why, what and how of transcription will first be explored. Secondly, manual transcription will be compared to transcription with voice recognition software. Thirdly, coding of textual transcripts will be compared to the direct coding of audio and/or video files. As QDA software is changing our analytic possibilities and to some extent our procedures, the conclusion will argue in favor of transcription, be it adapted to our research needs and integrated within QDA software. URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs110138