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Why is Strict Verbatim Transcription so Important?
Also referred to as ‘true verbatim’ or ‘full verbatim’, strict verbatim transcripts contain a text representation of everything that can be heard during an audio recording, as well as some things that can be seen if it was a video recording. In contrast with ‘intelligent verbatim’ transcriptions, where false starts, stuttering, repeated words and filler words (‘like’, ‘you know’, etc.) are excluded, strict verbatim records everything so that the final transcript shows exactly what happened during a recording.
In this blog, we look at why strict verbatim transcription is such a useful and necessary service, as well as some of the many industries that benefit from having a complete view of what was said during an interview, meeting or focus group.
What Exactly is Strict Verbatim Transcription?
As stated, strict verbatim transcription converts everything that can be heard (or seen) in a recording into text. This means that every word, utterance and sound is transcribed word-for-word and letter-for-letter, in the exact order in which they are heard. Even pauses, laughter, coughing and any repeated phrases or filler words are included, such as ‘um’, ‘uh’, ‘like’ and ‘you know’, as well as sounds like [chair scraping] and [door bangs loudly]. When a video recording is the source material, any visual cues like [nods head in agreement] and [waves hand dismissively] are also added to the transcript.
Although not essential for every purpose, in certain industries the benefits of strict verbatim transcription are immense. It’s not just what people say that matters. How they speak, the non-verbal sounds and gestures they use, make a huge difference to how we interpret their statements.
In a number of industries, strict verbatim transcription is not only preferred but, in most cases, essential.
Legal Transcription
In 99.9% of cases, legal transcription should be completed in strict verbatim to ensure an accurate record of statements made by all parties involved. When transcribing court recordings, police interviews and legal documents, it’s vitally important for transcribers to capture every single sound, verbal or not, to provide a full and true transcript of the audio or video file. Failing to include every sound in such recordings can have serious repercussions.
Here are the essential requirements for legal transcription:
Include all grammar (good and bad)
Although the use of idiosyncrasies and slang (for example, words like ‘dunno’ and ‘innit’ for ‘don’t know’ and ‘isn’t it’) is not considered correct in written form, legal transcripts should always include these as spoken for the purposes of accuracy. Legal transcripts are often used by the police, investigators, solicitors and other legal professionals, and are commonly presented in courts of law during trials, depositions and police investigations, as well as hearings, jury instruction and legal briefings. Matters of the law requires all information to be recorded accurately and presented correctly in order to paint a comprehensive picture of the situation and reduce the risk of misinterpretation.
Record all non-verbal communication and background noise
A strict verbatim transcript should record all non-verbal communication, as well as ambient sounds and any laughing, crying and even passing traffic to present a complete picture of what was said, how it was said and the circumstances at the time of recording. These non-verbal clues, including nuance of voice, head-shaking and nodding can provide just as much, if not more information than spoken words, and as such must be included in every strict verbatim transcript.
Include any filler words
Intelligent verbatim or non-verbatim transcripts encourage the omission of filler words such as ‘um’, ‘uh’, ‘like’ and ‘right’. However, when transcribing legal documents these filler words are a key element of providing a true and accurate transcript. Similar to non-verbal communication and background noise, filler words can provide a wealth of information to those involved and can be vital in establishing facts, determining liability and the outcome of criminal cases. Due to the nature of the industry, incorrectly transcribed files can have an irreparable impact on any legal cases, depositions and investigations, and can be devastating to those affected by an outcome based on inaccurate information.
Capture any false starts, coughs and stutters
Capturing the utterances of every single speaker is the number one rule for verbatim transcription, and this includes any coughs, false starts and stutters. While false starts may not seem important, they provide telling information to legal professionals and business owners alike and can play a crucial role in ensuring that justice prevails and that an acceptable solution is reached.
Market Research, Group Discussion and Interview Transcription
As we touched upon earlier, communication is so much more than verbal, and this is exactly why strict verbatim transcription is the best kind of transcription for group discussion, market research and interview transcripts.
When recording a group discussion or interview for market research, it’s important to capture every word, sound and nuance in order to gain a true picture of the participant’s feelings towards your chosen product, topic or statement. False starts, filler words and long pauses are non-traditional indicators that can offer invaluable insight into the thoughts and feelings of those involved.
These non-verbal communications assist the end user or researcher in understanding the meaning, perception, and context to further clarify the words spoken.
Example
Let’s imagine that your company has created a therapy app to help people suffering from trauma. In the testing phase, you want to know how effective your new product is going to be before it goes live to the public, so you set up some interviews with the test group. During a research session, the interviewer asks, ‘Did you find this app useful in helping you come to terms with your trauma?’
In an intelligent verbatim transcript, we can read that the respondent answers with ‘Yes.’ On the face of it, this short and simple answer is a positive from a market research perspective. However, let’s say that in a strict verbatim transcript, the answer is transcribed exactly as heard and seen in a video interview: ‘[Sniffs] [Long pause] Yes. [Smiles and begins crying softly]’ This answer now brings a strong emotional aspect into the equation, which can provide a whole new realm of additional information to a research team about exactly how effective their new therapy product can be.
Medical Transcription
Although not all medical files require strict verbatim transcription, this is a field where accuracy could quite literally mean the difference between life and death, and in many cases capturing every word of what is being said is vitally important. Strict verbatim transcriptions are required when transcribing medical notes following a patient consultation or surgery, for test results, postmortems, pathology and many other functions.
The complex terminology used by medical professionals is unlike any business lexicon or legal jargon we find in many of our transcriptions. These medical transcripts can contain a combination of Greek and Latin prefixes, suffixes and root words, scientific parlance and laboratory values and figures, as well as varied and complex specialist medical terms. It’s therefore essential that these are transcribed exactly as spoken, by a professional transcriber who is experienced in researching and understanding these terminologies.
Inaccuracy, missing a comma or omitting a full stop or decimal point can completely change the meaning of what is being said, and change a patient’s diagnosis with potentially dire consequences. To see just how dangerous it can be to have an inaccurate transcription, consider the case in 2013 where a fine of $140 million was charged when a medical facility outsourced their transcriptions of doctors’ orders to a firm in India, who mistakenly transcribed ’80’ instead of ‘8’ for an insulin dosage, resulting in the wrongful death of a patient.
Conclusion
As can be seen from the examples above, certain businesses need to ensure that they have completely accurate strict verbatim transcripts of their recordings to meet the stringent demands of their industry. The reputations and lives of both businesses and individuals can be affected either positively or negatively depending on the accuracy of those transcriptions.
McGowan Transcriptions is the UK’s leading digital transcription agency, with over 30 years of experience in providing strict verbatim transcriptions for thousands of happy clients in the legal, market research and medical fields. All our professional transcriptionists are subject to comprehensive confidentiality agreements, and we are Cyber Essentials certified and GDPR compliant. If you would like to know more, please get in touch with the team today.
Call 0800 158 3747 or email office@mcgowantranscriptions.co.uk
Written by Paul Dyson
May 2024
