Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

The Unnecessary Prescription Of Transcription: The Promise Of Audio-Coding In Interview Research, Paul Stonehouse

Research in Outdoor Education

Interviewing is a ubiquitous, although time-consuming, method in Outdoor Education research. Typical analysis requires a transcript of the entire recorded interview, on which a researcher creates and attaches codes to substantive sections. Qualitative software technology now allows the researcher to code directly on an audio-file (i.e. audio-coding), thus saving significant time. This article explains the differences between whole-interview transcription and audio-coding, while also comparing the strengths and weaknesses of each. The topic is examined via a detailed analysis of the available audio-coding literature and the author's own experience with Computer-Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis Software (CAQDAS) and audio-coding specifically. Although slow …