2.4 Equipment and practicalities

Qualitative interviews are usually transcribed for analysis, which means you need to audio record them and plan for transcription. You will need to plan for:

• how recordings will be stored until they are transcribed and anonymised
• who will have access to them
• when the recordings will be destroyed

You need to let potential participants know you will be recording the interview, get their consent, and tell them when the recordings will be destroyed. If you are interviewing face-to-face you might use a device such as a dictaphone; if you are interviewing online then many software packages have built-in recording options.

Transcription is a good way to become familiar with your data, but it is also very time consuming. Before beginning to recruit interviewees, you should plan who will transcribe the interviews. Some recording software have built-in transcription options, but you will need to make corrections and anonymise the transcript by replacing names, locations and other identifying features. Another option is to use a professional transcription company, but this can be quite expensive.

It is also important to set up a file system for your recordings and transcripts so that you can easily find them. Recordings and non-anonymised transcripts need to be stored securely and file names should not contain identifying details.

It’s a good idea to spend some time before your first interview trialling the software or recording device and ensuring you know how it works. You may need to pause and restart during interviews, if you experience any interruptions.