Why transcripts are key to better research sessions
Stop writing notes during user interviews and let Adobe Premiere Pro do it for you
A transcript is a written version of a recorded conversation. In the 2021 ‘State of User Research Report’, 65% of researchers surveyed utilize transcripts for their sessions. A rise from 2020 when 49% of researchers relied on transcripts. It is no surprise that transcripts have gained popularity as these artifacts are crucial when organizing information, seeing trends in research sessions, and helping UXers facilitate more effectively. In this article, I will discuss why you should use a transcript, what methods are available to you, and how to use my tool of choice, Adobe Premiere Pro, to easily transcribe your own session recordings.
Table of Contents:
- Why use Transcripts
- Types of Transcripts
- Using Adobe Premiere Pro’s transcription tool
Why Use Transcripts
Taking Notes is a Mood Killer
The Nielsen Norman Group states that ‘the most common culprit of disrupted interviews is taking notes while facilitating.’ Instead of being engaged and giving the participant your full attention, you’re taking notes and including long pauses between your interactions. This degrades the rapport you wish to build with the participant. Keeping a natural flow to the conversation is key. Recording and transcribing your session ensures that you are not missing crucial information during the discussion, but are thoughtfully listening to your participant, distraction-free.
“The most common culprit of disrupted interviews is taking notes while facilitating” — Nielsen Norman Group
Raw Data Over Biased Data
Why aren’t your written notes good enough to go off of? The human brain can remember 7 items in short-term memory, and they fade from memory in roughly 20 seconds. It is impossible to note everything a participant says let alone try to remember key information. A transcript allows you to read through your sessions. This can decrease your chances of leaping to conclusions from using memory alone or only reviewing shorthand notes. Notes taken at the moment may be gut reactions and assumptions that can lead to bias. It’s important to read participant quotes verbatim to help give the necessary context to clearly analyze the information. Searching through the conversations, you can use exact participant quotes to do a thematic analysis or use timestamps to find moments to share with your team to build empathy and articulate key pain points.
Types of Transcripts
There are a few ways to get a transcript.
- Listen to each of your audio recordings and type out each word.
You can imagine that this is the least time-efficient…unless you are a court stenographer - Using an AI-based transcription tool or service.
The tool or service will transcribe the recording for you fairly quickly and it is cheaper than hiring a professional transcriptionist. This is the fastest way to get a transcript, but it might have minor translation errors. It is a machine after all. - Pay a professional transcriptionist.
This can become costly, but it is the most accurate.
I have found that Adobe Premiere Pro’s AI-based transcription tool fits my needs. Here’s why:
- It’s part of my Creative Cloud license so I don’t have to pay extra for a service
- It’s quicker to get the transcription compared to sending it to a professional transcriptionist or doing it manually.
- It’s simple to use. (Don’t worry I have instructions below.)
- There are minor transcription errors, but never bad enough to not understand an entire phrase
Using Adobe Premiere Pro’s transcription tool
Step 1
Open Adobe Premiere Pro. On the homescreen, select the New Project button.
Step 2
Once New Project is selected, a modal will open. Name your project and click OK.
A new project will be created and you’ll see an assortment of panels. Don’t worry if you see different panels compared to the screenshot. The format changes depending on which tab you are in, but the Timeline panel is the key component you’ll need.
Step 3
Drag a video from your finder or desktop into the Timeline panel.
After dragging your video into the Timeline, a long blue rectangle will appear. That’s your video!
Step 4
Next you’ll transcribe your video. In the top navigation bar, select Sequence. Then select Auto Transcribe Sequence.
You can also find Auto Transcribe Sequence by going to the top navigation bar, selecting Help, and typing ‘Transcribe’ into the search bar. A list item called Auto Transcribe Sequence will appear. Click Auto Transcribe Sequence.
Step 5
The Create Transcript modal will appear. Click the Transcribe button.
The program will begin to transcribe your video and you’ll see a loading animation and the time it will take to transcribe the recording.
Step 6
Once complete, you will now have a transcript of your video.
You can search for words using the search box in the transcript panel. Searching will highlight the words and take you to the part of the video where that word was said.
