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Mar 13, 2025

Interview Transcript Guide: Formats, Examples & Best Practices

Interview Transcript Guide: Formats, Examples & Best Practices

Interview Transcript Guide: Formats, Examples & Best Practices

Examples of transcription
Examples of transcription

An interview transcript is a textual record of a conversation between an interviewer and a respondent, which converts audio or video into a document. According to Scribie research, accurate transcription increases data analysis efficiency by 67% and saves up to 4 hours of work for each hour of recording.

In an era where video and audio content dominate the digital space, transcripts are becoming an essential tool for researchers, journalists, marketers, and business analysts. They make information accessible for searching, analysis, and citation, which is impossible with audio format.

Standards for Formatting Interview Transcripts

A professional transcript is not just a verbatim record of what was said. There are various formatting standards depending on the purpose of use.

Transcript Type

Characteristics

Best Suited For

Verbatim

Includes every word, interjections, filler words, repetitions

Linguistic analysis, legal documentation

Edited

Preserves content accuracy but removes speech errors and repetitions

Journalism, business analysis, marketing research

Condensed

Contains only key points and important quotes

Executive summaries, briefings, press releases

Expanded

Includes contextual notes, non-verbal elements

Psychological research, behavior analysis

Key elements of a professional transcript:

  • Header with date, time, and participants

  • Clear identification of speakers (usually "I:" for interviewer, "R:" for respondent or by names)

  • Timestamps for long recordings (usually every 2-5 minutes)

  • Notations for pauses, intonations, and non-verbal elements

  • Markings for confidential information, if required

Example of a Research Interview Transcript

A research transcript is usually the most detailed, including non-verbal elements and contextual notes. Here's an example:

RESEARCH INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT

Date: March 12, 2025
Time: 14:00-15:15
Research: Employee Adaptation to Hybrid Work
Participants: Interviewer (I), Respondent (R)
[00:00]
I: Thank you for agreeing to this interview. Could you tell me about your experience transitioning to a hybrid work format?
R: Yes, of course. I... [3-second pause] It was quite difficult at first. We weren't technically prepared, many processes had to be rebuilt on the fly.
I: What exactly was the most difficult?
R: Perhaps communication. When part of the team is in the office and part is at home, there is... how to say it... information inequality. [nervous laugh] People in the office know more, they're aware of informal conversations, while remote employees often fall out of context.
[00:03:42]
I: Have you noticed changes in productivity?
R: [thinking, drumming fingers on the table] Overall, it's increased. But not for everyone. Some employees find it difficult to organize themselves at home; they need an office structure. Others, on the contrary, work better in the quiet of home.
[...]

Key features:

  • Detailed information about the interview context

  • Timestamps for easy navigation

  • Notation of non-verbal actions in square brackets

  • Recording of pauses and emotional reactions

Example of a Journalistic Interview Transcript

Journalistic transcripts are usually more edited for ease of reading but maintain the accuracy of statements.

INTERVIEW WITH ANNA SMIRNOVA, CEO OF "INNOVATE" TECHNOLOGY STARTUP

March 12, 2025, Company office in Moscow
Interviewer: Maxim Petrov (MP)
Respondent: Anna Smirnova (AS)
MP: Anna, your company has shown impressive growth in the past year. What was the key factor for success?
AS: We focused on solving a real problem that many ignored. When we started, everyone was talking about big data and artificial intelligence, but few were dealing with interpreting results for non-specialists. We created a tool that allows people without technical education to get valuable insights from analytics.
MP: Was there a moment when you felt your product was really resonating?
AS: Yes, it happened about six months after launch. We received a letter from a marketing director of a large company who wrote that our tool helped him justify his strategy to the board of directors and receive a tripled budget. That's when we realized we were really solving an important problem.
MP: How do you plan to develop further?
AS: We see two main directions. First integration with more data sources so users don't have to switch between systems. Second — developing predictive analytics so our tool not only explains the past but also helps forecast the future.

Features of a journalistic transcript:

  • Clean, edited text without filler words

  • Minimum non-verbal elements

  • Clear "question-answer" structure

  • More concise context information

  • Use of initials to identify speakers

Example of a Business Interview Transcript

Business meeting and interview transcripts are often structured by topics and include highlighting of key decisions and actions.

CLIENT MEETING TRANSCRIPT
Project: CRM System Implementation for "Invest-Trade" LLC
Date: 15.03.2025
Participants: Alexey Kovalenko (AK, Project Manager), Ivan Sergeev (IS, Client)
DISCUSSION OF CURRENT PROCESSES
AK: Tell me how customer information management is currently organized in the company?
IS: At the moment, we use a combination of Excel spreadsheets and email. Each manager maintains their own spreadsheet, and data is consolidated once a week. This creates many problems: duplication of information, difficulties with access, lack of a unified history of customer interaction.
KEY SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
AK: What functions are critically important for you in the new system?
IS: First of all integration with our 1C-based accounting system. Then the ability to automate regular customer communications. And analytics on the sales funnel with the ability to make slices by different parameters is definitely needed

DECISIONS MADE AND NEXT STEPS

- Preliminary project budget agreed: 1.2-1.5 million rubles

- By 22.03, the implementation team will audit current processes

- By 30.03, a detailed implementation plan will be presented

- Approximate system launch date: end of May 2025

OPEN QUESTIONS

1. Need for IP telephony integration (IS will clarify before the next meeting)

2. Historical data migration procedure

Features of a business transcript:

  • Structuring by topics or meeting agenda

  • Highlighting key decisions and actions

  • Recording responsible parties and deadlines

  • Marking open questions for subsequent clarification

  • Minimum unnecessary details, focus on substantial content

Common Mistakes When Creating Transcripts

Even experienced transcribers make mistakes that can significantly reduce the value of a transcript:

  • Loss of context — recording only words without important non-verbal elements or emotional reactions

  • Excessive editing — correcting speech to the point of losing authenticity and original meaning

  • Inaccurate attribution — incorrect identification of speakers, especially in group discussions

  • Missing technical terms — distortion of specialized vocabulary due to unfamiliarity with the subject area

  • Ignoring timestamps — makes it difficult to find needed fragments in long recordings

The most common mistake is trying to make a transcript "pretty" at the expense of accuracy. It's important to remember that the goal of a transcript is to convey the content of the conversation in text format as accurately as possible, preserving speech characteristics that may be significant for analysis.

How to Use Transcripts for Various Purposes

Interview transcripts are a versatile tool that can be applied in multiple scenarios:

  • Scientific research — coding and thematic analysis of qualitative data

  • Content marketing — turning interviews into articles, blog posts, white papers

  • Staff training — creating case studies based on interviews with experts

  • Knowledge documentation — preserving the expertise of departing employees

  • Legal purposes — recording testimony and evidence in exact form

  • Product development — analyzing user interviews to identify requirements

A valuable approach is extracting quotes from transcripts for use in presentations, reports, or marketing materials. Direct speech from research participants or interviewees adds credibility and emotional depth to dry analytics.

Tools and Methods for Creating Transcripts

Interview transcription has evolved from a completely manual process to a highly automated one:

  • Manual transcription — the most accurate but also the most labor-intensive method (6-10 hours of work per 1 hour of audio)

  • Programs to facilitate manual transcription (Express Scribe, InqScribe) — offer hotkeys for playback control

  • Automatic transcription (Google Speech-to-Text, Amazon Transcribe) — fast but requires verification and correction

  • Hybrid solutions — combining automatic transcription with manual refinement

The main problem with fully automatic solutions is insufficient quality when working with:

  • Low-quality audio or with background noise

  • Speech with strong accent or dialect

  • Specific terminology

  • Overlapping speech from multiple speakers

How mymeet.ai Transforms the Transcription Process

The mymeet.ai platform represents a new generation of tools for working with interviews, combining automatic transcription with artificial intelligence for content analysis.

Main features of mymeet.ai for working with transcripts:

  • High-precision automatic transcription — thanks to the use of advanced speech recognition models, the system achieves accuracy up to 95-98% even when working with Russian language

  • Speaker recognition — automatic division of the transcript by speakers with the ability to specify their names

  • Intelligent chapter division — AI identifies logical blocks in the conversation, simplifying navigation in long interviews

  • Content search — ability to find needed information in the transcript by keywords

  • Highlighting key moments — automatic identification of the most important parts of the conversation

  • AI chat with the ability to ask questions — after transcription, you can ask the system, for example, "What main problems did the respondent mention?" or "What specific figures were named?"

A particularly valuable function is the ability to clean the transcript of filler words and hesitations while preserving the meaning and style of speech. This saves editing time and makes transcripts immediately ready for use.

Examples of AI-Enhanced Transcripts

Comparing standard and AI-enhanced transcripts shows a significant difference in usability:

Standard transcript:

Participant 1: Yes, so, I think that, well, the main problem, it is that, like, users don't always understand how, well, how to use this function, and, accordingly, many support requests arise, yes, well, and this creates an additional load.
Participant 2: Uh-huh. And about how many requests about this?
Participant 1: Well, if you look at statistics for last month, it's about, well, I would say, approximately 25-30% of all requests, which is quite a lot considering that not so many people use the function overall.
Enhanced transcript in mymeet.ai:
Topic: User Interface Issues
Maria Ivanova (Product Manager): The main problem is that users don't always understand how to use this function. Accordingly, many support requests arise, and this creates an additional load.
Alexey Petrov (UX Designer): And about how many requests about this?
Maria Ivanova: If you look at statistics for last month, it's about 25-30% of all requests, which is quite a lot considering that not so many people use the function overall.
KEY INSIGHT: 25-30% of support requests are related to one function that is used by a small number of users

The enhanced transcript is not only cleaned of filler words but also structured with an indication of the topic, participant positions, and automatic highlighting of key insights.

Ethical Aspects of Using Transcripts

When working with transcripts, it's important to follow ethical principles:

  • Informed consent — always notify participants about recording and subsequent transcription

  • Confidentiality — de-identify data if necessary (replacing names, removing sensitive information)

  • Accuracy — strive for maximum accurate transmission of what was said

  • Context — preserve contextual information to avoid misinterpretation

  • Data storage — ensure secure storage of recordings and transcripts

In some cases (for example, when working with children or vulnerable groups), additional ethical permission or special data processing protocols may be required.

Conclusion

Quality interview transcripts are more than just converting audio to text. They are a tool that makes information accessible, structured, and suitable for analysis and further use.

Key principles for creating good transcripts:

  • Balance between verbatim accuracy and readability

  • Adaptation of format to specific usage goals

  • Preservation of important context and non-verbal elements

  • Use of modern technologies to increase efficiency

The future of transcription belongs to intelligent systems like mymeet.ai, which not only convert speech to text but also help analyze, structure, and extract valuable insights from conversations. Technologies expand the capabilities of researchers, journalists, and business analysts, allowing them to focus on interpreting and using information rather than on the routine aspects of processing it.

Frequently Asked Questions About Interview Transcripts

What transcript format is best for scientific research?

For qualitative research, a verbatim transcript with recording of pauses, intonations, and non-verbal elements is optimal. For content analysis or thematic studies, an edited format that preserves all significant statements but without filler words and repetitions is suitable.

Should filler words and slips of the tongue be included in the transcript?

It depends on the purpose. For linguistic analysis or psychological research — yes. For journalism or business purposes — usually not, unless they change the meaning of the statement or characterize the speaker in an important way.

How long does it usually take to transcribe a one-hour interview?

With manual transcription — from 4 to 8 hours depending on recording quality, speech speed, and transcriber experience. Automatic systems do this in time comparable to the recording duration but require additional time for verification and correction.

Can a transcript be edited to improve readability?

Yes, if it doesn't distort the meaning of what was said. The degree of editing should correspond to the purpose of use. For academic publications, it's customary to indicate that the transcript was edited for clarity.

How to properly mark non-verbal elements in a transcript?

Square brackets with a description of the action or emotion are usually used: [laughs], [pause], [points to chart]. It's important to use a consistent system of notation and, if necessary, attach a legend of the notations used to the transcript.

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Try mymeet in action today.

It is Free.

180 minutes for free

No credit card needed

All data is protected

Try mymeet in action today.

It is Free.

180 minutes for free

No credit card needed

All data is protected