STANDARD FORMAT INSTRUCTIONS AND SAMPLES

Contents

Pg 1 – Contents & Overview

Pg 2 – True Verbatim (Leaving out filler-speech like uh and um)

Pg 4 – 3 minute Timestamping (Do’s and Do not’s of timestamping)

Pg 5 & 6 – Working Outside of TOPS (For those experiencing technical

issues)

Pg 7 – Common Industry Terms (For reference)

Pg 8 – Common Transcriber Mistakes (Don’t let these happen to you)

When to use Standard Format

This document outlines our standard format for transcription. If ever you’re
unsure of what format you should be using, and there are no instructions
given to you in TOPS, please use the Standard Format. In addition, any file
with the attribute “STANDARD FORMAT” will use this format. This format is
different than our “FocusVision Format” which is another format we use very
often. Check the project details before you start transcribing to confirm
which format you should be using.

Identifying the Speakers

In standard format, you do not need to add the speaker’s names, speaker
tags like MODERATOR or RESPONDENT, or Speaker 1: etc. You do need to
bold the moderator speech (the person leading the conversation, asking the
questions), and leave the respondent’s speech (the person being
interviewed, answering the questions) unbolded.

Everything else you’ll need to know is in the following pages! If you ever
have a question, it is always OK to reach out either via email or phone to

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your project manager. We’re here to help! If you don’t succeed, we don’t
succeed!

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True Verbatim
You should type all spoken words at all times with the following exceptions:

Always omit all instances of the following non-verbal utterances:

 “uh”
 “ah”
 “um”
 ‘double- doubled words’
 ‘st-st-stutters’
 “OK” (unless used as an adjective)
 “mm-hmm” (unless used as an answer to a yes-or-no question)
 “right” / “all right”
 “yeah” / “yes” (unless used an answer to a yes-or-no question)

Also omit the following phrases when (and only when) they are used very
repetitively and do not contribute to the meaning of the discussion:

 “you know”
 “I mean”
 “like” (unless not used as a filler-word)
 “Great” (unless not used as a filler-word)

Correct the following

 ‘em to “them”
 ‘cause to “because”
 Endings such as thinkin’ to “thinking” and movin’ to “moving”

Oftentimes, a moderator will interrupt a respondent with the following words,

please omit these words as well, unless they contribute to the conversation.

 “Yeah”
 “Got it.”
 “mm-hmm”
 “OK”

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Please see a sample of filler language and when to omit this.

o Correct
Tell me your name.

My name is James

Where do you work?

I work at a law firm downtown. I am partner and

worked there for 6 years. I also used to work at a
private practice before that.

o Incorrect
Tell me your name.

Yeah, my name is James

Got it. Where do you work?

I work at a law firm downtown.

mm-hmm

I am partner and worked there for 6 years.

mm-hmm

I also used to work at a private practice before that.

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3-Minute Timestamping
Outside of TOPS

If you’re working outside of TOPS and pasting the transcript in, or using an
outside audio player such as Express Scribe, timestamps will not populate
automatically. You will need to follow the timestamping instructions in the
“Working Outside of TOPS” section on page 4.

Within TOPS

If you’re typing into our TOPS system, it will automatically add 3, 5, and 10
minute timestamps as you type! In order for the timestamps to work
properly, they need to be on their own line, without any text.

The best way to accomplish this is to hit the enter key twice between
speakers. This is the only way the timestamps will work correctly on our
end. See the below screenshots for examples:
____________________________________________________________________________
__
CORRECT:

______________________________________________________________________________
INCORRECT:

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Working Outside of TOPS

If you are unable to work within the TOPS system due to technical limitations
or problems, you are currently permitted to work outside the TOPS system.
You will need to download your audio using the download button to the right
of the volume slider on the TOPS page.

As soon as you start transcribing a unit outside of TOPS, type

“TRANSCRIBING OUTSIDE OF TOPS” into the TOPS editor. This notifies the
project manager you are currently working on the file. Only type this into the
editor when you’ve started transcribing a file.

Timestamping Outside of TOPS

Timestamps must be in the [hh:mm:ss] format, with leading zeros. Ex.

[00:03:12] [01:41:29] [00:00:43]

Timestamps should start at [00:00:00] unless otherwise noted in the

assignment details, and be marked (as close as possible) every 3 minutes. If
your transcript does not start at [00:00:00], you will need to correct the
timestamps prior to submission.

Timestamps will be on their own line NOT IN LINE WITH TEXT!!

Timestamps should not interrupt blocks of text. For example, if [00:15:00]

comes in the middle of a long chunk of speech, please mark [00:14:51] at
the beginning or [00:15:21] at the end.

The final timestamp must be included at the end of the interview. After the
last line, skip a line and put the final time [00:01:18].The timestamp will be
the last line of the transcript.

Copying and Pasting into TOPS

If you are working outside of the TOPS system in MS Word, you are
REQUIRED to copy and paste your transcript into the TOPS editor. If you are
using another text processor to transcribe, contact your project manager in
order to make arrangements.

1. Run spellcheck in the Word.

2. Convert any Hyperlinks to normal text
3. Press Ctrl+H on your keyboard

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4. Click the More >>

5. Check the box to use Wildcards

6. Run the following Find and Replace to maintain both bolding and
linebreaks:
Find: ^13
Replace: ^11
7. Copy all text (Ctrl+A then Ctrl+C) and paste it into TOPS (Ctrl+V).
8. Remove any symbols that were added to the bottom of the TOPS
transcript in pasting.
9. Submit the file.

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Common Industry Terms

IDI – Stands for in-depth-interview. Usually involves one
moderator and one respondent.

TDI - Stands for telephone-depth-interview. Also usually

involves one moderator and one respondent, and takes
place over a phone line. Also referred to as a “Telephone
IDI”.

Focus Group - A group of one or more moderators, who lead a group of

two or more respondents in a group discussion, focused on
a specific topic or idea.

IVR - Stands for “interactive voice response”. IVR assignments

involve transcribing multiple short single speaker clips into
a single document.

Dyad - An interview with one or more moderators and two

respondents.

Triad - An interview with one or more moderators and three

respondents.

Ethno - An interview which takes place either at a home or place

of business. Any interview that doesn’t take place in a
traditional research setting or over the phone can be
considered an ethno.

Excel Format - Excel format involves typing a transcript into a word

document, then transferring that information into an Excel
template based on question headings. The question and
answer in the transcript are copied/pasted into the Excel
sheet under the corresponding question heading in the
template. It is required that you turn in both a word doc
and a completed excel template, and that this work is done
outside of the TOPS system.

Notes Format - For recorded notes format, you will take a single pass
through the audio, capturing as much important speech as
you can. You will summarize both the moderator and the
respondent, but still separate them out by line breaks and
bolding.

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Common Transcriber Mistakes

1. Not using proper punctuation/capitalization. “I” should always be
capitalized, all sentences require a period or question mark at the end of
them (We don’t use exclamation points ! ).

2. Using Incorrect Tags. The following are the only tags we use: [INAUDIBLE]
for when speech cannot be made out, [CROSSTALK] for when speech cannot
be made out due to multiple people speaking at once, [LAUGHTER] for when
speech cannot be made out due to laughter not for all instances of
laughter! [AUDIO SKIPS] for when there is an audio distortion, [ph] after a
word to denote a word is spelled phonetically Not [sp], [PRESENTATION
PLAYS] for when a video or audio presentation is being played. You need not
transcribe presentations, and [PAUSE] which is only to be used for sections of
silence 3 minutes or more.

3. Not hitting enter twice between speakers. This is not correct. See
timestamping (pg 4).

4. Transcribing Numbers For transcribing numbers, please spell out numbers

zero to ten instead of using numerics. For numbers 11 or greater, please use
the numeric.

5. Not confirming assignments. This is the most important administrative

aspect of the transcriber position. If you are unable to complete an
assignment, we need to know. NEVER CONFIRM ASSIGNMENTS YOU CANNOT
COMPLETE AND NEVER REJECT ASSIGNMENTS YOU’VE CONFIRMED WITHOUT
CONTACTING YOUR PROJECT MANAGER. This is extremely important.

6. Not asking for deadline extensions. If you need more time on an

assignment, or are coming up against a deadline, email us and continue
working. It is much much better for us to receive a full transcript a little bit
past the deadline than receiving a partial transcript at the deadline and
having to figure out what to do with the rest. Always reach out to your PM if
you have any issue!! Continue working if through the deadline until you hear
otherwise.