Anthropology and Trint: how transcription increases the value of your interviews

Anthropologists who conduct interviews need a fast, affordable way to analyze their research data. Find out the simple tech tool that makes analysis easy.

May 10, 2019

Research helps us learn about behaviors, the world around us and the way we navigate it. Research takes many forms - from journalistic research into political landscapes to market research that aims to find out which color is best for a new line of kitchen utensils, and everything in between.

Anthropological research gets to the bottom of human existence, looking into why and how we live and have lived over history. It differs from most research, and demands specific things from techie tools. So how do anthropologists get the most value from the techie tools at their disposal?

Digital tools have transformed the way we conduct research both anthropologically and otherwise. While practical sciences and researchers may seem more likely to take advantage of the tech sphere, social sciences are quickly catching up, and there's a huge variety of platforms, software and tools that can enrich the process. And one of the research software tools that's helping them up their game is academic transcription software.

What research methods do anthropological researchers use?

Because they study human behavior, anthropologists have to get very up close and personal with human subjects. While this might sound similar to the kind of research journalists do, anthropologists seek out people who don't often have public interest - 'normal' people, as opposed to journalists who interview subject-matter experts or celebrities. They will then try to identify behavior patterns in groups of people, making larger comments on the societies we experience around the world. All human experience is different, and worthy of being explored and celebrated - anthropological research does just that.

Smartphones are easy recording devices for anthropological interviews

As with most research pursuits, anthropological research can be made a lot easier with the helping (digital) hand of techie tools. A lot of anthropological research relies on interview testimony - both structured focus groups and unstructured interviews - to explore human behavior. After all, you're not likely to find out much about anyone's intricacies, beliefs and quirks with a multiple-choice questionnaire. Anthropologists like to dive deeper and discover more about their subjects.

Interviews and voice recordings are a big part of recording and analyzing this kind of data, so a tool like Trint is an anthropologist's secret weapon.

Why Trint? How transcription software helps boost your research

Conducting interviews is an incredibly personal experience for many anthropologists - creating a real connection with their subjects is essential to making those subjects feel comfortable answering personal or probing questions.

The best way to keep a record of interviews is to record and transcribe them - note taking is distracting and never fully captures the essence of the interview. Tone and verbatim speech are hugely important to any anthropologists' understanding of a person, so recording the interview on a recording device, like a smartphone, should be on the list of essentials.

Transcripts of anthropology interviews are important for analysis and study

Transcription software has evolved to become incredibly time and cost-effective for businesses, and thanks to Trint's Vocab Builder and collaboration tools, its platform is a great fit for the transcription of anthropological research interviews. Research is a long process - boosting productivity with a little help from automation and artificial intelligence is a smart move, giving you more time to analyze data and form hypotheses.

An anthropologist's toolkit: what you need to conduct anthropological research effectively

There are a lot of types of anthropological research out there - from archaeology to cultural anthropology. Finding out what separates us from other species is a big job; some anthropologists need a trowel and dusting kit to get up close and personal with humans that lived long ago, whereas modern anthropologists just need a voice recorder and willing participants.

What's clear for all researchers is the need to record and analyze the interview data collected. Recording research interviews and transcribing them to find patterns is a great starting point for any research project.

Optimizing your workflow is a great way to get through research quickly and with as little pain as possible - making things easier on yourself should be a top priority. Arm yourself with research productivity tools that are designed to speed up your workflow. The results will speak for themselves.