BAM Annual Conference, 9th -11th September 2008 Sarah Ayres & Ian Stafford School for Policy Studies, University of Bristol, UK ‘Exploring the Quality and Validity of Voice Recognition Software: lessons from the field’ BAM Annual Conference, 9th -11th September 2008

Introduction This paper describes the use of Voice Recognition (VR) Software Dragon V8 as part of an ongoing ESRC project. We have received repeated requests for information from academic colleagues regarding our experiences with the software, this paper will provide a non-technical overview of our early experiences. This paper will focus on three key questions: Why use VR software? How has VR software been applied within our project? What are the key lessons from using VR software in the field?

Why use VR software? Many researchers use professional transcribers due to time consuming nature of transcription Professional transcription can be characterised errors which affect the quality and accuracy of data VR Software provides a potential alternative, providing researchers with a faster and higher quality mode of transcription Communication with VR software expert, Neil Winto, identify potential applications for the project The use of the software responded to ESRC emphasis on applying new methods The ESRC project proposed an evaluation of the VR software, in comparison to professional transcription

How has VR software been applied within our project? Dictation Recording and transcribing the researcher’s own voice The Dragon software is able to automatically transcribe the recording as a word document Able to make notes which can be quickly passed on to colleagues e.g. key themes, potential codes… Provided the user speaks clearly and consistently, the quality of the transcription has proved to be very good

How has VR software been applied within our project? Transcription Software has been used to transcribe both face to face and telephone interviews Although it is possible to not use the keypad at all, both researchers found that it was still easier in formatting text Training the Dragon software is an ongoing process, it is important to avoid manual corrections Variables such as quality of microphone, clarity of dictation and training effect the level of errors

Conclusions: The Dragon software in combination with didgital recording equipment is easy to use but expert help is very important in the installation and training process. Overall, the VR software performed better than expected and the transcription process appears to be quicker than manual typing. However, the process of transcription remains arduous and there will always be errors using VR software.