(Re)thinking transcription strategies: Current challenges and future research directions

Data transcription is often depicted as an essential and critical stage in qualitative research. As most researchers have experienced, it requires significant time and human resource investment. We focus on transcription strategies, a topic typically missing from the methodology discourse. We explore the biases and challenges of each of the transcription strategies. By analysing 434 academic refereed papers from top journals, we underline the lack of scrutiny over the transcription process, its impact, and strategies taken to conduct it. We also interviewed some of the authors to better understand the challenges associated with transcription. This paper aims at contributing to more reflexivity on the existing strategies regarding transcription and how to increase transparency in qualitative research.