Audio and video transcripts

A 'transcript' in NVivo is text related to an audio or video file. It can include:

  • A transcription of the words spoken in the file
  • Notes or observations relevant to particular times in the file
  • Notes about the media content in general, not specific to any time range

In NVivo, transcripts are made up of the following elements:

Columns and rows in a media transcript.

1 Transcript entry that is made up of timespan, content and speaker. You can have multiple transcript entries with the same timespan—for example, you could have one entry for dialog and another for body language.

2 Timespan is the duration of time—Start Time to End Time—for a transcript entry. For example, Jane spoke about the new issues from the two minute point to the ten minute point (0:02:0-0:10:0). You can enter the start time or end time directly into a transcript or let NVivo create them when you are transcribing. Create transcripts

3 Transcript column (field) contains the transcript text. You can code the text in this column.

4 Speaker column (field) can be used to identify the speaker for each timespan.

NOTE  You may have a transcript without an accompanying audio or video file—for example, a text-based interview. You can import this type of transcript as a document file.

Ways of creating transcripts

There are a number of ways that you can add a transcript to your audio or video files. You can:

  • Import an existing transcript from a text file—once the transcript is imported you can add, edit or delete transcript entries. Import transcripts
  • Create a transcript within NVivo by transcribing the file yourself as you play the media. Create transcripts
  • Have your media files automatically transcribed with the integrated transcription service NVivo Transcription. The completed transcripts will be available within NVivo to import into your project.

Working in a transcript

After you create or import a transcript you can

Do I need a transcript?

Since you can code directly on the media timeline, you may not need a transcript. However, when you open a node, you will only see the timespan—for example, the timespan 0:20.0 - 0:50.0 is coded at the node conflict.

Transcripts are useful if you want to include your audio or video files in Word Frequency or Text Search queries.