Interview transcription: quotations, speakers and editorial copies
Interview transcription must preserve the boundary between what the subject said and what an editor later made easier to read.
Choose a verbatim level
Keep a full source transcript, a cleaned reading copy and a publication edit as separate layers. Research and legal review usually require the most literal layer.
Keep the literal transcript immutable and make readability edits in a separate copy so later quotation disputes can return to evidence.
Trace every quotation
Attach a timestamp and stable speaker name to each passage. Verify names, numbers and documents in the audio; never construct one quotation from unrelated moments without disclosure.
A quote record should contain speaker, exact wording, source interval and editorial status rather than only the sentence selected for publication.
Improve the recording upstream
Use close microphones, separate tracks, a quiet room and a short test. Ask speakers to repeat unusual names clearly and avoid messenger recompression.
Collect participant names and specialist vocabulary before processing, and preserve separate microphone tracks whenever the recorder provides them.
Use an editorial chain
Transcribe, review risky facts, select quotes by listening, edit in a copy and perform a final source check. A summary is navigation, not quotation evidence.
Final fact checking must include the audio around a quotation because nearby questions and qualifications can materially change its meaning.
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