‘Is that what I Said?’ Interview Transcript Approval by Participants: An Aspect of Ethics in Qualitative Research

By Irit Mero-Jaffe. 2011

354 citations recorded by the source corpus.

This article deals with insights gained from data analysis of feedback comments on transcripts sent to interviewees. It contributes to understanding of research studies that include transcripts, specifically on the contribution of participants' review of transcripts on the quality of those transcripts, and thus on the quality of research. The transfer of the transcripts to the interviewees was intended to validate the transcripts, to preserve research ethics, and to empower the interviewees by allowing them control of what was written. Interviewee responses related to the ratification of content, the authenticity of that which was said during the interview, corrections of language, additional clarifications, power interactions and changes in the balance of power between the interviewer and interviewees, feelings of embarrassment and threat, research ethics, and reflective responses. The experience of sending the transcripts to the interviewees raised research and ethical issues that require added caution and consideration when sending transcripts to interviewees.

Subfields: Education, Sociology and Political Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/5f050cf95355520a61f70184b70d2257e71a4560

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In Education

In Sociology and Political Science

Citations in the corpus

CHE Principles: facilitating authentic and dialogical semi-structured interviews in educational research (2017, background): “…linguistic markers per se, while acknowledging current debates about the ethical and political dimensions of interview transcription (Hammersley 2010; Mero-Jaffe 2011), particularly with potentially marginalized participants (Dickson-Swift et al. 2007; Pinter and Zandian 2015; Stone and West 2012).”
Feedback from research participants: are member checks useful in qualitative research? (2017, background): “Findings from these papers are consistent with the view that member checks have little or no effect on findings (Hagens et al. 2009; Mero-Jaffe 2011; Pighini et al. 2014).”
Calibrating the Human Instrument: Understanding the Interviewing Experience of Novice Qualitative Researchers (2013, background): “allowed me to “re-live” the experience – somewhat surprisingly -- on a higher emotional level (Mero-Jaffe, 2011) by awakening me to certain nuances and subtleties, mostly negative in this case, related to my interviewing style and questioning.”
The Influence of Servant Leadership on Restaurant Employee Engagement (2014, methodology): “A professional transcriber ensured accuracy by transferring verbal data to written form (Mero-Jaffe 2011).”