Abstract

Research ethics considerations highlight minimising harm to participants. Whilst increasing attention is being paid to researcher vulnerabilities, little has been written about transcriptionists, who can potentially experience emotional distress and vicarious trauma. In this article, we highlight ethical considerations when outsourcing audio for transcription as part of the RE:CURRENT (REcurrent miscarriage: evaluating CURRENT services) Project. Through qualitative interviews, we explored the perspectives of those involved in the management/delivery of services, and women and men who experienced recurrent miscarriage (N = 62). We put distress protocols in place for participants, researchers and the transcriptionist, and adopted a research team approach with the professional transcriber. The transcriptionist highlighted the isolated nature of the role; how researchers often did not brief her when commissioning work, and how the personal impacts of this work were rarely considered. Researchers and ethics committees should consider ethical responsibilities to ‘do no harm’ when it comes to transcriptionist wellbeing.

Infographic text

• RESEARCHERS: Do you outsource qualitative data for transcription?
• As researchers, we need to consider the impact on the transcriptionist who may find the content distressing. This applies whatever the nature of the project or topic involved
• Suggested actions based on our experiences within the RE:CURRENT Project:
  • Initial briefing: Brief transcriptionists about the nature of the work and any potentially distressing content in the audio recordings that they are transcribing - provide an opportunity to make an informed decision regarding taking on the role and prepare them for any potential emotional impact
  • Distress protocol: Appropriate distress protocols, including briefing and debriefing, should be put in place if there are no such procedures within the transcriptionist’s own organisation, as applicable. Researchers should establish what is in place as part of any tendering or pre-contractual processes
  • Ongoing debriefing: Distress protocols should include debriefing and how this will be structured, e.g. after a certain number of transcripts and/or as the need arises for the transcriptionist, and with whom. Informal check-ins when sharing data or transcripts are also important.
• Find out more: Hennessy M, Dennehy R, Doherty J, O’Donoghue K. Outsourcing transcription: Extending ethical considerations in qualitative research. Qual Health Res. 2022;32(7):1197-1204. doi:10.1177/10497323221101709.