Difficult questions of difficult questions: the role of the researcher and transcription styles

Abstract

This paper refracts a comparison of three distinct transcription styles through questions of researcher reflexivity. It uses the data from a single question asked by the researcher in multiple interviews for a small empirical project. These data are transcribed in three ways, and the resulting transcripts are discussed in relation to the analysis they offer and enable. The discussion focuses first on how each data excerpt demonstrates the complexities of research on difficult or sensitive topics. It then shifts to a discussion of the reflexive potential of a focus on interview questions rather than participant response. Finally, the discussion turns to an exploration of the role of transcription in constituting researcher identity, using the three transcription styles to interrogate the possible identities they offer.

Keywords:

• Qualitative methodologies
• LGBT issues
• LGBT theory
• transcription
• interviewing
• reflexivity