WORKING AS A COORDINATOR MIDWIFE IN A TERTIARY ...

Transcribing
One interview per participant was conducted with all interviews taped and transcribed by
a medical typist. I am not a skilled typist. With the associated time involved in word
processing skills to transcribe well, I decided I would learn best by utilizing my time
listening to the tapes repeatedly during the course of this study and reading the typed
transcriptions, rather than transcribing.
I worked methodically with one transcript at a time. Caelli (2001) requires the researcher
to immerse herself in each transcript in order to ‘unpack’ stories from each narrative
which is what I did. I then returned the full transcript and a copy of the stories which
captured aspects of the phenomenon with duplicates to the participant. Participants kept a
copy of the unedited transcripts and the stories. The duplicates were returned to me in a
stamped addressed envelope that I supplied.
I felt supported by participants who returned the data promptly. The process of
interviewing, having the tape recorded interview transcribed, listening to the tape again,
crafting stories identified within the transcript, then posting the data back to the
participant before embarking on the next interview took an initial intensive three months.
Participants were invited to alter or delete material. One participant chose to delete stories
which she felt could identify her at her workplace. Predominantly, it was grammatical
amendment that participants made to the transcripts.
77