How transcription is taken for granted : an analysis of transcription in doctoral theses in education

The literature on transcription over three decades asserts the taken-for-granted nature of transcription in research. Most recently, it has been claimed that transcription is neglected in doctoral training of qualitative researchers yet there are few empirical studies of transcription in postgraduate work. The article reports a pilot study of transcription in doctoral research in Australia. Specifically, the study employed content analysis to examine how transcription was addressed in twenty doctoral theses informed by phenomenography, critical discourse analysis, conversation analysis or grounded theory. Discussion considers how transcription was addressed across studies and within the particular methodologies. The study suggests the need for increased attention to transcription especially in the reporting of doctoral research.