I need to find a company who will transcribe interviews for me. However, my research is in a government department and on a very 'hot topic' - I therefore need complete confidentiality as if any information got out it would be a disaster and probably front page news. My supervisor has given me the go ahead to get them transcribed as I have so many.

Any recommendations??

If you are going to get them transcribed, doesn't your department have a transcription service?

I didn't think of that, but I had a look and no, they don't offer anything, and tbh, even if they did I would be wary, as it can take months to get anything done here!

Can you work with a service or someone who has undergone Human Subjects/ethics training and signs a statement of confidentiality, maybe one that frequently works with the government or hospitals? When I was looking we also had to think about encoding the files to send back and forth - I was initially working with a transcriber who had ethics training, but I wanted to be sure there were no breaches in confidentiality sending the files via internet, so we worked with encryption software. In the end I transcribed all the files myself, which I'm not necessarily suggesting either, although it does act as a first level of analysis.

yep, i know that feeling!

i'd talk to somebody in your legal department because i think you'll need an outside agency to sign some form of confidentiality agreement. or, you could think about taking on an RA on a short term contract and making them sign your departments confidentialiy agreement. looks good on their CV, you get your confidentiality. i think you're right to be wary about this!

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