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AI Transcription for Researchers

Turn hours of in-depth interviews, focus groups and fieldwork into searchable text with timestamps. Ready for qualitative coding, paper citation, and ethics committee review.

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Why it matters

In qualitative research the raw data is audio: 60-90-minute in-depth interviews, focus groups with 5-8 participants, field observations. Manually transcribing each hour consumes 4-6 hours of a junior researcher; professional human transcription costs between 60 and 200 EUR per hour. VOCAP transcribes the same hour for 1-2 EUR with enough accuracy to code, cite and export to NVivo, Atlas.ti or MAXQDA. No subscription, paragraph-level timestamps, and reinforced GDPR compliance for sensitive participant data.

Problems it solves

Use cases

Key features

How it works in 3 steps

  1. Upload the field audio

    MP3, MP4, M4A or WAV from recorder, phone or Zoom/Teams. No practical duration limit: a 90-minute interview is processed without splitting.

  2. Processing in minutes

    A 60-minute interview is ready in 3-5 minutes. A 90-minute focus group in 5-8 minutes. You get the summary and full text together.

  3. Code, cite and export

    Review the text with timestamps, export to TXT or PDF and import into NVivo, Atlas.ti, MAXQDA, Dovetail or whichever qualitative tool you use.

Ethics committee, GDPR and participant data

Research with people requires informed consent and demonstrable control over the data. VOCAP is an EU-based company (Spain), transmits audio over HTTPS, processes and automatically deletes it; only encrypted text remains in your account. We sign Data Processing Agreements (Art. 28 GDPR) when the university, hospital or institution requires it for the ethics protocol. We do not use audios or transcripts to train AI models. We recommend anonymizing identifiers in the audio before upload (proper names, places, distinctive dates) when the protocol requires it, the same way you would with any human service. AI transcription is accepted by most committees provided it is declared in the methods section and confidentiality with participants is respected.

Frequently asked questions

Is it accurate enough for qualitative coding?

In interviews with a good microphone and a single clear speaker, accuracy approaches 96-98%. In focus groups with multiple voices, overlaps or diverse accents it is typically 88-93%. For thematic coding (not fine-grained discourse analysis) that is more than enough: the coder always reads whole paragraphs, not individual words. For verbatim quotes in a paper, verify the paragraph against the audio.

Will my ethics committee accept it?

Most committees accept it provided: a) the protocol declares automatic transcription will be used, b) the provider is EU-based and signs a DPA, c) audio is not retained indefinitely. VOCAP meets all three. For especially restrictive protocols (clinical data, minors) check with your IRB first.

How do I handle anonymous participants?

Same logic as any service: anonymize the audio if your protocol requires it (omit proper names at recording or edit the audio before upload). VOCAP does not apply speaker identification: it only separates speaker turns, it does not identify who is who.

Can I use it for my doctoral thesis or a research paper?

Yes. AI transcription is accepted by most journals as long as it is declared in the methods section ("Interviews were transcribed using an automatic transcription service and manually reviewed"). Academic standards require human review of any quotes included in the manuscript; VOCAP produces the first transcript in minutes and you only review the paragraphs you cite.

Does it work with qualitative software (NVivo, Atlas.ti, MAXQDA, Dedoose)?

Yes. Export the text as TXT or PDF and import. NVivo and MAXQDA accept plain text directly. For Dovetail/Notion/Confluence paste the text and keep the timestamps as audio references.

How much does a typical qualitative study cost?

For a study with 15 hour-long interviews (15h total) the 30h pack (29.99 EUR) more than covers it and lasts across several more studies. Compared with professional human transcription (60-200 EUR/h, total 900-3,000 EUR) the saving is 1-2 orders of magnitude.

What about comparative research across languages?

VOCAP transcribes in 90+ languages with the same flow and the same per-hour price. Useful for multi-country studies, transnational ethnography, or work with multilingual populations.

Start with 30 free minutes

30 free audio minutes on signup. No card. No subscription. Enough to transcribe a first pilot interview and validate the flow.

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About the author

Manuel Gregorio — Founder of VOCAP

Founder of VOCAP. Since 2024 I help professionals — lawyers, doctors, journalists, podcasters and business teams — turn their recordings into searchable text with AI, GDPR-compliant and from EUR 1/hour.

About this page. Prices and features may change. Visit the main page for up-to-date terms. Page last updated on 2026-06-02.

About the author

Manuel Gregorio — Founder of VOCAP

Founder of VOCAP. Since 2024 I help professionals — lawyers, doctors, journalists, podcasters and business teams — turn their recordings into searchable text with AI, GDPR-compliant and from EUR 1/hour.

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