AI Transcription for Researchers
Turn hours of in-depth interviews, focus groups and fieldwork into text with a summary. Ready for qualitative coding and for finding the quotes in your papers.
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 takes 4-6 hours of work; professional human transcription costs between €60 and €200 per hour. VOCAP transcribes the same hour for €1-2 and also gives you a summary with the main themes. You download the text as .txt or Word and bring it into NVivo, Atlas.ti or MAXQDA. No subscription.
Problems it solves
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Transcribing takes longer than analyzing
The usual ratio is 4-6 hours of transcription per hour of audio. In a study with 15 hour-long interviews that is 60-90 hours you could spend coding or writing.
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Professional transcription blows the project budget
Human services charge between €60 and €200/hour (more for bilingual or technical content). A study with 20 audio hours = €1,200-4,000 just in transcription, money rarely in the grant.
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Coding without text is slow
Without a transcript you cannot search keywords, count co-occurrences or bring the material into qualitative analysis software. Working from audio alone makes inter-rater triangulation hard.
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The ethics committee asks where the data goes
Ethics committees want to know where participant data is processed and stored. Before using any service, you need that information for your protocol.
Use cases
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In-depth interviews
Upload 45-90-minute semi-structured interviews and get the full text, ready for inductive coding or applying an existing codebook.
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Focus groups and discussion groups
Transcribe recordings with 5-8 voices. The transcript does not separate speakers: you identify each participant on review and export with anonymized identifiers.
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UX research: user interviews and usability testing
Turn sessions into text to locate quotes and write reports in Dovetail, Notion or Confluence.
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Fieldwork and observations
Dictate field notes as you leave the site or upload contextual recordings and get the text to add to the study corpus.
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Quotes for scientific papers
Search for the quote in the text, find it in the original audio and verify it before including it in the manuscript.
Key features
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Full text of every session
Everything that was said, as continuous text without timestamps or speaker separation. You review it and mark it your way.
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Automatic interview summary
Claude prepares an executive summary, key points, open questions and up to three highlighted quotes. Useful as a first read before coding.
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.txt or Word download for NVivo, Atlas.ti, MAXQDA or Dovetail
Download the text in an editable format and bring it into your qualitative analysis software.
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50+ languages
For cross-country research: transcribe interviews in English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and many more with the same process. VOCAP detects the language automatically.
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The audio is not kept
The audio is only used to transcribe it and is deleted from our servers when done. Your account keeps the transcript and its analysis.
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No subscription
One-time hour packs that never expire: they cover this study and the next ones.
How it works in 3 steps
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Upload the field audio
MP3, M4A, WAV, MP4 and more, from recorder, phone or Zoom/Teams, up to 500 MB. A 90-minute interview is processed whole.
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Text in a few minutes
VOCAP transcribes the session and prepares the summary with the main themes. You get the full text and the analysis together.
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Code, cite and download
Review the text, download it as .txt or Word and import it into NVivo, Atlas.ti, MAXQDA, Dovetail or whichever tool you use.
Ethics committee, GDPR and participant data
Research with people requires informed consent and control over the data. So you can describe it in your protocol: VOCAP is a Spanish company; to transcribe and analyse each recording, the audio goes through OpenAI and the text through Anthropic, two US providers; the audio is deleted from our servers when done and your account keeps the transcript and its analysis. If the protocol requires it, avoid names, places or dates that identify participants while recording, as you would with a human transcription service. Declare the use of automatic transcription in the methods section and check with your committee before you start.
Frequently asked questions
Is it accurate enough for qualitative coding?
In interviews with a good microphone and one person speaking clearly, the text comes out clean. In focus groups with several voices, overlaps or diverse accents there are more errors. For thematic coding it is usually enough, because you read whole paragraphs; for verbatim quotes in a paper, always check the passage against the audio.
Will my ethics committee accept it?
It depends on the protocol and the committee. They usually ask you to declare the use of automatic transcription, where the data is processed and how long it is kept. With VOCAP: the audio goes through OpenAI and the text through Anthropic (US), the audio is deleted from our servers when done, and the transcript stays in your account. For especially restrictive protocols (clinical data, minors) check with your committee first.
How do I handle anonymous participants?
Same as with any service: if your protocol requires it, avoid proper names while recording or edit the audio before upload. VOCAP does not identify people by voice or separate speakers: you get continuous text.
Can I use it for my doctoral thesis or a research paper?
Yes, as long as you declare it in the methods section (e.g. "Interviews were transcribed using an automatic transcription service and manually reviewed"). It is standard to review by hand the quotes you include in the manuscript; VOCAP produces the first transcript in a few minutes and you review the passages you cite.
Does it work with qualitative software (NVivo, Atlas.ti, MAXQDA, Dedoose)?
Yes. Download the text as .txt or Word and import it. NVivo and MAXQDA accept plain text directly. For Dovetail, Notion or Confluence, paste the text.
How much does a typical qualitative study cost?
For a study with 15 hour-long interviews (15h total) the 30h pack (€39.99) more than covers it and the rest stays for other studies, since hours never expire. Compared with professional human transcription (€60-200/h, €900-3,000 in total) the saving is huge.
What about research across several languages?
VOCAP transcribes in 50+ languages with the same process and the same per-hour price, and detects the language automatically. Useful for multi-country studies or work with multilingual populations.
Start with 15 free minutes
Create your account and use them on your own audio. No card, no subscription. Enough to try part of a pilot interview.
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