If you are transcribing an interview and you have promised anonymity to the participant, then you need to create a transcript that “masks” or removes individually-identifiable details.
First, some general transcribing guidelines. At the top of your transcript, provide this info:
Interview participant: [if research study promised confidentiality, use pseudonym]
Interviewed by: [insert name of interviewer] at [general location] on [date]
Transcribed by: [insert name of transcriber] on [date]
If the interviewer followed an interview guide, copy and paste relevant sections. Type the participant’s responses verbatim. Use an ellipses (. . .) to reflect a pause in the speaker’s words. Use brackets to add any notes for readers, such as [unclear] for unintelligible words, or your best guess if unsure about the exact word or spelling, such as [Frog Hollow?], or descriptions to add context to spoken words, such as [signaled “zero” with fingers and laughed]. Here’s a sample transcript excerpt:
P: I remember everything that happened that day. . . it began with [unclear].
If the participant was promised confidentiality, then the transcript must MASK personal details that MIGHT reveal the person’s identity to others. In addition to using a pseudonym, replace names of specific people, groups, or places that could disclose confidentiality to other readers, while avoiding loss of context in the interview. For example, if a participant ORIGINALLY said the following:
P: My roommate, Jean, who is the only black student on the lacrosse team, took me to a party at The Hall.
Then you should MASK individually-identifiable details to avoid disclosing the speaker’s identity. Replace names with pseudonyms, and replace specific words with more generic phrases, using [brackets] to show substitutions, like this:
P: My roommate [Pat], who is [one of the few students of color on a particular athletic team], took me to a party at [a fraternity house].
However, if a participant spoke a more general sentence, like this:
P: Last week I went to a party at The Hall and saw lots of different students there.
Then no details need to be masked, because the sentence does not reveal clues about any individual’s identity.
Judging when to mask details can be complex, so if you are in doubt, ask your faculty research supervisor.