two in the bush

 

This pic reminds me a little of a tapestry that my mother did some years ago. I tried to get closer to the birds but they wouldn't let me.

More transcription matters today. I've just read:
Lapadat, J, C., & Lindsay, A. C. (1999). Transcription in research and practice: From standardization of technique to interpretive positionings. Qualitative Inquiry, 5, 64-86.

This article is a "cross-disciplinary conceptual review of the place of transcription in qualitative inquiry" (p. 65). It's a good article, particularly because it presents a range of "evidence" that suggests the taken-for-grantedness of transcription, and because it concludes with consideration of several concerns about the place of transcription in qualitative inquiry.

"Researchers across disciplines for many years have found transcription to be an important component of the analysis process. We want to emphasise that it is not just the transcription product-those verbatim words written down-that is important; it is also the process that is valuable. Analysis takes place and understandings are derived through the process of constructing a transcript by listening and re-listening, viewing and re-viewing. We think that transcription facilitates the close attentioin and the interpretive thinking that is needed to make sense of data. It is our contention that transcription as a theory-laden component of qualitative analysis warrants closer examination." (p. 82)