Report Rules Supplement

1. What is important in a quality report? a. The main point of the interview should come through clearly. It's
important to capture details, but don't lose the main point.

b. Generalize references to secondary vendors. For example, if the

interviewee is reporting on Larry's Roofing and says "They did a much better job than my previous roofing vendor - Roofus Roofing," leave out the name of the other vendor and write "They did a much better job than my previous roofing vendor."

c. Don't include specific reference to pricing. 2. Should the transcriber listen to the grading section?
The transcriber should not transcribe the grading section of the interview, but the transcriber should listen to the grading section in case the interviewee says anything relevant that should be added to the report.

3. Can the transcriber use quotation marks?

The transcriber should not use quotation marks for words that the interviewee says. After all, the entire report is supposed to be their words. However, if the interviewee quotes the service provider that can be included. For example if the interviewee says that the service provider said "thanks for nothing" then it is OK to put that in quotes within the report.

4. If the interviewee mumbles or says something unintelligible or

the audio is poor or for whatever reason there is a section that is not clear what should the transcriber do? The transcriber should not try to make up the part that was not clear. The transcriber should not create a sentence that has unknown or blank parts or in any way leaves a poorly structured or unclear statement in the report. The objective is to work with whatever is clear and attempt to create a readable report that captures as accurately as possible the points made by the interviewee.

5. If the interview is mostly giving short answers to questions

posed by the interviewer what should the transcriber do? The transcriber should turn the questions into declarative statements. For example, if the interviewer asked "Did the service provider clean up the area before they left?" to which the interviewee responded "Yes," the transcriber should write "They cleaned up before they left."