Adult Attachment Interview – Transcription Rules
A Supplement for Transcribers
AAI TRANSCRIPTION RULES
A.) Who is speaking?
Interviewer – bold (bold and underlined if asking a question)
Respondent is not bolded
B.) Little interjections, speaking on top of each other.- use parenthesis and italics
Example #1– Interviewer is speaking and respondent interjects:
Okay. So, today I am going to be interviewing you about your childhood (mhmm) and how those experiences may have affected your adult personality.
Example #2- Respondent is talking and interviewer interjects (more common):
I don’t know much about my other real family, (okay) so I can't really talk about that, but I can talk about the family I was with. (Yeah) Um, I can probably remember until I was probably like, what, 6 years old. (Mhmm) My mom that raised me, she was a very- she had 3 kids of her own, so she was a very loving woman.
*Remember to use capitalization where appropriate.
C.) Interviewer or Respondent cut off one another when speaking – use //
Example #1: Respondent cuts off interviewer (more common):
Um, did you see um much of your grandparents when//
//no. I never knew my grandparents. I never knew none of my real family.
Example #2: Interviewer cuts off respondent:
I can’t remember my exact age, I might have been when I was around 20 or//
//can you think of a time when you were maybe between the ages of 5 to 12?
D.) Emotions or events occurring in background- put in brackets {{ }}
Examples:
{{laughs}}, {{begins to cry}}, {{stops to answer phone}}, {{yells at child for crying}}, etc.
E.) If respondent pauses, keep track of time in seconds using 2 periods (. .) followed brackets {{ }} with duration of pause.
Example:
Um. . {{5 seconds}} the only time I can think of was when I was about 14 probably.
F.) Names – No names should be used, instead use coding in brackets {{ }}
Examples:
{{Child 1}} – name of first child
{{Husband}} – respondent’s husband’s name
{{Aunt 2}} – name of 2nd aunt mentioned during interview
etc.
***Majority of proper nouns and specifics should not be used
i.e. – addresses {{gives address}}
street intersections {{names streets}}
hospitals {{hospital}}
cities/towns {{city 1}}
States are okay to use
G.) Inaudibles – state time and duration of inaudible word/words. Highlight so it’s easy for someone to find it later. Okay to put reason for inaudible.
Examples:
{{4:26 next three words inaudible}}
{{13:24 end of sentence inaudible due to sirens in background}}