Slang & Formalising Words

Slang & Formalising Words

Use your judgement as to whether slang might be relevant to the sociological research topic of the interview. If not, for instance a finance podcast, correct in cases where this aids readability.

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Common Corrections

• "Yeah" to "Yes" is optional but might suit more formal contexts. This one is more flexible, and at your discretion.

• "Cos" or "'cause" should be corrected to "because" in most cases unless there is a strong contextual reason to retain.

• "Gotta" should be "Got to".

• "'Til" should be "Until".

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Special Cases

• "Etcetera" should be written "etc."

• All Acronyms should be written in uppercase (with appropriate lower case letters where required, e.g. PhD)

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Grammar Corrections

Correct any spoken grammatical errors in standard verbatim. A very common example is people pronouncing 'Would have' as 'Would of'; this is incorrect so please edit this out.

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When to Use Discretion

With meaning, use discretion. If the meaning is obscured in any way, it may be appropriate to edit grammar, but also in some cases it is valid to retain bad grammar if deliberate by the speaker.

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Context Matters

• Formal contexts (business, academic) → More correction

• Informal contexts (casual interviews) → Retain more natural speech

• Research context relevant → Preserve authentic speech patterns