For Research Analysts ·
What you'll accomplish
By the end of this guide, you'll be able to upload a focus group or IDI recording to Otter.ai and get back an auto-transcript with speaker labels in about 10 minutes — then use that transcript with Claude or ChatGPT to generate a thematic summary and key quote library in another 15 minutes. A 60-minute focus group that used to take 4–6 hours to transcribe and summarize becomes a 30-minute task.
What you'll need
What you should see: The Otter.ai home dashboard with an "Import" button and any previous conversations listed.
What you should see: A processing screen. Otter shows a progress indicator while transcribing. A 60-minute recording typically completes in 8–12 minutes. Troubleshooting: If the file is too large (free tier has upload limits), compress it with Handbrake (free) or convert MP4 video to MP3 audio first.
Once processing completes, click into the transcript.
What you should see: A scrollable transcript with color-coded speakers and clickable timestamps that jump to that audio position.
What you should see: A clean text file with speaker labels and timestamps.
Now open Claude ({{tool:Claude.url}}) or ChatGPT ({{tool:ChatGPT.url}}) in a new browser tab.
This is a focus group transcript about [research topic]. Please:
1. Identify 5–7 major themes discussed
2. For each theme, provide 2 illustrative quotes with speaker labels
3. Write a 200-word "What We Heard" summary that synthesizes the key findings
4. Note any areas of strong agreement or notable disagreement among participants
What you should see: A structured thematic analysis ready to use as your qual notes document.
Thematic summary:
Transcript: [paste text]. Identify 5–7 themes. For each: theme name, 2 quotes, 1-sentence description. Add 150-word "What We Heard" summary.
Key quote extraction:
From this transcript, extract the 10 most powerful quotes — the ones that would make a client say "wow." Format as: Quote | Speaker | Theme category.
Areas of disagreement:
From this transcript, identify 3 areas where respondents strongly disagreed with each other. Provide the contrasting quotes.
Moderator guide assessment:
Reviewing this transcript: which discussion areas generated the richest responses? Which questions fell flat? Recommend 2 changes to the discussion guide.