Interviews + quote checking
How to turn a Whereby interview into a transcript and notes
An interview needs both a readable summary and a way back to the exact words. Record the audio from your Whereby room and use MeetingDebrief to keep the transcript, your observations, and a reviewed summary together.
macOS 13+ and Windows 11 · 7-day trial · One-time purchase after the trial
Before you start
Complete MeetingDebrief setup and download a transcription model and a summary model. Run a short test with both your voice and another participant’s audio.
Tell everyone you are recording and get the required permission. Follow your organization’s recording rules. MeetingDebrief captures audio separately from the meeting app; do not rely on that app’s recording indicator.
Choose an audio record or a video record
Whereby has its own local recording feature for room hosts on paid Meetings plans in supported desktop browsers. Its recording guide describes capturing the room tab, and its download guide identifies WebM as the saved format.
Use that native recording if you need the interview video or a screen-share demonstration. Use MeetingDebrief alongside the call when the goal is an audio transcript and research notes on your own computer. MeetingDebrief does not capture facial expressions, prototype screens, or other visual evidence.
Decide what you need before the interview and explain it to the participant. Local processing describes where MeetingDebrief works; it does not remove the need to agree on recording or on how interview material will be used.
Record the interview without losing the other side
- Open the Whereby room in your browser on the Mac or Windows PC running MeetingDebrief. Check the browser’s microphone permission and confirm that you can hear the participant.
- Open MeetingDebrief’s Audio settings, select your microphone, and enable Include system audio. On Windows, choose the output device playing the browser audio. On macOS, grant the recorder’s separate microphone and system audio permissions.
- Make a short recording with both voices and check it. Close unrelated audio tabs so they do not enter the system audio capture.
- After the participant agrees, click Start Recording. Use the recorder’s pause button for agreed breaks.
- Stop when the interview finishes. Let automatic transcription run or open the session and select Transcribe.
A headset can help keep playback out of your microphone. If the participant shows something without describing it, ask them to explain what matters aloud or record your observation separately. An audio transcript cannot infer what they pointed at.
Separate exact quotes from your observations
For an exact quote
Find the passage in the transcript and click its timestamp to listen to the saved audio. Correct any recognition errors before copying the words. Transcription is a draft of the speech, and a summary may paraphrase it.
For a one-to-one interview, the live capture’s Me and Other labels distinguish your microphone from the remote audio. If several people share the remote side, those labels do not identify each interviewee.
For an observation
Use the session’s Notes section for your interpretation, visual observations, and links to the interview guide. Label an inference as an inference so it cannot be mistaken for the participant’s words.
Keep a participant code or project tag in the session title and tags if that fits your research practice. Use consistent labels so related interviews are easy to find later.
Generate a research summary with evidence boundaries
Start with the General summary template, or create a custom template in Settings for interview notes. In Summary, select it and click Generate.
Summarize this interview under Goals, Current workflow, Frustrations, Workarounds, and Open questions. Distinguish the participant’s statements from the interviewer’s suggestions. Do not invent quotes, motivations, or conclusions. Mark topics not discussed as not covered. {transcript}
Use the output as a draft. Check whether a theme came from the participant or from a leading question. A single interview can describe one person’s experience; it does not establish how common that experience is.
For follow-up questions about the evidence, Chat with this meeting can use the transcript and your notes and provide citations. Follow them before bringing a claim into a research report. Copy only the reviewed material into your research repository.
Configure audio retention before relying on future quote checks. The session guide explains playback, notes, folders, and the Markdown mirror.
Already have a Whereby WebM recording?
Download and keep the original file. WebM is not on MeetingDebrief’s documented import list, so do not assume a Whereby download will import directly. Convert a copy to a supported format such as WAV, M4A, or MP4 using a tool suitable for your recording’s privacy requirements.
Changing the filename from .webm to .mp4 is not a conversion. Play the converted file and check that both voices are audible. Then use the upload button beside Start Recording in MeetingDebrief, select the converted file, and transcribe the new session.
The import gives you a transcript of the audio. Keep the original video for any visual observations, and follow the same quote-checking and summary review steps above.