Intrapreneurship and technological innovation in optimizing qualitative research as evidenced at Infectious Diseases Institute, Uganda

BACKGROUND: Discrepancies between what is transcribed and the actual interview recordings were noticed in qualitative research reports. This study aimed at the development of a new transcription software (Jiegnote), and the evaluation of its effectiveness in the optimization of the transcription process, to minimize transcription completion time, and errors in qualitative research. METHODS: The study was a mixed methods project implemented from September to November 2020. The qualitative aspect of the study was phenomenological in perspective whereas the quantitative consisted of a randomized controlled trial (RCT) with a parallel design. RESULTS: At the time of the study, the Jiegnote software was a working prototype. We enrolled a total of 26 participants; 14 participants had their data analyzed in the RCT part of the study, 13 participated in the in-depth interviews, and 22 in the answering of Semi Structured Questionnaires. Upon the execution of an independent t test, results showed that, there was no statistical significance between the intervention and control means. On considering the total average transcription completion time and the type of language in which an audio case was recorded, the effect size evaluation implied that the Jiegnote software had a small impact (Hedges' g = 0.413438) in reducing the total average time taken to translate and transcribe audio cases that were recorded in a local language (Luganda), and a large impact (Hedges' g = 1.190919) in reducing the total average time taken to transcribe audio cases that were recorded in a foreign language (English). On considering the total average number of transcription errors and the type of language in which an audio case is recorded, the effect size evaluation implied that the Jiegnote software had a small impact (Hedges' g = 0.213258) in reducing the total average time taken to translate and transcribe audio cases that were recorded in a local language (Luganda). This was further observed (Hedges' g = 0.039928) in the transcription of cases that were recorded in a foreign language (English). On considering the in-depth interview data outcomes, participants responded that the Jiegnote software media looping functions (algorithm) enabled them to accomplish their transcription tasks in a shorter time and with fewer errors compared to the traditional methods. CONCLUSION: The study demonstrates utilities associated with intrapreneurship and technological innovation in an organization setting whereby, the Jiegnote technology that was developed by the researchers, had some impact on the optimization of the qualitative research value chain. This was observed through the effect size (impact) evaluations that were conducted to investigate the superiority of the Jiegnote software against the traditional transcription methods, in minimizing the average number of errors committed, and time taken to complete a transcription process.