CSR Quality Assurance & Improvement 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A court reporter is asked to certify a transcript but believes it contains errors she cannot resolve from her notes or audio. She should:
- Certify the transcript with a general disclaimer
- Mark uncertain passages as 'unintelligible' and note the issue before certifying (Correct answer)
- Refuse to deliver the transcript until a second reporter reviews it
- Ask the attorney to supply the missing words
Correct answer: Mark uncertain passages as 'unintelligible' and note the issue before certifying
Marking unresolvable passages as unintelligible and documenting the issue maintains the integrity of the certified record.
Question 2: Which of the following is an example of a systemic quality issue rather than an individual reporter error?
- A reporter misspells a technical term once
- Multiple reporters at a firm consistently omit exhibit references in their transcripts (Correct answer)
- A single deposition transcript is delivered one day late
- One reporter fails to use proper title capitalization
Correct answer: Multiple reporters at a firm consistently omit exhibit references in their transcripts
A pattern across multiple reporters indicates a systemic training or procedural gap rather than isolated human error.
Question 3: A reporting agency conducts random audits of 10% of transcripts monthly. This practice is best described as:
- Reactive quality control
- Proactive quality assurance sampling (Correct answer)
- Corrective action planning
- Risk management auditing
Correct answer: Proactive quality assurance sampling
Random sampling of transcripts before complaints arise is a proactive quality assurance measure.
Question 4: When a reporter uses CAT software's built-in conflict resolution tool, its primary quality benefit is:
- Speeding up transcript formatting
- Reducing homophone and mistranslation errors by flagging ambiguous steno outlines (Correct answer)
- Automatically inserting exhibit references
- Generating speaker IDs from audio
Correct answer: Reducing homophone and mistranslation errors by flagging ambiguous steno outlines
Conflict resolution tools flag steno outlines that could translate to multiple words, helping the reporter choose the correct translation.
Question 5: A reporter's Q&A format transcript is returned because parentheticals interrupting questions are misplaced. The root cause is most likely:
- Incorrect paper margin settings
- Failure to follow NCRA or agency formatting standards for parenthetical placement (Correct answer)
- An error in the CAT software's page layout
- The scopist's unfamiliarity with the subject matter
Correct answer: Failure to follow NCRA or agency formatting standards for parenthetical placement
Misplaced parentheticals typically result from not adhering to established formatting standards for question-and-answer transcripts.
Question 6: In the context of CSR quality assurance, 'turnaround compliance' refers to:
- The accuracy of speaker turn attributions
- Meeting agreed-upon transcript delivery deadlines (Correct answer)
- Rotating quality auditors to avoid bias
- Completing all read-back requests within the proceeding
Correct answer: Meeting agreed-upon transcript delivery deadlines
Turnaround compliance measures whether transcripts are delivered within the contractually or professionally required timeframe.
Question 7: A reporter regularly attends terminology workshops for medical and legal proceedings. This practice primarily supports quality by:
- Increasing the reporter's words-per-minute speed
- Expanding vocabulary knowledge to reduce misstrokes and misidentified terms (Correct answer)
- Satisfying continuing education requirements only
- Improving the reporter's business networking
Correct answer: Expanding vocabulary knowledge to reduce misstrokes and misidentified terms
Knowing specialized terminology reduces translation errors and the need for 'inaudible' or phonetic placeholders in transcripts.
CSR Quality Assurance & Improvement 3
A court reporter is asked to certify a transcript but believes it contains errors she cannot resolve from her notes or audio.
She should: