Verbatim quote
A verbatim quote is a participant's exact words, reproduced without paraphrase in a research report. Verbatims give findings their evidence and their voice, letting readers hear how people described an experience.
How it works
Quotes support claims, illustrate themes and convey experience in a way summary cannot. Good practice selects quotes that represent a finding rather than the most dramatic line, identifies the participant by a non-identifying label (such as "Customer, 40s, switched in 2025"), and signals any edits: light removal of filler words, ellipses for omissions and brackets for clarifying insertions.
Eldh and colleagues, reviewing the guidance on quotations, warn that anecdotal use of striking lines neither deepens a finding nor validates it, and they favor quotes that illustrate the analysis. In multi-language studies, reporting the original wording alongside the translation preserves meaning. Quotes should be read in context before they are selected, so a line is never lifted from an answer that says the opposite. Consent for how quotes will be used belongs in the study's recruitment terms.
A worked example
Customers feel ignored, says the draft report on a hotel group's loyalty program. The verbatim makes the case: "I've stayed with them 40 nights a year for a decade and the only email I get is about points expiring." Paired with the count, 14 of 22 participants, the quote persuades the executive team to fund a program that contacts members before their status renews.
Related
Automate this in Pulse
Before a verbatim quote goes on a slide, a researcher can open the Pulse transcript it came from and read the answer around it, checking that the cut kept the speaker's meaning.