Part 3: Public Services Reasearch
Section 3 – Questions 21–30
Questions 21-26
Choose the correct letter, A, B or C.
Research Project
21 How did John choose the topic of his research project?
A He thought the information would be useful for town planning.
B He has a special interest in the use of public services.
C He read about a similar study which had been done earlier.
22 During his research, John is expecting to find that
A The use of public services has altered very little.
B A group of people has changed its habits.
C The most frequently used facility is the library.
23 What is the problem with using official records?
A They may be lacking in detail.
B They may not be readily available.
C They may be difficult to analyse.
24 What does the tutor think about John using a questionnaire to get information?
A He needs to do a course in questionnaire design first.
B He should use this method instead of looking at public records.
C He will find the practice he gets useful the following year.
25 Which new variable does John agree to add to his investigation?
A Occupation
B Income group
C Qualifications
26 How many questionnaires will John distribute?
A The same number as in the previous study
B A greater number than he needs for analysis
C The number recommended in the project guidelines
Questions 27-28
Choose TWO letters, A-E.
Which TWO strategies will John use to encourage people to fill out his questionnaire?
A Using simple language
B Delivering the questionnaires in person
C Making the questionnaires anonymous
D Providing return envelopes
E Trialing the questionnaire on friends
Questions 29 and 30
Choose TWO letters, A-E.
Which TWO pieces of advice does the tutor give John about his questionnaire?
A There should be a mixture of question types
B Some questions should elicit personal information
C There should be an introduction to explain the survey’s purpose
D A telephone number should be
provided for queries
E The questions should only take a few minutes to answer
Keys
- C
-
B
-
A
-
C
-
C
-
B
-
D
-
E
-
B
-
C
Transcript
Section 3: You will hear a sociology student called John discussing his research project about the use of public services with his tutor.
Tutor: Hello John, come in and sit down. You’re here to discuss your research project, are you?
John: Yes, I’ve more or less decided what to do, but I’d like your opinion.
Tutor: Fine. You’ve chosen a topic.
John: Yes. I want to look at how people use public services in their local area. Things like parks and swimming pools.
Tutor: Right. Well, the kind of information you’ll get is very useful for town planning, of course. Do you have a special interest in public services?
John: Not really. It’s just that I found a report in the college library about an investigation that was done ten years ago, and I thought it’d be interesting to do a parallel one.
Tutor: 10 years is a relatively short space of time. What do you expect to find? Do you think things will be more or less the same as before?
John: I think there’ll be some differences. For example, I think the number of people going to the library will have decreased.
John: And I’d guess that older people are using the sports centre more often than they used to.
Tutor: Fine, so those are your hypotheses.
Tutor: Now what sort of data are you going to use?
John: I was thinking of using official records from the management or the local council and analysing them.
John: They should be easy to obtain. I don’t think that sort of information would be confidential.
Tutor: Yes, you’re probably right. There might not be as much information as you’d like, but it’d certainly be the easiest kind of data to work with.
Tutor: But have you considered using a questionnaire as well?
Tutor: It’s okay to get data from more than one source.
John: Absolutely. It’s a bonus.
Tutor: You’ve already done the module on Questionnaire Design, haven’t you?
Tutor: And it’ll be good to get experience, because next year you’ll have to do something similar for your final dissertation, on a bigger scale.
John: OK.
Tutor: And what are the variables you’ll be looking at? Are you going to look at people’s level of education? Whether they have a degree, for example?
John: I hadn’t planned to. Do you think I should?
Tutor: Well, you might see some interesting patterns.
John: Okay, and that’ll tie in nicely with my plans to analyse the kind of work people do.
Tutor: Hmm. What about the size of your sample? Have you got any thoughts on the number of questionnaires you might send out?
John: The previous study surveyed 120 people. I don’t think I can really analyse more than 50 working by myself, so I should probably distribute about 80 questionnaires altogether to allow for wastage.
John: Do you think that’s enough?
Tutor: Definitely. I know that your project guidelines recommend a minimum of 100, but that’s an ideal number, and you’re working by yourself.
Tutor: And anyway, this assignment is mainly about giving you practice in research methods.
John: Right.
Tutor: Before you hear the rest of the discussion, you have some time to look at questions 27-30 on page 6.
Tutor: Now listen and answer questions 27 to 30.
Tutor: And think of ways you can encourage people to actually complete the questionnaire.
Tutor: For example, to make sure that your questions make sense, you should try them out beforehand.
John: Okay, that’s no problem. My friends will help.
Tutor: Good, sometimes you get unpredicted responses and you have to rephrase a question.
Tutor: And I know that you usually get a better return if you deliver questionnaires in person, but there’ll be too many.
John: But I could enclose a stamped envelope for the return post.
John: It’s a bit expensive, but I think it’d be worth it.
Tutor: Yes, good.
John: Some people say that another way of increasing returns is to make the questionnaires anonymous, but usually people put their names on anyway, so I don’t think that would make much difference.
Tutor: Okay, and can you give me a bit more advice about the questionnaire?
John: Would it be a good idea to have a short paragraph at the top explaining what I’m doing and why?
Tutor: Definitely.
Tutor: And don’t forget, you’ll need to get a bit of information about your subjects, what age group they’re in and perhaps how long they’ve lived in the area.
Tutor: So you’ll need questions for that.
John: Ah, yes.
John: I suppose that’ll mean it takes a bit longer to complete, but, er…
John: Should I give them my phone number in case there’s anything they’re not sure about?
Tutor: I wouldn’t if I were you, no.
Tutor: Okay, and do I have to use open-ended questions as well as closed questions?
John: I know the books say it’s better to have a mixture.
Tutor: Well, it depends. In this case, I’d stick to closed questions.
Tutor: The results will be much more manageable like that.
John: If I draft some questions tomorrow, would it be okay to bring them back?
Tutor: That is the end of section 3.
Tutor: You now have half a minute to check your answers.
Tutor: Now turn to section 4 on page 7.
