Questions 21–24 Choose the correct letter, A, B or C. 21 What does Daria say is the main difficulty in recruiting participants online? A People sign up but do not attend. B The screening questions take too long. C Payments cannot be offered.
22 What point does Tony make about using posters on campus? A They are too expensive to print. B They reach people who are not the target group. C They work best when placed near busy entrances.
23 In connection with recruitment agencies, both Daria and Tony are concerned about A the lack of diversity in the sample. B the high cost compared with their budget. C delays in getting approval from the ethics committee.
24 What do they agree about using friends and family as participants? A It is acceptable if the interview is anonymous. B It is useful only for a pilot study. C It saves time and gives more honest answers.
Questions 25–30 Who is going to do each task? Write the correct letter, A, B or C, next to Questions 25–30. People A Daria B Tony C both Daria and Tony Tasks 25 draft the social media advert ______ 26 create the participant screening form ______ 27 contact the Student Union about promoting the study ______ 28 prepare the ethics amendment request ______ 29 organise the schedule for interview slots ______ 30 design the poster layout ______
Keys
21 A 22 C 23 B 24 B 25 A 26 B 27 B 28 C 29 A 30 B
Transcripts
Part 3: You will hear a discussion between Tony and Daria, two postgraduate students planning a project that involves recruiting participants.
DARIA: Okay Tony, we need a simple plan to find people for our research study. If we do not get enough students to answer our questions, we will fail the project.
TONY: I agree, Daria. Finding people is really hard. Have you tried using the internet to find participants before?
DARIA: Yes. The online forms are very quick to fill out, and we do offer money to pay them. But the real headache is that people reserve a time slot, and then they simply do not show up for the interview. It wastes so much time.
TONY: That is extremely annoying. To stop them from forgetting, we should send a friendly email reminder the day before. What do you think about putting paper posters around the university?
DARIA: Posters are a good idea. Printing them is actually quite cheap, so we do not need to worry about the price. But they are completely useless if we put them in quiet hallways. We must stick them next to the main doors where everyone walks past.
TONY: Good point. Another option is paying a professional recruitment agency to find people for us. What do you think?
DARIA: I thought about that. The good thing is that agencies have very diverse lists of people, and the university ethics committee approves them very quickly. But the price they charge is just too high for our tiny project budget. We cannot afford it.
TONY: You are right, the expense is too much. Well, how about asking our close friends and family to be in the study?
DARIA: I do not think that is a good idea. It saves time, but they might not give honest answers because they know us personally. We should only use them for a quick practice run to test our recording equipment, not for the real data.
TONY: That makes complete sense. We will just use them to practice. Okay, let us divide the remaining work. We need a short advertisement for social media.
DARIA: I am quite good at writing. I will write the text for the social media advert tonight so it is ready.
TONY: Great. And we need a short screening form online to check if the participants are the right age. I can create the form and put it on the website.
DARIA: Thank you. We should also ask the Student Union to share our project in their weekly email. It reaches thousands of students.
TONY: I know the president of the Student Union. I will send him a message and ask him to share it.
DARIA: Perfect. Now, because we are paying people money, we need to ask the university for permission again. We need to submit an ethics amendment.
TONY: That paperwork is really confusing and long. Let us sit down tomorrow morning and fill out that form together.
DARIA: Yes, doing it together is safer. Next is the calendar. We need to set up the dates and times for the actual interviews.
TONY: My schedule is very flexible next month. Do you want to choose the times?
DARIA: Yes, I am very busy with my science labs, so I will plan the interview timetable myself to avoid any clashes.
TONY: Fine. Finally, the posters. You said you would write the text, but who will design how it actually looks?
DARIA: I am terrible at art. Could you do the graphic design?
TONY: Sure, I have some good computer software. I will design the pictures and layout for the posters to make them look professional.
