day-67-ielts-listening-practice

IELTS Booster Lab Listening

Day 67 IELTS Listening Practice - Data Collection Discussion

Section 3 academic paraphrasing practice with three new voices, speaker viewpoints, research methods, final decisions, quantities, equipment, and scheduling.

Practice Instructions

1. Listen once without pausing.
2. Answer all 10 questions.
3. Check the answer key.
4. Replay the mistakes only.
5. Read the transcript after trying.
6. Write one weak point for tomorrow.

Questions 1-5

Who expresses each view? Choose A, B or C.

A. Dr Wallace
B. Sienna
C. Farid

1. An online-only survey could exclude some participants.
2. Interviews are useful for explaining the reasons behind choices.
3. Observation records what people actually do.
4. Researchers may interpret open responses subjectively.
5. The questions must be tested before full data collection.

Questions 6-10

Complete the data collection plan. Write ONE WORD AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer.

6. Target survey sample: __________ students
7. Recruitment desk location: campus __________
8. Maximum interview length: __________ minutes
9. Survey responses will be entered on university __________
10. The pilot will begin on __________

Answer Key

1. B
2. A
3. C
4. B
5. A
6. 80
7. library
8. 25
9. tablets
10. Monday

Distractor Explanations

• Dr Wallace supports mixed collection, while Sienna identifies the risk of excluding some participants.
• Farid mentions the time required for interviews. Dr Wallace explains their value for understanding reasons.
• Sienna questions self-reported behaviour. Farid argues that observation captures actual actions.
• Farid proposes fixed categories, while Sienna raises the concern about subjective coding.
• Farid offers informal testing, but Dr Wallace requires the structured pilot.
• Sixty responses, the cafeteria, 40 or 15 minutes, paper or personal phones, and Tuesday are replaced by the final arrangements.

Transcript

Dr Wallace: Sienna and Farid, your project on travel choices among evening students now needs a precise data collection plan. You have proposed surveys, interviews, and observation, but each method must have a clear purpose.

Sienna: The online survey is efficient, especially because students could complete it after class. My concern is that an online-only approach may exclude students who are less confident with digital forms or who rarely check university messages.

Farid: We could keep the online form and provide paper copies at a staffed desk. That would give people another way to participate without abandoning the faster system.

Dr Wallace: A mixed approach is sensible. Use the same questions in both formats so the results remain comparable.

Farid: Interviews will take much more time than surveys. I am not sure they will add enough responses to justify the effort.

Dr Wallace: Their value is not the number of responses. Interviews allow participants to explain why they choose a bus, car, bicycle, or walking route. Those detailed reasons can clarify patterns found in the survey.

Sienna: That would help because people may report what they think is environmentally responsible rather than describe their normal journey.

Farid: We can also observe the main bus stop after evening classes. Observation records what students actually do, including when they arrive, how long they wait, and whether they leave before a bus comes.

Dr Wallace: Yes, although observation cannot tell you why a person chose that route. Combine the behavioural record with survey and interview evidence.

Sienna: I have another concern about the open survey responses. When we group free-text comments into themes, our own expectations could influence how we interpret them.

Farid: We could avoid that by replacing every open question with fixed categories.

Sienna: Fixed categories would be easier to count, but they might prevent participants from mentioning an unexpected reason.

Dr Wallace: Keep two short open questions. Write a coding guide before analysing them, and have both of you code the first set independently. Comparing your categories will reduce subjective interpretation.

Farid: I can send the survey link to a few classmates tonight and ask whether anything is confusing.

Dr Wallace: Informal comments are useful, but they do not replace a structured pilot. The questions must be tested under the same conditions as the full survey before data collection begins.

Sienna: We have not agreed on the sample size. I thought 60 completed surveys would be realistic within two weeks.

Farid: Sixty might be enough if responses are divided evenly across the three faculties.

Dr Wallace: The faculty comparison will be weak with only 20 students in each group. Set a target of 80 completed surveys. You may invite more than 80 people because some forms will be incomplete.

Sienna: All right, the target is 80 usable responses rather than 80 invitations.

Farid: Where should we recruit participants? The cafeteria is busy before evening lectures, and we could set up a small desk near the entrance.

Sienna: It is busy, but people are usually buying food and may not stop. The campus library has a steady flow after six o'clock, and students often wait in the entrance area.

Dr Wallace: Use the library. Ask permission for a recruitment desk in the entrance, but make sure you do not block the security gates.

Farid: We can display a QR code for the online form and keep paper copies at the same desk.

Sienna: For the interviews, I drafted 12 questions. They could take about 40 minutes if participants give detailed answers.

Farid: Forty minutes may discourage evening students. Could we reduce the interviews to 15 minutes?

Dr Wallace: Fifteen would not allow enough follow-up questions. Limit each interview to 25 minutes. Select eight central questions and keep the remaining four as optional prompts.

Sienna: Twenty-five minutes should be manageable, and we can state the limit when inviting volunteers.

Farid: How will we record the survey answers collected at the desk? Paper forms are reliable, but entering them later would create extra work.

Sienna: Participants could use their own phones to scan the code, although that returns us to the access problem I mentioned earlier.

Dr Wallace: The department can lend you four university tablets. Participants can enter their responses directly, and paper forms can remain available for anyone who prefers them.

Farid: I will reserve the tablets and check that the survey opens correctly on each one.

Sienna: We planned to run the pilot on Tuesday with ten volunteers.

Dr Wallace: Tuesday leaves too little time to revise the questions. The full collection is scheduled to start on Wednesday, so begin the pilot on Monday.

Farid: Monday is possible. We can review the pilot responses that evening and make changes on Tuesday.

Sienna: Should the pilot include the interview as well as the survey?

Dr Wallace: Yes. Test the survey with ten students and conduct two trial interviews. Also spend 20 minutes at the bus stop to check whether your observation categories are practical.

Farid: I will organise the tablets and observation sheet. Sienna can prepare the library desk and interview schedule.

Sienna: I will also revise the coding guide before Monday so we can test the open-response categories.

Dr Wallace: Good. Your final plan is 80 survey responses, recruitment at the campus library, interviews of no more than 25 minutes, university tablets for direct entry, and a Monday pilot.

Mistake-Review Point

Identify who owns each opinion; agreement from another speaker does not transfer the opinion to that speaker.