day-70-ielts-listening-practice

IELTS Booster Lab Listening

Day 70 IELTS Listening Practice - Research Schedule Planning

Section 3 academic paraphrasing practice with three contrasting accents, task dependencies, schedule changes, project risks, responsibilities, dates, quantities, software, and meetings.

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

Choose the correct letter, A, B or C.

1. Why is the students' first schedule no longer possible?
   A. The interview room will be closed.
   B. The ethics review will take longer than expected.
   C. One researcher will be away.
2. What must be completed before participant recruitment begins?
   A. the pilot interviews
   B. the literature review
   C. the data analysis plan
3. Which two activities can take place at the same time?
   A. recruitment and ethics review
   B. interviews and transcription
   C. coding and final report writing
4. What do they identify as the greatest risk to the schedule?
   A. recruiting enough participants
   B. learning the analysis software
   C. booking suitable interview rooms
5. Who will contact the community centre?
   A. Professor Iqbal
   B. Keira
   C. Mateo

Questions 6-10

Complete the revised research schedule. Write ONE WORD AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer.

6. Submit the ethics form by: __________ March
7. Number of volunteers in the pilot: __________
8. Length of the recruitment period: __________ weeks
9. Software used to analyse interview themes: __________
10. Next progress meeting: __________

Answer Key

1. B
2. A
3. B
4. A
5. C
6. 3
7. 4
8. 2
9. NVivo
10. Friday

Distractor Explanations

• Room closure and travel can be managed. The longer ethics review changes the schedule.
• The pilot must finish before full recruitment.
• Early interviews can be transcribed while later interviews continue.
• Software and rooms are controllable; recruitment is the main risk.
• Keira offers, but Mateo receives responsibility for contacting the centre.
• Alternative dates, quantities, durations, software, and meeting days are replaced by the confirmed schedule.

Transcript

Professor Iqbal: Keira and Mateo, we need to revise your research schedule for the study of older adults' experiences with digital banking. Your first plan assumes that interviews can begin next week.

Keira: We reserved an interview room for next Wednesday, although the larger room is closed for repairs.

Mateo: I also checked my availability. Keira will be away for one afternoon later in the month, but we can rearrange interviews around that.

Professor Iqbal: Neither issue prevents the project. The problem is the ethics process. You allowed three working days for review, but the committee currently needs at least ten.

Keira: Then our first interview date is impossible because we cannot approach participants until approval is issued.

Professor Iqbal: Correct. The ethics review will take longer than you expected, so every dependent task must move.

Mateo: We can continue reading recent studies while the form is reviewed. Our literature review is nearly complete anyway.

Keira: I could also draft the data analysis plan and set up the file structure.

Professor Iqbal: Both are useful background tasks. Before full recruitment, however, you must run the pilot interviews and revise the questions using the pilot feedback.

Mateo: I thought we could recruit participants while piloting the interview with a smaller group.

Professor Iqbal: Do not invite the full sample until the pilot is complete. Otherwise, you may recruit people for a procedure that later changes.

Keira: So the sequence is ethics approval, pilot interviews, revisions, and then participant recruitment.

Professor Iqbal: Exactly. Some later tasks do not need to be strictly separate. How did you schedule transcription?

Mateo: We placed all transcription after the final interview because we thought it would be easier to process the recordings together.

Keira: That creates a heavy week at the end. We could transcribe the first interviews while Mateo continues conducting the later ones.

Professor Iqbal: That is better. Interviews and transcription can overlap, provided each recording is labelled and backed up on the day it is made.

Mateo: Could coding begin at the same time as transcription?

Professor Iqbal: You may note early ideas, but formal coding should wait until several transcripts are available. Final report writing must come after the coding framework is stable.

Keira: What is the biggest threat to the revised schedule? I am slightly worried about learning the analysis software.

Mateo: Interview rooms might also become difficult to book when examinations begin.

Professor Iqbal: You can reserve rooms early and complete software training before the data arrives. The main risk is recruiting enough participants, because the group you want to study may be cautious about discussing digital banking.

Keira: The community centre runs weekly technology classes for older adults. I can ask whether we may introduce the project there.

Mateo: I already know the centre coordinator from my volunteering work. It may be more efficient if I contact her and explain the study.

Professor Iqbal: Agreed. Mateo will contact the community centre. Keira will prepare the participant information sheet and the university notice.

Mateo: I will call the coordinator tomorrow and request a short visit after one of the technology classes.

Keira: We should now fix the dates. I planned to submit the ethics form on the first of March.

Mateo: Some supporting documents will not be ready until the second. Could we move submission to the fifth?

Professor Iqbal: The fifth loses too much time. Finish the participant sheet tomorrow and submit the complete ethics form by 3 March.

Keira: The third of March is realistic if I complete the information sheet this evening.

Mateo: How many volunteers do we need for the pilot? I found two people who match the participant criteria.

Keira: Two may not expose enough weaknesses. We could invite six and test two different versions of the questions.

Professor Iqbal: Six is more than necessary, and you should not test competing versions at this stage. Use four volunteers in the pilot and ask all four the same questions.

Mateo: Four volunteers will also make the pilot recordings manageable.

Keira: For recruitment, I allowed ten days after the pilot. Mateo thought we might need three weeks.

Professor Iqbal: Ten days is optimistic, while three weeks would delay analysis. Set a two-week recruitment period and review progress after the first week.

Mateo: If responses are low after one week, we can add a visit to the public library's digital support group.

Keira: Which software should we use for analysis? I can organise participant details in a spreadsheet, and SPSS would handle numerical survey results.

Professor Iqbal: Keep personal details in the secure spreadsheet, but your main evidence is qualitative interview data. Use NVivo to code the interview themes.

Mateo: I completed the introductory NVivo workshop, so I can create the project and show Keira the coding tools.

Keira: When should we meet again? I entered Thursday afternoon in the schedule.

Professor Iqbal: I am examining presentations all day Thursday. Let us hold the next progress meeting on Friday at eleven.

Mateo: Friday at eleven. By then we will have submitted the ethics form and confirmed the pilot volunteers.

Keira: I will update the timeline with 3 March, four pilot volunteers, two weeks for recruitment, overlapping interviews and transcription, and NVivo for thematic analysis.

Professor Iqbal: Good. A realistic schedule shows which tasks depend on approval, which can overlap, and where delays are most likely.

Mistake-Review Point

Separate a proposed date or duration from the revised schedule confirmed after its dependency is discussed.