Research on Questions about Doctors: listening answers and explanations
A postgraduate researcher, Shona, talks about her project on what people in Britain think of their general practice doctors, compared with two other countries. She explains how she set it up, who she included, her methods and early findings, and then the odd problems she had with four of the people she interviewed.
Questions 31-36 follow the talk in order: setting up, the sample, the questionnaire, early results, further research and what she has learnt. After 'some of the problems I encountered', the four people for 37-40 come in the same order as the list: the person in the street, the student, the colleague, the tutor in France.
Answer key and self-check
Type what you wrote and hit mark. Hide the key first if you haven't done the part yet. Every question number jumps to its explanation.
How to attack this block: Shona often says what she didn't do or didn't expect before what actually happened. The wrong options use those rejected ideas: people she excluded, things she expected, or groups planned for later. Wait for the full statement before choosing.
Question 31
Answer: BNear the start, when she describes setting up the programme in three countries
Who helped Shona set up the research abroad?
I approached postgraduates in … field in overseas departments, contacting them by email, to organise things for me at their end.
Question says → You hear
help from students in other countriespostgraduates in … field in overseas departments
Why: Postgraduates in overseas departments are students in other countries, and they organised things for her. That is option B.
The trap: Tutors are mentioned, but only as people who sometimes 'got involved too' after she had contacted the students. She never mentions personal friends.
Question 32
Answer: BWhen she explains the sample population
Which group was included in the research?
people under 18 should be excluded because most of them are students or looking for their first job, and also I decided at this stage just to … men who were in employment
Question says → You hear
men who were workingmen who were in employment
Why: She chose to focus on men in employment, which is men who were working, option B.
The trap: Young people looking for their first job (A) were excluded. Unemployed people and employed women are for a later, separate study, so C is out too.
Question 33
Answer: AWhen she moves on to the questionnaire and focus group
What was Shona's aim with the questionnaire?
With the questionnaire, rather than limiting it to one specific point, I wanted to include as much variety as possible
Question says → You hear
a wide range of dataas much variety as possible
Why: 'As much variety as possible' matches 'a wide range of data', option A.
The trap: 'Limiting' is said, but in 'rather than limiting', so B is what she avoided. Interviews (C) are a separate, later method.
Question 34
Answer: AWhen she mentions government reforms
What do the first results suggest about medical services in Britain?
long-term hospital care is in fact probably less of an issue than the media would have us believe
Question says → You hear
misrepresented by the pressless of an issue than the media would have us believe
Why: The media make hospital care sound like a bigger problem than it is. The press presenting concerns wrongly is option A.
The trap: Reforms are mentioned, but she only says their success 'is not guaranteed', not that they failed (C). Finance (B) is never discussed.
Question 35
Answer: CWhen she says she still has a lot of data to look at
Why does Shona need to do more research?
Certainly I will need to do more far-reaching research than I had anticipated in order to … can be easily implemented by those responsible in local government
Question says → You hear
further researchmore far-reaching research than I had anticipated
Why: The further research is to establish what patients want, so that changes can then be put in place by local government. Finding out what the public prefers is option C.
The trap: Government is named, but as the body that would implement changes, not as an audience for her findings (A). Extra funding (B) is never mentioned.
Question 36
Answer: CWhen she says the first stage has been valuable
What has Shona learnt from the project?
I had expected some unwillingness to answer questions honestly. But I was taken aback and rather concerned that something I thought I'd set up very well didn't necessarily seem that way to everyone in my own department.
Question says → You hear
colleagues do not always agreedidn't necessarily seem that way to everyone in my own department
Why: She thought the project was well set up, but not everyone in her department agreed. Colleagues not always agreeing is option C.
The trap: B reverses what she found: she expected unwillingness and was surprised that people were happy to take part. A is close in theme, but she believed her planning was good.
Matching (A-F)
Questions 37-40
How to attack this block: Each person is introduced clearly ('one of the subjects ... out shopping', 'one of the first-year students', 'one of the people that I work with', 'a teacher at a university in France'). Two statements are not used, and one of them, anger, is Shona's own reaction rather than a participant's.
Question 37
Answer: BFirst of the problem cases, after 'There were odd cases that threw me'
What did the person approached in the street do?
one of the subjects who I had approached while he was out shopping in town, decided to pull out when it came to the second round
Question says → You hear
a person interviewed in the streetapproached while he was out shopping in town
decided to stop participatingdecided to pull out
Why: 'Pull out' means stop taking part, so the shopper matches B.
The trap: She wanted to interview him more closely, but nothing suggests he gave false data or changed his mind back and forth. He left once, at the second round.
Question 38
Answer: FThe second case, straight after the shopper
What was the undergraduate worried about?
one of the first-year students I interviewed wanted reassurance that no names would
Question says → You hear
an undergraduateone of the first-year students
worried about confidentialitywanted reassurance that no names would
Why: A first-year student is an undergraduate. Wanting reassurance that no names would be used is a worry about confidentiality, F.
The trap: Seminar groups are mentioned in the same story, which can make it sound like a refusal or anger. The point is privacy.
Question 39
Answer: DThe third case, 'one of the people that I work with'
How did Shona's colleague behave?
one minute he said he'd do it, then the next day he wouldn't … It's hard not to get angry
Question says → You hear
a colleague in her departmentone of the people that I work with
kept changing their mindone minute he said he'd do it, then the next day he wouldn't
Why: Yes, then no, then yes in the end: he kept changing his mind, D.
The trap: E is the trap. 'Hard not to get angry' is about Shona's feelings, and he was never angry with her. He didn't stop participating either, since he did it in the end.
Question 40
Answer: CThe last case, which she calls 'the most bizarre', a phone interview
What did the tutor in France refuse to do?
a telephone interview I did with a teacher at a university in France. He answered all my questions in great detail - but then … he wouldn't tell me exactly what his work involved.
Question says → You hear
a tutor in a foreign universitya teacher at a university in France
refused to tell Shona about their jobhe wouldn't tell me exactly what his work involved
Why: He wouldn't say what his work involved, so he refused to talk about his job, C.
The trap: He answered everything else in detail, so there's no sign of false data (A) or wanting to stop (B).
Government comes up in the same sentence, but only as the people who would put changes into practice. Her further research is about finding out what the public wants.
She expected people to be unwilling to answer honestly and was surprised they weren't, so B is the opposite of what she found. What she learnt is that colleagues in her department didn't all see her set-up the way she did.
'It's hard not to get angry' is Shona describing her own feelings, so E is a trap. The colleague kept saying yes, then no, then yes: he kept changing his mind.
Words from this recording worth keeping
rationale(Setting up the research)
the reasons behind a decision or plan
sample population(Choosing participants)
the group of people chosen to take part in a study
excluded(Choosing participants)
deliberately left out
counteract(Methods)
reduce the effect of something
far-reaching(Early results)
covering a lot and having a wide effect
implemented(Early results)
put into action
taken aback(What she learnt)
surprised and a little shocked
reassurance(Problems with participants)
something said to stop someone worrying
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The full Cambridge 8 Test 2 listening paper with the real audio: all four parts, played once, marked the moment you finish. Already done it? Take it again and listen for the traps this page showed you.
Cambridge IELTS 8, Test 2, Listening Part 4. The recording, transcript and questions belong to Cambridge University Press and are not reproduced here. We quote short extracts of the transcript only as evidence for our own commentary, and the answers are published for self-marking. Get the book for the full material, or sit the test on Langujet.
