[originaltext]Theresa: How is your market research project going, Frank?Frank:

Theresa: How is your market research project going, Frank?
Frank: Very well actually, Theresa. I have just got the results of the survey back and so now I have got to draw some conclusions from the information I’ve collected.
Theresa: That’s good. I’m still writing my questionnaire. In fact I’m starting to panic as the project deadline is in two weeks and I don’t seem to be making any progress at all.
Frank: What is your topic?
Theresa: Forms of transportation in the city. What about you?
Frank: I’ve been finding out people’s attitudes to the amount of violence on television.
Theresa: That’s interesting. What do your results show?
Frank: Well, as I said I haven’t finished writing my conclusions yet, but it seems most people think there is a problem. Unfortunately, no real agreement on the action that needs to be taken. Nearly everyone surveyed said that there was too much violence on TV. A lot of people complained that American police series and Chinese Kung Fu films were particularly violent. The main objection seems to be that although a lot of people get shot, stabbed, decapitated and so on, the films never show the consequences. People watching might take the heroes of these programs as real models and copy their behavior.
Theresa: So what did most people suggest should be done?
Frank: A lot of people are concerned about how these films affect children. They are particularly worried that children will try to behave like the stars. The survey shows that violent programs should only be broadcast after 10: 00 p. m. when most children are already in bed. There is also a significant minority of people who feel that violent films should be banned altogether.
Theresa: How did people feel about the violence on news broadcasts?
Frank: Most of the responses I have looked at have felt that violence on news broadcasts is more acceptable as it’s real. Although it is unpleasant, it is important to keep in touch with reality. Still, many people thought that it would be better to restrict violent scenes to late evening.
Theresa: Your survey sounds very good. How many people filled it in?
Frank: I gave out 120 copies and I got 70 back.
Theresa: That’s a very high rate of return. Who did you give your questionnaires to?
Frank: I gave a copy to every student in my hall of residence and a few to friends from other colleges.
Theresa: Don’t you think that this will influence your results?
Frank: What do you mean?
Theresa: The people in your hall of residence will all be about the same age. They are all students, most of them studying similar subjects and from similar backgrounds. Therefore it is likely that they will have similar opinions. Your results represent student opinion not public opinion.
Frank: So how are you going to do your research?
Theresa: I’m going to interview my respondents in the shopping mall. What I’ll do is ask people if they have five minutes to spare to answer a few questions. If they agree I will ask them some multiple-choice questions and tick off their answers on my sheet. That way I can select people of all ages and attitudes, so my sample should be reasonably representative.
Frank: Isn’t it very difficult to ask meaningful questions using multiple choice?
Theresa: Yes, it is. I suppose your survey has the advantage of more detailed information. However, in most cases people won’t bother to give answers that require too much effort on their part. The secret to writing a successful survey is to write simple multiple-choice questions that target the information you are looking for. Therefore, it is better to write a lot of short specific questions than longer general questions.
Frank: So that’s why it is taking you so long to write.
Theresa: Yeah, but I hope I will be ready to start interview at the weekend.