NarratorListen to part of a conversation between two students.Now get ready to

Narrator
Listen to part of a conversation between two students.
Lucy Long time no see. How are you going?
Kevin Good to see you again. I’m busy with my final paper these days.
Lucy Wow. How is that?
Kevin Well, Professor Smith required me to research violence on television. For me, you know, it’s really challenging. At the very beginning, I had no idea of how to go about it.
Lucy Indeed, it’s quite demanding.
Kevin Fortunately, Professor Smith did me a favor and told me how to make a research design and the efficient way to gather material.
Lucy And now how’s it going?
Kevin Very well actually. I’ve been doing the market research project. I have just gotten the results of the survey back and so now I have got to draw some conclusions from the information I’ve collected.
Lucy 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 much progress at all.
Kevin What is your topic?
Lucy Forms of Transportation in the City. What about you?
Kevin I’ve been finding out people’s attitudes to the amount of violence on television.
Lucy That’s interesting. What do your results show?
Kevin Well, as I said, I haven’t finished writing up my conclusions yet, but it seems most people think there is a problem. Unfortunately, no real agreement has been reached on the action that needs to be taken.
Lucy What did they say?
Kevin Nearly everyone surveyed said that there was too much violence on TV. A lot of people complained that American police serials 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 of this violence. Although people die and get horribly injured, nobody seems to suffer or live with the injuries Any children watching might take the heroes of these programs as role models and copy their behavior.
Lucy So what should be done as most people suggest?
Kevin 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.
Lucy How did people feel about the violence on news broadcasts?
Kevin 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.
Lucy So how are you going to do your research?
Kevin I’m going to interview my residents in the shopping mall. What I’ll do is asking 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. In that way I can select people of all ages and attitudes, so my sample should be reasonably representative.
Lucy Do your residents agree to answer your questions? I mean, do they like to share their ideas with you?
Kevin Not all. Sometimes they think it’s useless to do such research, they take it for granted.
Lucy Oh. Isn’t it very difficult to ask meaningful questions using multiple choices?
Kevin 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.
Lucy So then, do you have any tips for writing a successful survey based on your experience?
Kevin Er...the secret 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 fewer longer general ones.
Now get ready to answer the questions. You may use your notes to help you answer.
30. What is the problem that the male student has met while writing his final paper?
31. Which of the following is NOT a suggestion for dealing with violent programs?
32. What are the responses to violent programs on news broadcasts?
33. How is the male student going to do the research?
34. According to the male student, what is the secret of writing a successful survey?