IELTS Listening · Cam 8

Test 2 Part 4

I've been doing some research into what people In Britain think of doctors, the ones

Level: B2 · 75 sentences

Transcript

I've been doing some research into what people
In Britain think of doctors, the ones
Who work in general practice, the first call for medical care,
And comparing this with the situation in a couple of other countries.
I want to talk about the rationale behind what I decided to do.
Now, I had to set up my program of research in three different countries,
So I approached postgraduates in my field in overseas departments,
Contacting them by email to organize things for me at their end.
I thought I would have trouble recruiting help,
But in fact, everyone was very willing,
And sometimes their tutors got involved too.
I had to give my helpers clear instructions
About what kind of sample population I wanted them to use.
I decided that 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 focus on men
Who were in employment and set up something for people
Who didn't have jobs and for employed women later on
As a separate investigation.
I specifically wanted to do a questionnaire and interviews with a focus group.
With the questionnaire, rather than limiting it to one specific point,
I wanted to include as much variety as possible.
I know questionnaires are a very controlled way to do things,
But I thought I could do taped interviews later
On to counteract the effects of this.
And the focus group may also prove useful
In future by targeting subjects I can easily return to,
As the participants tend to be more involved.
So I'm just collating the results now.
At the moment, it looks as
If in the UK, despite the fact that newspapers continually report
That people are unhappy with medical care,
In fact, it is mainly the third level of care,
Which takes place in hospitals, that they are worried about.
Government reforms have been proposed at all levels, and
Although their success is not guaranteed,
Long-term hospital care is in fact probably less of an issue than the media would have us believe.
However, I've still got quite a bit of data to look at.
Certainly I will need to do more far-reaching research than I had anticipated in order to establish
If people want extra medical staff invested in the community.
Or if they want care to revert to fewer
But larger key medical units.
The solution may well be something
That can be easily implemented by those responsible in local government,
With central government support, of course.
This first stage has proved very valuable, though.
I was surprised by how willing most of the subjects were to get involved in the project.
I thought you might also be interested
In some of the problems I encountered in collecting my data.
There were odd cases that threw me.
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.
It was a shame, as it was someone
Who I would like to have interviewed more closely.
And one of the first-year students I interviewed wanted reassurance
That no names would be traceable from the answers.
I was so surprised,
Because they think nothing of telling you
About themselves and their opinions in seminar groups.
Then one of the people
That I worked with got a bit funny.
The questions were quite personal,
And one minute he said he'd do it,
Then the next day he wouldn't,
And in the end he did do it.
It's hard not to get angry in that situation,
But I tried to keep focused
On the overall picture in order to stay calm.
The most bizarre case was a telephone interview I did
With a teacher at a university in France.
He answered all my questions in great detail,
But then when I asked how much access he had to dangerous substances,
He wouldn't tell me exactly what his work involved.
It was a real eye-opener.