IELTS Listening · Cam 12

Test 3 Part 3

Dave, I'm worried about our case study. I've done a bit of reading,

Level: C1 · 115 sentences

Transcript

  1. Dave, I'm worried about our case study.
  2. I've done a bit of reading,
  3. But I'm not sure what's involved in actually writing a case study.
  4. I missed the lecture where Dr Baker talked us through it.
  5. OK, well, it's quite straightforward.
  6. We've got our focus.
  7. That's tourism at the Horton Castle site.
  8. And you said you'd done some reading about it?
  9. Yes, I found some articles and made notes of the main points.
  10. Did you remember to keep a record
  11. Of where you got the information from?
  12. Sure. I know what a pain it is when you forget that.
  13. OK, so we can compare what we've read.
  14. Then we have to decide on a particular
  15. Problem or need at our site.
  16. And then think about who we're going
  17. To interview to get more information.
  18. OK. So who'd that be?
  19. The people who work there?
  20. And presumably some of the tourists too?
  21. Yes, both those groups.
  22. So we'll have to go to the site to do that, I suppose.
  23. But we might also do some
  24. Of our interviewing away from the site.
  25. We could even contact some people here in the city.
  26. Like administrators involved in overseeing tourism.
  27. OK, so we'll need to think about our interview questions
  28. And fix times and places for the meetings.
  29. It's all going to take a lot of time.
  30. And if we can,
  31. We should ask our interviewees if they
  32. Can bring along some numerical data
  33. That we can add to support our findings.
  34. And photographs? I think we have plenty of those already.
  35. But Dr Baker also said we have to establish with our interviewees
  36. Whether we can identify them in our
  37. Case study or whether they want to be anonymous.
  38. Oh, I wouldn't have thought of that.
  39. OK, once we've got all this information,
  40. I suppose we have to analyse it.
  41. Yes, put it all together and choose
  42. What's relevant to the problem we're focusing on.
  43. And analyse that carefully to find out
  44. If we can identify any trends or regularities there.
  45. That's the main thing at this stage,
  46. Rather than concentrating on details or lots of facts.
  47. OK, and then once we've analysed that, what next?
  48. Well, then we need to think
  49. About what we do with the data we've selected to make it
  50. As clear as possible to our readers.
  51. Things like graphs or tables or charts.
  52. Right. Then the case study itself is mostly quite standard.
  53. We begin by presenting the problem and giving some background,
  54. Then go through the main sections.
  55. But the thing that surprised me is that in a normal report,
  56. We'd end with some suggestions to deal
  57. With the problem or need we identified.
  58. But in a case study,
  59. We end up with a question
  60. Or a series of questions to our readers
  61. And they decide what ought to be done.
  62. Oh, I hadn't realised that.
  63. So, basically, the problem we're addressing
  64. In our case study of the Horton Castle site is why
  65. So few tourists are visiting it.
  66. And we'll find out more from our interviews,
  67. But I did find one report
  68. On the internet that suggested that one reason might be because,
  69. As far as transport goes, access is difficult.
  70. I read that too,
  71. But that report was actually written ten years ago
  72. When the road there was really bad,
  73. But that's been improved now.
  74. And I think there's plenty of fascinating
  75. Stuff there for a really good day out,
  76. But you'd never realise it from the castle website.
  77. Maybe that's the problem.
  78. Yes, it's really dry and boring.
  79. I read somewhere a suggestion that what
  80. The castle needs is a visitor centre.
  81. So we could have a look
  82. For some information about that on the internet.
  83. What would we need to know?
  84. Well, who'd use it for a start?
  85. It'd be good to know what categories the visitors fell into too,
  86. Like school parties or retired people.
  87. But I think we'd have to talk
  88. To staff to get that information.
  89. OK. And as we're thinking of suggesting a visitor centre,
  90. We'd also have to look at potential problems.
  91. I mean, obviously it wouldn't be cheap to set up.
  92. No, but it could be a really good investment.
  93. And as it's on a historical site,
  94. It'd need to get special planning permission, I expect.
  95. That might be hard.
  96. Right. Especially as the only possible
  97. Place for it would be at the entrance,
  98. And that's right in front of the castle.
  99. Hmm. But it could be a good
  100. Thing for the town of Horton.
  101. At present, it's a bit of a ghost town.
  102. Once they've left school and got any skills or qualifications,
  103. The young people all get out
  104. As fast as they can to get jobs in the city.
  105. And the only people left are children and those who've retired.
  106. Right. Something else we could investigate would be the potential
  107. Damage that tourists might cause to the castle site.
  108. I mean their environmental impact.
  109. At present, the tourists can just wander around wherever they want.
  110. But if numbers increase, there might have to be some restrictions,
  111. Like sticking to marked ways.
  112. And there'd need to be guides
  113. And wardens around to make sure these are enforced.
  114. Yes, we could look at that too.
  115. OK, well, we certainly might...