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Section A
Conversation One
M: So how long have you been a Market Research Consultant?
W: Well, I started straight after finishing university.
M: Did you study market research?
W: Yeah, and it really helped me to get into the industry, but I have to say that it's more important to get experience in different types of market research to find out exactly what you're interested in.
M: So what are you interested in?
W: Well, at the moment, I specialize in quantitative advertising research, which means that I do two types of projects. Trackers, which are ongoing projects that look at trends or customer satisfaction over a long period of time. The only problem with trackers is that it takes up a lot of your time. But you do build up a good relationship with the client. I also do a couple of ad-hoc jobs which are much shorter projects.
M: What exactly do you mean by ad-hoc jobs?
W: It's basically when companies need quick answers to their questions about their consumers' habits. They just ask for one questionnaire to be sent out for example, so the time you spend on an ad-hoc project tends to be fairly short.
M: Which do you prefer, trackers or ad-hoc?
W: I like doing both and in fact I need to do both at the same time to keep me from going crazy. I need the variety.
M: Can you just explain what process you go through with a new client?
W: Well, together we decide on the methodology and the objectives of the research. I then design a questionnaire. Once the interviewers have been briefed, I send the client a schedule and then they get back to me with deadlines. Once the final charts and tables are ready, I have to check them and organize a presentation.
M: Hmm, one last question, what do you like and dislike about your job?
W: As I said, variety is important and as for what I don't like, it has to be the checking of charts and tables.
1 What position does the woman hold in the company?
2 What does the woman specialize in at the moment?
3 What does the woman say about trackers?
4 What does the woman dislike about her job?
Conversation Two
W: Hello, I'm here with Frederick. Now Fred, you went to university in Canada?
M: Yeah, that's right.
W: OK, and you have very strong views about universities in Canada. Could you please explain?
M: Well, we don't have private universities in Canada They're all public. All the universities are owned by the government, so there is the Ministry of Education in charge of creating the curriculum for the universities and so there is not much room for flexibility. Since it's a government-operated institution, things don't move very fast. If you want something to be done, then their staff do not have so much incentive to help you because he's a worker for the government. So I don't think it's very efficient However, there are certain advantages of public universities, such as the fees being free. You don't have to pay for your education. But the system isn’t efficient, and it does not work that well.
W: Yeah, I can see your point, but in the United States we have many private universities, and I think they are large bureaucracies also. Maybe people don't act that much differently, because it's the same thing working for a private university. They get paid for their job. I don't know if they're that much more motivated to help people. Also, we have a problem in the United States that usually only wealthy kids go to the best schools and ifs kind of a problem actually.
M: I agree with you. I think ifs a problem because you're not giving equal access to education to everybody. It's not easy, but having only public universities also might not be the best solution. Perhaps we can learn from Japan where they have a system of private and public universities. Now, in Japan, public universities are considered to be the best.
W: Right. It’s the exact opposite in the United States.
M: So, as you see，it's very hard to say which one is better.
W: Right, a good point.
5 What does the woman want Frederick to talk about?
6 What does the man say about the curriculum in Canadian universities?
7 On what point do the speakers agree?
8 What point does the man make at the end of the conversation?
