Practise IELTS Listening with "Tutorial: Planning a Student Diet Survey". Listen to the audio and answer the questions.

People remember a whole week's food poorly.

Participants may eat more healthily because they are observed.

On the length of the study, they decide to

Instead of a questionnaire, participants will keep a food ______.

The tendency to eat better when watched is called the ______ effect.

They should recruit at least ______ participants.

Tutorial: Planning a Student Diet Survey

<h3>Part 3</h3>
Dr Sato: So, your project is on what students actually eat during exam periods. Interesting topic. How are you planning to collect the data?
Ellie: Our original plan was a questionnaire asking people to remember everything they'd eaten over the past week. But we've gone off that idea.
Raj: Yes, because people are terrible at remembering. They forget snacks, they underestimate portions, and some of them, frankly, lie to look healthier than they are.
Dr Sato: You're quite right — recall over a whole week is unreliable. So what's your alternative?
Ellie: A food diary. Participants record each meal at the moment they eat it, on their phone. That way there's no relying on memory days later.
Dr Sato: Much better. Real-time recording cuts the recall problem sharply. But it introduces a different risk — can you see what it is?
Raj: I think so. If people know we're watching what they eat, they might start eating more healthily than usual — just because they're being observed.
Dr Sato: Exactly, that's the observer effect. There's no perfect fix, but a longer study helps — after a few days people forget to perform and slip back to normal habits. Now, disagreement time: how long should the diary run?
Ellie: I'd say two weeks. That's long enough for people to relax, but short enough that they don't give up.
Raj: I'd actually argue for just one week. Two weeks is a lot to ask of a busy student in exam season — I think we'd lose too many participants.
Dr Sato: Both of you have a point, but on balance I side with Ellie. The observer effect really does need those extra days to settle. Go with two weeks, but keep the daily entry very quick so people don't drop out.
Raj: Fair enough. Two weeks, but make it painless. I can accept that.
Dr Sato: Good. Now let's divide the work. Someone builds the phone form, someone recruits participants, and I'll sort out the nutritional database you'll need to code the meals.
Raj: I'll build the phone form. I've done a bit of app design, so that's the natural job for me.
Ellie: And I'll recruit the participants. I know lots of people across different courses, so I can get a varied sample.
Dr Sato: Perfect. I'll handle the nutritional database. One rule, though — aim for at least fifty participants, or your results won't mean much. Have the recruitment done by the end of week four.
Ellie: Fifty participants by week four. Understood. Thanks — I'm glad we ditched the memory questionnaire, it really would have let us down.

Tutorial: Planning a Student Diet Survey

Audio

Questions

Choose the correct letter, A, B or C.

Choose the correct letter, A, B or C.

Choose the correct letter, A, B or C.

Who is responsible for each task?

Complete the sentences below.