Page 84 - Grasp English C1+ (Workbook)
P. 84
8 Money Issues
The survey was carried out with a group of 150 teenagers at a local school, in the 15–18 age range. As we
could find no relevant distinctions in the results between the different ages, the data has been compiled into
a single pie chart. We chose not to ask for the respondents’ gender when designing our survey.
Given that many of these students are already starting to think about going to university, or will begin attending
a higher education institution next year, it is unsurprising that the cost of this was of particular concern to most
of the people surveyed.
The figure for those whose greatest concern is buying a property could be due to changing family traditions.
In many families in this area, education is seen as secondary to starting a family, which could account for the
percentage of students who listed buying a house as their primary concern. Similarly, tradition may account
for the respondents who answered that looking after elderly parents was of chief concern.
We had expected the percentage of people worried about finding employment to be higher, particularly as
our region is well-known for having high unemployment figures. However, the low number could be due to our
choice to state a well-paid job, rather than employment.
In the Other option, answers included having disposable income to be able to spend on entertainment and
holidays, buying a car and being able to afford to take a gap year.
C. Read the text and answer the questions.
1. Who was surveyed?
2. Why did they decide not to show the age of the respondents in the results?
3. What reason do they give for the category which had the highest percentage?
4. What effect do they feel cultural tradition had on the results?
5. Why do they speculate one of the results was different to their expectations?
6. What were some of the answers people gave when they didn’t choose one of the named categories?
D. Look at the survey used to gather data for the pie chart on page 81. Complete the missing
information. Choose from the words below.
Please one What’s your biggest concern about the future?
percentage
Finding a well-paid job
financial
age Buying a house
student Knowing how to do my tax return
specify The cost of higher education
tick Supporting my parents when they get older
Other Please :
E. Design a survey to answer the following question.
How will you earn money in the future?
Think of five typical responses to this question for teenagers you know and add an Other option, with
space to provide further information. Carry out your survey at school. Use the results to produce a pie
chart, and write a report (180–220 words) analysing the data.
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