Archive for May, 2007

Women and Jobs

woman at work

The purpose of this report is to find out what people think about women in the labour market and if labour conditions are the same for both sexes. The information was gathered from a group of 22 students (15 female and 7 male) aged 17 – 38 at the School of Languages in Mieres. Students answered a written questionnaire which on the Internet and their answers were analysed.

The first part of the survey dealt with people’s thoughts about women working out of their homes and if men are more capable of working than women. Women have been studying for years they have a good preparation so this fact might have helped to change people’s minds.
All the people interviewed agreed that women should work, that they didn’t have to dedicate her life only to her husband and her children.

The vast majority of students didn’t think that men were more capable of working than women but a very small number of the people interviewed admitted that the only difference between men and women was the strength so men probably could carry out better certain physical jobs. 100% said that all kinds of jobs were “suitable” for men. In contrast over 32 % (all of them women) said that the most “suitable” jobs for women were those which didn’t need a lot of physical effort. However all of them agreed that everything depended on the person not on the sex, any of them might be capable of carrying out any kind of work. Some of them admitted that it is still very difficult for women to become bosses.
All students were against men having a higher salary than women when they do the same work. Some of them admitted that it still happens in some companies even though it is changing.

In conclusion, the survey suggest that nowadays the majority of the people think that is normal that a woman works where she wants and the salary should be in agreement with the job not with the sex.

Reading habits

books

This report has the purpose of showing people’s interest in reading and their reading habits. The information included has been obtained from a survey through the Internet in which a group of 20 people, 13 female and 7 male aged 17 to 38, students in the 5th course of English in the EOI, participated.

The first question of this survey was centred in finding out how many people considered themselves good readers. The results were that 55% of people consider themselves good readers, although the other 45% do not. There was not any fact which could permit us associate good readers with gender or age.
The next questions were focused on people habits, like when they prefer reading, what sort of books they like or how many books they read. The vast majority of the participants prefer reading at night, after dinner or before going to bed, followed by ‘when travelling’, and there are also 20% of people who read in the morning, in the evening or when they have free time.
Although there are some people who like any kind of book, the survey showed that the favourite type were novels of mystery and suspense, with a 30%, followed by historic, thrillers and horror.
Talking about the number of books people read a month, there are many different answers: 30% read one book at most, and sometimes less or none, 20% read one, 30% read from one or two to two or three, and just 10% read more than three, besides another 10% who say it depends on how free time they have each month.
The last questions gave attention to reading in the society, asking about being members of reading clubs and how people in general are concerned about reading. 80% of the participants admitted they don’t belong to any reading club, although there are 15% who are not members but would like to or used to be. Only 5% belong to a reading club. Asking if people are concerned about reading, 55% of people think that people in general are not, and the most important reason given is that there are lot of entertainments, such as films or videogames, which are preferred by society. In contrast, 10% think people are getting more concerned about it, and 25% think we already are. There is also an opinion that says adults are more interested than teenagers, who just think about videogames, and another that says we give too much importance to reading.

In conclusion, the survey showed us that the majority of people in the society do not really enjoy reading because they do not have time for it, and also because they are more interested in films and videogames, which are faster and easier to use. A survey just about reading can finally show us truths as the lack of free time we have and how we are involved with the media. It also appears that reading has no association with age or being male or female: there are good and bad readers in every generation and gender.

How worried are you about your weight?

weight problems

The purpose of this report is to present the findings of a survey which will help us to find out how worried we are about our weight. The information was gathered from a group of 20 students (14 female and 5 male) aged 18-43 from 5th year at Mieres EOI. Interviews were conducted via the internet Internet through Bloggin’ away.
This report can help us to understand the influence that our weight has on our lives. It could be divided into:
- Health problems.
- Social aspects.
- Personal aspects.
- Work.

HEALTH PROBLEMS
99% of the people interviewed think that top models are encouraging serious eating disorders such as anorexia because people try to imitate their slim glamorous image.

SOCIAL ASPECTS
A significant majority feel that Fashion Houses and Fashion Industry should adapt to the real sizes of Spanish people instead of the other way round. Spanish’s growing population is not related to those unreal dolls of alien dimensions which are shown on beauty magazines or catwalks.
Only a very insignificant number said that tailors could be a solution to this issue.

PERSONAL ASPECTS
People in general worry about their physical appearance.
Only a 40% of the people interviewed reported that they feel good with their weight and of course they wouldn’t change it. But this number is widely increased by people who just accept their weight but without any doubts would change it.
If we make a follow-up of personal priorities, over 80% find it essential to follow a healthy diet, but a lot of those interviewed said that a good steak and small rolls of fat could be considered equally healthy. Diet is considered like the next priority, and surprisingly cosmetic surgery and reducing products are equally popular.

WORK
Apparently our appearance is important for a job interview. A 70% of those interviewed agreed that first impressions are essential in the choice of an applicant, in spite of the fact that it can be misleading, but people always have preconceptions.
While just under half of them thought that it depends on the job, especially if you have direct contact with clients.

In conclusion, the survey suggests that our weight has a great influence on our lives especially in our social relations. People want to like themselves and be accepted by others, wanting to be considered part of a group. It also appears that there is a narrow connection between the current stereotype of beauty and our weight. So following the present ideal of beauty involves worrying about our figures.

Cinema

cinema

The purpose of this report is to research how people’s habits in relation to the cinema have changed.

The information was collected from a group of 20 students (14 female and 6 male) aged 18-32 from this English Class. Interviewees answered an on-line questionnaire that consisted of six questions. This report is a short analysis of the results of the questionnaire.

The first part of the survey is about how new technologies (DVD, the Net…) have changed our habits when we decide to watch a film and the second shows people’s preferences. The majority of students interviewed said that they prefer watching a film at home. It seems that they wait until the film is released on DVD to rent it. Although cinemas are well equipped with the latest technology and accommodate most customers (specifically children and people with disabilities), they prefer relaxing at home to watch them. In contrast, a very small number of interviewees (just two) answered that there are films that are worth watching at the cinema, like big productions or Science Fiction films. They thought it is a different experience from watching at home.

Well over 55% said that they go to the cinema several times a year, while 35% said that they go once a week. The main reason given for this was mostly the price. Those interviewed reported that cinema is quite expensive and it was generally agreed that the price continues to rise. In contrast, a small minority felt that the price was fair because of movie production costs. However, others felt that is was not cost effective to bring your entire family to the cinema.

Apparently, people prefer going with friends and their partners. Not many of those interviewed would go with their family and a significant minority would go alone.

Almost all the people interviewed said that thrillers, dramas and epic movies are their favourite genres, while their least favourite were fantasy, swashbuckler or sci-fi. If we distinguish between women and men, it was clear that men like more action and epic films while woman prefer drama and thriller.

When people choose a film, they reported that the most important factors are actors/actresses or reviews followed by a good plot. The survey shows that the favourite Spanish directors are Pedro Almodóvar and Amenábar nowadays whereas others chose Tarantino and Woody Allen as the best. Something similar happens when you ask about a favourite actor/actress, foreign actors like Mery Streep, Robert De Niro or Richard Gere take the lead.

In conclusion, the survey suggests that cinema audiences are decreasing in number every year, the main reasons are the high price of the tickets and the convenience of the DVD players. It also appears that people prefer American films rather than Spanish films.

Teenagers are rebels

teenagers

The aim of this report is to present the opinions of a survey into male/female opinions about teenagers these days. The information was collected via a survey of 18 students ( 12 female and 6 male) aged 18-32 at Mieres School of Languages. Students had to answer a questionnaire.
A part of the survey dealt with how teenagers behave nowadays compared to 10 years ago and who can be the responsible for their behaviour. The vast majority of the students agreed that teenagers are more rebellious nowadays than before and the majority said that the responsibility for it is both of the parents and the society as well for giving them too much freedom. A small number of female opinions said that the main problem is the circle of friends that may be a bad influence.
When I asked these students if teenagers have any respect for other people, it appears that a small number of them said there is no respect at all while many of the female students said that it depends on the person and teenagers at this age think they are the kings and queens of the world.
Almost all the students said they believed that education is a vital point for these kids but on the other hand , they said education is not believed to educate them because it doesn’t do its best.
The last part of survey asked how teenagers will be in 10 years time, almost all the students agreed that they would be worse unless society changes.
My conclusion is that this survey suggests there is a problem with teenagers nowadays where everyone is partly responsible (parents, friends, society, education) and if none of them do something about it, in the future instead of having healthy teenagers, we will have little monsters that will take over the world.

Recycling

recycling point

The aim of this report is to outline the findings of a survey about recycling. The information was gathered from a group of 21 students (13 female and 8 male) aged 17-38 at the Official School of Languages in Mieres. Interviews were conducted using a written questionnaire via internet. The answers were analysed according to different sections.

The first part of the survey dealt with how many people are involved in recycling. Well over 30% don’t recycle and just under 70% recycle at least sometimes. Rather surprisingly, almost all the people of this 70% recycle all sorts of materials they were asked about (paper, cardboard, glass, tins, plastic, packets, cartons and other things like batteries, oil, etc.). Paper, cardboard, glass and batteries are the most common materials recycled by the rest. On the other hand, nearly all the people who don’t recycle, said that they don’t do it because of laziness. A very small number of them gave other reasons for not recycling. These reasons were that there aren’t many recycling points and they are far from their houses home, the families don’t want to have more than one rubbish bag and the incompetence of Asturias solid waste management system.

A significant majority of those interviewed know how to use the recycling bins. However, only one person knows that depending on where you go to recycle, the batteries can be thrown in different bins. Although, some years ago there were specific bins only for batteries, nowadays in some recycling areas the blue and green ones have a special compartment for them. Very few people were wrong about where some materials (batteries, tins) should be thrown and only a very insignificant number reported that they really didn’t know.

Other purposes of the report were to analyse if the closeness of the recycling points and the information received at school could influence people at the time of recycling. About 80 per cent of the people have some type of special bins near their homes, recycling the vast majority of them. The remaining 20% don’t have recycling bins near home, nevertheless, a half of them do it. As regards the information about recycling, a vast number of those interviewed have received it at school and only a minority doesn’t recycle. Although, a handful of people didn’t get information at school, most of them do recycle.

At the end of the questionnaire, people were asked about how they think people could be encouraged to recycle, giving them a choice of answers (at school, at home or by other ways like council campaigns, etc.). The overwhelming majority of them agreed that people should be encouraged to recycle through the three proposed options whereas a very small number of the people interviewed said that the best idea is at school and only a small minority thought that the main way is at home.

In conclusion, many of those interviewed are involved in recycling. Furthermore the majority of them recycle all sorts of materials. On the other side, laziness is the main reason given by people who don’t recycle. Apparently, almost all interviewed know how to recycle. It appears that having recycling bins near home encourages people to recycle. In contrast, getting information about the subject seems not to have much influence. It was generally agreed that recycling should be promoted in different ways and there should be more recycling points.

TV Habits

watching TV

The purpose of this report is to see the TV preferences and habits among male/female students in the fifth course of English in the EOI. The information was gathered from a group of 18 students (14 female and 4 male) aged 18-38. Interviews were done using a written questionnaire and answers analysed from similarities and differences.
This questionnaire has three different parts divided into two questions each.
The first part is about the habits of watching TV and the vast majority of the students usually watch TV for two hours or less a day without been significant differences according to the gender of the people interviewed and only 11% watch it longer than this. Another important aspect is that nearly 80% of those interviewed watch TV mainly at night without any differences between men and women.
The second part intended to find out the kind of programmes students see on TV. In contrast with the first part now we can appreciate a real difference, because a 100% of the male students watch channel 4 and half of them other channel too but a 64% of the female students prefer channels 3 or 5 and only 35% watch channel 4 or other channels. Rather surprisingly against what it is believed is that only one of the four men watches sports on TV, the others usually watch the news and TV series. On the other hand almost 80% of the female students watch TV series and more than half (57%) watch films but few of them (5 out of 14) watch the news.
The last part of this questionnaire was about PPV (pay per view) channels and if it is worth paying for watching TV. Another aspect that deserves special attention is that none of the male students are paying for watching TV and only one would do it but 42% of the total are paying for it and 50% consider this a good option against the widely spread belief that men are the most interested in these PPV channels.
In conclusion, the survey suggests that clichés related to gender and TV sometimes are not really true. It also appears that students don’t spend as long watching TV as it is believed so maybe they are not as stupid as some people could say or believe.

Cinemagoers in the 21th Century

cinemagoers

It’s been more than a century since cinema was invented, but its magic seems to be losing adepts, the number of cinemagoers has decreased in the last years, due to the innovations in home recorders and the expensive ticket prices. Besides, the increasing quality and variety of series broadcasted on TV, makes them an interesting choice for many people, maybe because of the length that permits watchers to know the characters deeply. The aim of this report is to show the habits and tastes about cinema that real people have. The group interviewed consisted of 20 students, aged 17 to 35 (although five refused to say their age). The genre distributions were unequal, only 30% were males. The survey took place on Bloggin’Away, the blog for the Fifth Year students of Mieres EOI.

They were first asked about how frequently they go to the cinema. More than half confessed they go less than once a month, even once a year. The reason is the price, 6 euros per ticket. Only eight say they go regularly. When asked about the company, the overwhelming majority prefers to be accompanied by friends and family or doesn’t mind, while only two like watching films alone. When asked if they enjoyed more a film in the cinema or at home, 60% opted for their home, probably because of cheapness and comfort.

The hot question about film vs. TV series was quite disputed, though films won by a pinch. It’s interesting to point out that most series fans were among the younger interviewees. But almost 50% said they enjoyed both depending on the quality.

Comedy is the genre preferred by almost every one, followed by romantic comedy, horror, adventure, cartoons, science fiction, historical and drama. The most disliked are bellic, action, classical and biopics. The question about their favourite films provided a wide range of titles, none of them repeated: Titanic, La vida es bella, Braveheart, Pirates of Caribbean, Shrek, Forest Gump, Pulp Fiction, Moulin Rouge, Lord of the rings, Matrix, Match Point, Lost in Translation, Noah’s diary, Gone with the wind… Almost all are Hollywood products and the only Spanish film mentioned was Volver.

Finally they were asked if they had seen any film adapted from a book, which is a usual practice in cinema, especially in the last years, and normally produces lots of complaints. Nearly all of them had seen at least one, found the experience disappointing and claimed the books were always better in details. Anyway a significant number declared they enjoyed the film in spite of their disenchantment.

In conclusion, the survey confirms the predictions made at the beginning, although what has really decreased is the number of people that go to the cinema, not the actual number of film viewers. Film watching is still within the most enjoyed leisure activities and has not yet been replaced by TV series. Rather surprisingly, age and gender don’t seem to be relevant factors on cinema tastes.

How life has changed in the last 50 years

1950s family listening to a radio show

The purpose of this report is to outline how life has changed in the last 50 years. The information was collected from a group of 19 students (13 female and 6 male) aged 17 - 38 at Mieres EOI. Interviews were conducted using a written questionnaire and answers analysed for significant similarities and differences.
The first part of the survey dealt with female opportunities to get a job. It was generally agreed that nowadays women have more formation and consequently they are much better prepared than in the past. It was also felt that men have changed their minds and equality is trying to prevail in our society.
Almost all the people interviewed said that 50 years ago people lived in the country like a way of surviving since the agrarian sector was more developed than the industrial one and this was the best manner to get food. Nevertheless, only one person reported that people had the same way of life than nowadays with the difference that they used to spend their holidays in the countryside.
The vast majority of those students thought that nowadays people are more interested in their studies and they try to reach a good position in their lives before getting married or become independent, while just a very small number of those interviewed felt that the future situation is really complicated so they preferred to stay at home with their parents.
It seems that the weather has also changed in the last 50 years. Global warming could be due to the increasing use of cars, pollution generated by industries as well as the high waste of energy.
About 80 per cent of the people would take an airplane to go far away while some years ago they would have gone by train or by bus. In addition, a significant majority would use Internet and telephone calls to keep in touch with a friend who is in another country whereas in the past they would have used the post.
In conclusion it seems that as the years went by, life has gradually changed in several aspects like weather, economy, culture,… which we can be summarised as “our standard of living”.

Immigration

immigration in Spain

The purpose of this report is to present the findings of a survey into Spanish people thoughts about immigrants. Since 1999, Spain is the European country in which more immigrants arrive. In 2004, for instance, and according to a United Nations report, one out of every three immigrants in the European Union arrived at Spain.
Spain has changed from being a country of emigrants to be in the last decade an important recipient of people coming from other places.
Besides these immigrants are also in fact more diverse. At this moment there are people who come from 53 different countries living and working here ( the vast majority from Morocco, Ecuador and Romania).
The foreign population in Spain is composed, in general, of young people in their thirties who come here looking for a job to improve their lives and their families´ situation.
Foreign workers in Spain are nowadays four million people, this is about the 9,3 per cent of all the workers and actually this figure is increasing, but, should we worry about it? What is our opinion?

The survey´s data gathered from a group of 50 Spanish citizens reveals that although almost the whole population is not really worried about it, everybody agrees with the idea that more control should be exerted by the Government. And well over 80 % think that illegal immigrants are a big problem. Rather surprisingly, they think too, on the other hand, that immigration is necessary to do specific jobs, because a lot of the jobs existing in Spain, mainly in agriculture, are considered too hard and badly-paid by Spanish people.

The vast majority of people think that the crime rate has increased in our country due to the massive arrival of illegal immigrants to Spain because until they find a job here, they are forced in many cases to steal in order to survive.

A few years ago, there was a controversial case in Spain, about a little girl of Muslim beliefs and family who went to school wearing a veil covering her face, something that the principal and her teachers, didn’t want to allow. Almost all the people interviewed think that immigrant people have to accept our customs while they are living here, even though we have to respect them.

In conclusion, immigration is necessary for us, they help our economy and work in jobs that Spanish people don’t want to do, the problem is that they are very badly-paid and work in very bad conditions, and this should be changed, for that reason we need a situation more controlled by the Goverment.

We have to accept immigration because Spain has always been a country of emigrants.