Department of Linguistics University of Kansas LING 720: Research Methods in Linguistics (#22548) Fall 2014 Instructor: Office: Email: Annie Tremblay BL 415 atrembla@ku.edu Schedule: TR 1:00–2:15 pm Room: BL-206 Office Hours: TR 11:00-11:50 am or by appt. Course Description This course examines the basics of quantitative/experimental research in linguistics. By considering research designs and methodologies for conducting quantitative/experimental research, and by discussing how to organize and interpret research data, this course will provide you with a foundation for designing and conducting your own linguistic research, and it will assist you in critically reading research literature. Topics will include data collection, participant selection, ethical considerations, experimental methods, research designs, and inferential statistics. This course will serve those of you who are interested in learning the basics of quantitative research design and data analysis, as well as those of you who want to refine their current research projects. Required Materials 1. Required textbook Larson-Hall, J. (2010). A guide to doing statistics in second language research using SPSS. New York: Routledge. 2. Required readings Abbuhl, R., Gass, S. M., & Mackay, A. (2013). Experimental research design. In R. J. Podesva & D. Sharma (Eds.), Research methods in linguistics (pp. 116-134). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Buchstaller, I., & Khattab, G. (2013). Population samples. In R. J. Podesva & D. Sharma (Eds.), Research methods in linguistics (pp. 74-95). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Eckert, P. (2013). Ethics in linguistic research. In R. J. Podesva & D. Sharma (Eds.), Research methods in linguistics (pp. 11-26). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Johnson, D. E. (2013). Descriptive statistics. In R. J. Podesva & D. Sharma (Eds.), Research methods in linguistics (pp. 288-315). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Kaiser, E. (2013). Experimental paradigms in psycholinguistics. In R. J. Podesva & D. Sharma (Eds.), Research methods in linguistics (pp. 135-168). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Mackay, A., & Gass, S. M. (2005). Second language research: Methodology and design (chapters 2-4). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Rasinger, S. M. (2008). Quantitative research in linguistics: An introduction (chapters 2-4). New York: Continuum. Schilling, N. (2013). Surveys and interviews. In R. J. Podesva & D. Sharma (Eds.), Research methods in linguistics (pp. 96-115). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Schütze, C. T., & Sprouse, J. (2013). Judgment data. In R. J. Podesva & D. Sharma (Eds.), Research methods in linguistics (pp. 27-50). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Sprouse, J. (2011). A validation of Amazon Mechanical Turk for the collection of acceptability judgments in linguistic theory. Behavior Research Methods, 43, 155-167. 3. Daily access to the Internet and to the course website: http://courseware.ku.edu. LING 415/715 – Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition Syllabus, Fall 2014 p. 2 of 4 Course Requirements Homework Assignments (25%) You will be asked to complete five homework assignments (5% each) in which you will apply the concepts and methods learned in class to specific experimental designs, datasets, and/or studies. You will receive instructions for each homework assignment exactly one week before the assignment is due. All homework assignments will be collected electronically. Late assignment policy:  Homework assignments should be submitted to the instructor before 1:00 PM on the day that they are due (see calendar). Homework assignments will lose 20% of their grade (i.e., 1 of 5%) for EACH DAY that they are late. Homework assignments that are more than 4 days late will NOT be accepted. Examinations (40%) There will be two take-home exams (20% each). These exams will test your understanding of the concepts and methods taught in class. The first exam will focus on the topics covered between Week 1 and Week 6 (inclusively). The second exam will focus on the topics covered between Week 7 and Week 14 (inclusively). You will receive instructions for your take home exams exactly one week before the exams are due. All take-home exams will be collected electronically. Late assignment policy:  Take-home exams should be submitted to the instructor before 1:00 PM on the day that they are due (see calendar). Take-home exams that are late will NOT be accepted. Final Project (35%) Your goal in this course will be to come up with a research proposal for a quantitative/experimental study on a topic of your choice in linguistics, psycholinguistics, or language learning. If you are currently working on a research project, you will be encouraged to refine that project. You must receive approval from the instructor prior to selecting a project for this class. Your topic submission (half a page describing the project) is due before 1:00 PM on Tuesday, October 28th. You will present your final project as part of an oral presentation (10%) in which you will receive feedback from both the instructors and your peers, and you will write a research proposal paper (25%). Both your presentation and your paper should include all components of quantitative research: a brief literature review, research question(s) and hypotheses, methodological approach and experimental design, procedures, statistical methods to be used for the data analysis, and predictions. I will be happy to look at drafts of PPT slides during office hours if you have questions. Do not leave writing assignments until the last minute before the deadline. Late assignment policy:  The oral presentations will take place during the last two weeks of classes. PPT slides should be submitted to the instructor before 1:00 PM on the day of the presentation. Oral presentations will lose 20% of the presentation grade (i.e., 2 of 10%) grade for EACH DAY that the PPT slides are late, even if the presentation was made in class. PPT slides that are more than 4 days late will NOT be accepted.  Final papers are due before 11:59 PM on Friday, December 19th. Papers will lose 20% of their grade (i.e., 5 of 25%) for EACH DAY that they are late, and papers that are more than 4 days late will NOT be accepted. LING 415/715 – Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition Syllabus, Fall 2014 p. 3 of 4 Academic Misconduct Academic misconduct will not be tolerated. Strict procedures for reporting plagiarism in written assignments or cheating during an in-class exam will be enforced. If either is discovered, you will receive a zero for that portion of your final grade and the incident will be reported to University authorities. If such academic misconduct occurs a second time you will receive an F in the course and the incident will again be reported to University authorities. Note that a second incidence of plagiarism on record at the university may in some cases result in a transcript citation. Grading A+ 100–96.67 A 96.66–93.33 A– 93.32–90 F B+ 89.99–86.67 B 86.66–83.33 B– 83.32–80 C+ 79.99–76.67 C 76.66–73.33 C– 73.32–70 D+ D D– 69.99–66.67 66.66–63.33 63.32–60 <60 Resources Available for University of Kansas Students The Academic Achievement & Access Center (AAAC) coordinates accommodations and services for all KU students who are eligible. If you have a disability for which you wish to request accommodations and have not contacted the AAAC, please do so as soon as possible. Their office is located in 22 Strong Hall; their phone number is 785-864-4064 (V/TTY). Information about their services can be found at http://disability.ku.edu. Please contact me privately in regard to your needs in this course. Other resources: KU Writing Center: http://www.writing.ku.edu KU Career Center: http://www.kucareerhawk.com KU Counseling and Psychological Services: http://www.caps.ku.edu/ Calendar (subject to change) Date Week 1 Aug. 25 (T) Aug. 27 (R) Topic Reading Assignments (to be done before class) (due at the beginning of class) Introduction Research ethics Rasinger (2008), Chp. 2, pp. 9-18 Mackay & Gass (2005), Chp. 2 Eckert (2013) Rasinger (2008), Chp. 3, pp. 45-52 Buchstaller & Khattab (2013) Mackay & Gass (2005), Chp. 4, pp. 100-105 Larsen-Hall (2010), Chp. 2, pp. 31-41 Human Subject Training DUE Sept. 4 (R) Sampling and measurement Variables in research Week 3 Sept. 9 (T) Reliability and validity Homework 1 DUE Sept. 11 (R) Research design Mackay & Gass (2005), Chp. 4, pp. 106-136 Rasinger (2008), Chp. 3, pp. 28-31 Rasinger (2008), Chp. 3, pp. 35-45 Abbuhl, Gass, & Mackay (2013) Week 2 Sept. 2 (T) Week 4 Sept. 16 (T) Sept. 18 (R) Questionnaires and surveys Acceptability judgments Rasinger (2008), Chp. 4 Schilling (2013), pp. 96-107 Schütze & Sprouse (2013) LING 415/715 – Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition Syllabus, Fall 2014 p. 4 of 4 Sprouse (2011) Week 5 Sept. 23 Sept. 25 Week 6 Sept. 30 Oct. 2 (T) (R) Processing methods Interactive methods (T) (R) Experiment Building Workshop (we meet in DCHD Room 4068) Week 7 Oct. 7 (T) Oct. 9 (R) Week 8 Oct. 14 (T) Oct. 16 (R) Week 9 Oct. 21 (T) Oct. 23 (R) Week 10 Oct. 28 (T) Oct. 30 (R) Week 11 Nov. 4 (T) Nov. 6 (R) Week 12 Nov. 11 (T) Nov. 13 (R) Week 13 Nov. 18 (T) Nov. 20 (R) Week 14 Nov. 25 (T) Nov. 27 (R) Week 15 Dec. 2 (T) Dec. 4 (R) Dec. 11 (T) Dec. 13 (R) Getting started with SPSS, data organization Basics of statistical testing Kaiser (2013) Mackay & Gass (2005), Chp. 3, pp. 66-75 Homework 2 DUE Larsen-Hall (2010), Chp. 1 Take Home Exam 1 DUE Larsen-Hall (2010), Chp. 2, pp. 41-61 Fall Break (no class) Larson-Hall (2010), Chp. 3, pp. 62-74 Johnson (2013) Descriptive statistics Assumptions for Larson-Hall (2010), Chp. 3, pp. 74-95 inferential statistics Hypothesis testing, Larson-Hall (2010), Chp. 4, pp. 96-104 choosing a statistical test Larson-Hall (2010), Chp. 5 Homework 3 DUE Correlation analyses Larson-Hall (2010), Chp. 6 Topic for final project DUE Regression analyses Larson-Hall (2010), Chp. 7 Regression analyses T-tests Larson-Hall (2010), Chp. 7 Larson-Hall (2010), Chp. 9 Homework 4 DUE ANOVAs with between- Larson-Hall (2010), Chp. 10 subject variables Larson-Hall (2010), Chp. 11 ANOVAs with withinsubject variables and mixed ANOVAs Larson-Hall (2010), Chp. 12 Non-parametric tests Larson-Hall (2010), Chp. 14 Thanksgiving Break (no class) Homework 5 DUE Class Presentations Class Presentations Review and Course Evaluation Take Home Exam 2 DUE Final Papers due on Friday, December 19th, 2014, by 11:59 PM