Postgraduate Course: Research Methods in Developmental Linguistics (LASC11127)
Course Outline
| School | School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 10 |
ECTS Credits | 5 |
| Summary | This course provides students with knowledge and skills in conducting empirical research in developmental linguistics. The main focus ison practical knowledge in using research methods, techniques and tools that can be applied to language developmental research in various populations including infants, children, adults and clinical groups. It also provides guidance on research management (such as recruitment, ethics and data management) as well as advanced research skills building on those taught in the Quantitative Methods in Linguistics MSc (LASC11182) in Semester 1. |
| Course description |
The course covers the topics listed below. Lectures on these topics will be combined with practical activities through which students learn how to design an online experiment using PsychoPy, how to manage and restructure raw alphanumeric data, how to analyse data and visually present analysis using R, and how to structure written research reports.
Research planning and practices
o Planning and managing a project
o Ethics and informed consent
o Recruitment
o Data management
Data collection/analysis methods
o Spontaneous speech data and corpus analysis
o Elicited production
o Judgement tasks
o Online methods
o Questionnaires and biographic data
o Qualitative methods
Data processing
o Data transfer: From raw data to statistical packages
o Recoding and restructuring data
o Data reduction and transformation
o Choosing a statistical method
Reporting
o Description of methodology
o Reporting the results
o Abstracts, proposals and articles
|
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
It is RECOMMENDED that students have passed
Univariate Statistics and Methodology using R (PSYL11099)
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | Or an equivalent course that involves basic statistical analyses using R |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
|
| Academic year 2024/25, Available to all students (SV1)
|
Quota: 30 |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
100
(
Lecture Hours 22,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 11,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 2,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
65 )
|
| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
|
| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Data analysis exercise and report - 50% - Pass/fail
Research proposal - 50% - Pass/fail |
| Feedback |
Data analysis: Relevant steps are taught in tutorial sessions where students receive ongoing feedback on their performance.
Research proposal: Sample work from previous students will be presented with comments/discussion about strength and weaknesses before the assignment is due. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Import common data formats, tidy and transform data
- Understand main experimental designs and statistical procedures in the field developmental linguistics
- Report and internet results from experimental studies in the field of developmental linguistics
- Use appropriate statistical methods to address research questions and analyse data
|
Reading List
Winter, Bodo. 2019. Statistics for linguistics with R. 2nd edition.
Blom, E., & Unsworth, S. (2010).
Experimental methods in language acquisition research. John Benjamins Publishing Company. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
The course will equip students with research and communication skills immediately related to the course and the MSc dissertation. It will also provide them with transferable skills related to personal and intellectual autonomy and being proactive and independent learners. |
| Keywords | Developmental Linguistics,Research Methods,Statistics |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Prof Mitsuhiko Ota
Tel: (0131 6)50 3949
Email: |
Course secretary | Ms Sasha Wood
Tel:
Email: |
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