Quantitative Research Methods in Linguistics

Quantitative Research Methods in Linguistics provides HDR students with expert skills for undertaking quantitative analysis for their PhD thesis in linguistics and research beyond the degree. Students will acquire substantial knowledge of research principles and methods applicable to linguistics, including applied linguistics. Issues covered will include quantitative study design; collection, description, and visualisation of data; interpretation of results; and reporting of research findings. When discussing quantitative approaches, emphasis will be on the conceptual aspects of such procedures rather than on mechanical arithmetic aspects. Students will be given practical experience in descriptive and inferential statistical analysis and in computer tools to carry it out. They will undertake a systematic investigation applying their quantitative research skills in a final research project, which will evaluate the methods used in existing literature, present an innovative study design, and analyse the data using appropriate statistical techniques. Students are encouraged to work with their thesis data for the assessment items. Material submitted for assessment in this course may be incorporated into a student's thesis.