The online event “Quantitative research methods in social sciences” consists of a series of online sessions targeted to PhD students and early career researchers within the three pathways of Linguistics, Educational Research, and Psychology, prioritising students and researchers who are part of a UK university within the North West Social Science Doctoral Training Partnership. We aim at providing PhD students and early career researchers with the opportunity to gain skills in quantitative research methods to develop their research toolkit and to enhance their employability. However, we hope the event will be of interest to a larger audience and, for this reason, we will release some extra tickets for anyone interested in the sessions few days before the registration closes. We will also make the recordings of the sessions freely available afterwards.

Each session involves:

An optional (but strongly suggested) individual reading of a selected paper that presents or uses a statistical technique particularly relevant to the three target pathways. Registered participants will have the opportunity to submit questions on the paper – a selection of questions will be answered in the interview with the author(s).
An interview with the author(s) of the paper to discuss methodological choices, strengths and weaknesses of the technique in different research contexts. Participants' questions will be addressed at this stage.
A two-hour practical online workshop to practice the quantitative method introduced in the reading (e.g., replicating the same analysis of the reading).

Who can register?

We prioritise PhD students and early career researchers in Linguistics, Educational Research, and Psychology at Keele University(UK), Lancaster University (UK), University of Liverpool (UK), University of Manchester (UK).

If you are interested in the sessions but you are not a PhD or ECR in the three pathways and universities above, you have two options:

1) some extra tickets will be released for anyone interested in the sessions few days before the registration closes. We'll tweet about this!

2) read the section "What if you can't register?" below.

How can you register?

You can register for free for one or more sessions that interest you using your institutional email address. If you are interested in all the sessions, for example, you will need to register for each of them. You will find the list of "Confirmed sessions" below, together with details about registration.

We have decided to accept a maximum number of 45 participants for each session to maximise interactivity during the practical workshop. However, we will make the recordings of the sessions available for everyone who might be interested and couldn't attend.

We will tweet updates on the event using the ashtag #ECResearchSkills and we will share the recordings on the Lancaster University LAEL YouTube channel. You can also follow the Twitter profile of the organisers @RaffaBottini @SantiBLestari @Gareth47641367.

What if you can't register?

If you can't join our sessions or if the sessions are full, you can still do the selected readings on your own and watch the recordings of the event. You will find all the details and links below.

What should registered participants do?

1. Register for each session of interest using you institutional email address

2. Do the suggested reading and submit your questions on it

3. Watch the recorded interview before the practical workshop

4. Join the online live practical workshop

5. Tweet about the event using the ashtag #ECResearchSkills

Confirmed sessions

1. Rasch measurement for questionnaire construction

Vahid Aryadoust, Associate Professor at National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

Do the selected reading: Raquelle, M. (2020). The Rasch measurement approach to differential item functioning (DIF) analysis in language assessment research. In V. Aryadoust & M. Raquel (2020). Quantitative Data Analysis for Language Assessment Volume I (pp. 103–131). Routledge. OR Aryadoust, V., Ng, L., & Sayama, H. (2021). A comprehensive review of Rasch measurement in language assessment: Recommendations and guidelines for research. Language Testing, 38(1), 6-40. https://doi-org.ezproxy.lancs.ac.uk/10.1177/0265532220927487)
Submit your questions on the selected reading at this link by May 6
Watch the recorded interview here
Join the practical online workshop on 26 May 2022 from 9.00 am to 11.00 am BST (link sent to registered participants)
Watch the introduction to the workshop here

Registration for Session 1 is now closed.

2. Structural equation modeling for corpus linguistic data

Tove Larsson, Assistant Professor of Applied Linguistics at Northern Arizona University

Gregory Hancock, Professor of Measurement, Statistics and Evaluation in the Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland

Do the selected reading: Larsson, T., Plonsky, L., & Hancock, G. R. (2021). On the benefits of structural equation modeling for corpus linguists. Corpus Linguistics and Linguistic Theory, 17(3), 683–714. https://doi.org/10.1515/cllt-2020-0051
Submit your questions on the selected reading at this link by June 1
Watch the recorded interview here
Watch the introduction to the workshop here

Registration for Session 2 is now closed.

3. Meta-analysis in the applied language sciences: A practical introduction

Luke Plonsky, Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics at Northern Arizona University

Do the selected reading: Plonsky, L., Sudina, E., & Hu, Y. (2021). Applying meta-analysis to research on bilingualism: An introduction. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 24(5), 819–824. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728920000760
Submit your questions on the selected reading at this link by June 27
Watch the recorded interview here
Watch the introduction to the workshop here

Registration for Session 3 is closed.

4. We're organising new sessions – we'll update this page and tweet about them as soon as they are confirmed.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

This event is supported through a Collaborative Innovation Grant from MethodsNW and co-organised by Dr. Raffaella Bottini (Lancaster University), Santi Budi Lestari (Lancaster University) and Dr. Gareth McCray (Keele University).

Registrations are closed

Quantitative Research Methods for Social Sciences