QML - Week 2

Research methods

Author

Stefano Coretta

1 Research methods

2 Research process

3 Research context

4 Group activity

NoteInstructions

  • Form groups of 4/6 students.

  • Come up with a research goal that can be achieved with empirical research.

  • It doesn’t have to be fancy, just something you are interested in.

  • Write your research question on a post-it.

5 Research axes

6 Exploratory (hypothesis generating)

What is the role of empathy in the L2 perceptual development of intonation?

. . .

➡️ Higher empathic individuals, in comparison with lower empathic individuals, appear to be more sensitive to intonation cues in the process of forming sound-meaning associations. (Casillas et al. 2023)

. . .

What is the relationship between spaces of language use, attitudes and self-reported proficiency in minorities languages?

. . .

➡️ With more spaces available to speakers, the relationship between attitudes and proficiency is weaker. (Hampton and Coretta 2024)

7 Corroboratory (hypothesis-testing)

More structured languages (with higher systematicity) are easier to learn.

Languages created by larger groups are easier to learn.

. . .

➡️ High systematicity was advantageous for learning, but learners did not benefit from partly or semi-structured languages.

➡️ Languages that evolved in big and small groups were equally learnable. (Raviv et al. 2021)

8 Descriptive

The phonetic inventory of Northern Tosk Albanian. (Coretta et al. 2022)

. . .

An accurate description of the distribution of reflexives and their antecedents in Yoruba, with an examination of the verbs which they co-occur with in terms of the valency classes of the verbs as well the semantic field into which the verbs can be categorized. (Atoyebi and Anyanwu 2020)

9 Explanatory

Regularization is a phenomenon in which languages gradually reduce variability along certain dimensions. We use an artificial language learning experiment to test whether constraints on working memory during learning or production contribute to regularization. (Keogh et al. 2024)

. . .

We examine a model of abstraction from exemplars in which (a) all heard exemplars are stored (though influenced by factors like attention, decay, and interference), and (b) for language use, these exemplars are restructured into multiple layers of abstraction. (Ambridge 2020)

10 Group activity

NoteInstructions

  • Think about your chosen research goal. Which quadrant in the research axes coordinates do you think it belongs to?

  • Come to the board and place the post-it with your research question in the chosen quadrant.

11 Research objectives

Establish facts

Improve fit of framework to facts

Compare fit of frameworks to facts

Tick icons created by Roundicons - Flaticon. Performance icons created by Freepik - Flaticon. Comparative icons created by Paul J. - Flaticon

12 Research objectives (examples)

TipEstablish facts

Are more regular systems easier to learn? (Raviv et al. 2021)

TipImprove fit

Models of learning need to consider both a systematicity bias and a preference bias to fit empirical data. (Schumacher and Pierrehumbert 2021)

TipCompare fit

Dual-path vs obligatory decomposition models of lexical retrieval produce contrasting hypotheses. (Taft 2004)

13 Group activity

NoteInstructions

  • Think about your chosen research goal. In which of the three research objectives does it fit?

  • Come to the board and place the post-it with your research question in the chose objective.

14 References

Ambridge, Ben. 2020. “Abstractions Made of Exemplars or ‘You’re All Right, and i’ve Changed My Mind’: Response to Commentators.” First Language 40 (5-6): 640659. https://doi.org/10.1177/0142723720949723.
Atoyebi, Joseph, and Ogbonna Anyanwu. 2020. “On the Syntax of Reflexives in Yoruba: A Descriptive Perspective.” Journal of the Nigerian Languages Project 2. https://jnlp.com.ng/index.php/home/article/view/8.
Casillas, Joseph V., Juan José Garrido-Pozú, Kyle Parrish, et al. 2023. “Using Intonation to Disambiguate Meaning: The Role of Empathy and Proficiency in L2 Perceptual Development.” Applied Psycholinguistics 44 (5): 913940. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0142716423000310.
Coretta, Stefano, Josiane Riverin-Coutlée, Enkeleida Kapia, and Stephen Nichols. 2022. “Northern Tosk Albanian.” Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 123. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0025100322000044.
Hampton, Jessica, and Stefano Coretta. 2024. “Language Practices of Emilian and Esperanto Communities: Spaces of Use, Explicit Language Attitudes and Self-Reported Competence.” Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, October 17, 1–26. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2024.2413933.
Keogh, Aislinn, Simon Kirby, and Jennifer Culbertson. 2024. “Predictability and Variation in Language Are Differentially Affected by Learning and Production.” Cognitive Science 48 (4): e13435. https://doi.org/10.1111/cogs.13435.
Raviv, Limor, Marianne De Heer Kloots, and Antje Meyer. 2021. “What Makes a Language Easy to Learn? A Preregistered Study on How Systematic Structure and Community Size Affect Language Learnability.” Cognition 210 (May): 104620. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2021.104620.
Schumacher, R. Alexander, and Janet B Pierrehumbert. 2021. “Familiarity, Consistency, and Systematizing in Morphology.” Cognition 212 (July): 104512. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2020.104512.
Taft, Marcus. 2004. “Morphological Decomposition and the Reverse Base Frequency Effect.” The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology Section A 57 (4): 745–65. https://doi.org/10.1080/02724980343000477.