QM Final Project

Tentative due date: 16 March 2024

For the final project, please complete one (1) of the following tasks and
return your submission to me via email. Please include your surname at the
beginning of the filename of your submission, e.g. Lastname QMFinal.pdf.
Please do not complete both tasks; if you turn in both tasks, only the task
turned in first will be marked.
Please do not hesitate to contact me via email (frazier@uni-leipzig.de)
if you run into difficulties with R or want to check whether your proposed
experiment meets the formal criteria.
You should feel free to consult with one another (indeed, for Option 1 you
basically have to), but each student’s write-up must be done individually.

1 Option 1: Data Analysis

Using the data collected as part of Lab 1 on German pseudowords, conduct

a statistical analysis using R and report your findings.

1. Include in your analysis at least two (2) independent/predictor vari-

ables.

2. Explain and justify your choice of dependent and independent vari-

ables: why would we expect that the independent variables will have
an impact of the value of the dependent variable? You may include
citations of relevant research literature, but this is not required.

3. Include at least one figure (scatterplot, box-plot, bar plot, etc.) to

illustrate the relationship among your variables.

4. Include the R code to produce your analysis, the results, and an inter-
pretation of the results: from the results of the test(s) you conduct,
what can we conclude about the relationship between the independent
and dependent variables, and what might this mean for our under-
standing of the language system in general?

1
2 Option 2: Experiment Proposal

Propose an experiment to investigate the representation and/or processing

of any linguistic construction of your choice. This can be phonological,
morphological, syntactic, semantic, or any combination thereof.

1. Include a clearly stated question framed in terms of a pair of hypothe-

ses (A & B) that make conflicting, testable predictions.

2. Describe the methodology that your experiment will use: what kind of
task will your experimental subjects perform, what kind of data will
be collected from them, and how will these data be analyzed?

3. Describe the structure of your experiment in terms of factors, condi-

tions, and items.

4. Each of your hypotheses must predict a difference between experi-

mental conditions; do not select a hypothesis that predicts that all
conditions will behave the same.

5. Describe the predicted results of your experiment under both Hypoth-

esis A and Hypothesis B, and provide a visualization of the expected
result pattern under each hypothesis.

6. Describe the data analysis procedures that would be appropriate for

your proposed experiment: what statistical test would be suitable for
the data types and scientific question at issue in your study?

7. Present tentative conclusions: for each predicted result (Hypothesis A

/ Hypothesis B), describe what conclusions about language represen-
tation and processing we could draw thereon.