1. PS: Introduction to Psycholinguistics Winter Term 2005/06 Instructor: Daniel Wiechmann Office hours: Mon 2-3 pm Email: daniel.wiechmann@uni-jena.de Phone: 03641-944534 Web: www.daniel-wiechmann.net

2. How to write a term paper  Empirical vs theoretical papers  For an empirical paper: Develop hypothesis Collect data Evaluate data Interpret results

3. Structure of an empirical paper 1.Introduction Theoretical overview (Framing) Research question: general hypothesis Hypothesis form: declarative sentence  conditional sentences 2.Method present the data explain the procedure 3.Results 4.Discussion 5.Conclusion

4. Methods: Online vs. Offline methods  Online studies: Aim at measuring the time-course of a process E.g. neuro-imaging studies, reading time and fixation studies  Offline studies Aim at the product E.g. sorting task, elicitation tasks, completion tasks, Judgment tasks  questionnaires

5. Methods: Questionnaires  are an inexpensive way to gather data from a potentially large number of respondents  often are the only feasible way to reach a number of reviewers large enough to allow statistically analysis of the results

6. Methods:  A well-designed questionnaire that is used effectively can gather information on both the overall performance of the test system as well as information on specific components of the system

7. Methods:  a questionnaire should be viewed as a multi-stage process beginning with definition of the aspects to be examined and ending with interpretation of the results

8. Example  Which factors (variables) influence the number of elements quantified by the expression ‘some’ in English?  Hypothesis: The number of elements referred to by the term ‘some’ is contingent on the size of the involved objects

9. Example (cont.) [ NP some balls [ PP in front of [ NP the cat] [ NP some balls [ PP in front of [ NP the table] [ NP some cars [ PP in front of [ NP the building]

10. Methods: Designing a questionnaire  Example: Investigating the semantics of ‘some’ Experimental_design