Experimental design in sociolinguistics The decisions involved in designing an experiment closely follow from the research question(s) being asked, and have major consequences for the kinds of analysis that are appropriate and the nature of the conclusions that can be drawn from the results. This workshop gives attendees a chance to consider the implications of a range of design decisions (e.g., stimulus development, between vs. within-subjects, randomization) for experimental studies in sociolinguistics, with a particular focus on perception and social evaluation experiments.
This workshop is aimed at researchers considering or at the early stages of incorporating experiments into their research, or researchers who simply want to be able to understand and evaluate experimental work more confidently. Rather than giving one-size-fits-all advice, the workshop provides practice in asking the kinds of questions that will lead to a design that is best suited for answering the specific research question at hand. Although some practical matters of implementation are discussed (e.g., pros/cons of different software, tasks), the workshop emphasizes conceptual-level guidance.
After an orientation to the range of factors that experimenters should consider, the first part of the workshop will discuss the process of making various methodological choices, and observing the effects of those choices on the rest of the project. We will provide pre-registered workshop participants the option to submit experiment ideas and questions in advance, and in the second part of the workshop we will workshop (as a verb) a selection of these as a group. Attendees are not required to submit their own projects for group workshopping; participants who do volunteer their project ideas for workshopping will gain personalized feedback on their own project, but all attendees will benefit from observing the process of considering the pros and cons of making various design decisions.
