STATISTICS FOR LANGUAGE SCIENCES 1

Academic year
2019/2020 Syllabus of previous years
Official course title
STATISTICA PER LE SCIENZE DEL LINGUAGGIO 1
Course code
LM5490 (AF:309414 AR:167859)
Modality
On campus classes
ECTS credits
6
Degree level
Master's Degree Programme (DM270)
Educational sector code
SECS-S/01
Period
2nd Semester
Course year
1
Moodle
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The class will cover basic descriptive and inferential statistics. The focus will be on data visualization and hypothesis testing (binomial test, t-test, ANOVA). We will try to progress from data collection in a typical experimental situation to data analysis. To this purpose, the class will introduce the student to the practice of some statistical programs, and in particular, to the open-source R package and its Rstudio interface (https://cran.rstudio.com ). It will therefore be necessary to come to class with a personal computer.
The student will have to show that s/he possesses a basic understanding of the fundamental statistical tools employed in the literature, and show that s/he could know which ones to use in order to ground conclusions in his/her research. S/he will have to show that s/he can treat the data and implement the relevant tests with the programs that will be presented during the class.
A good knowledge of scientific English is recommended.
Descriptive statistics. Inferential statistics (binimial, t and chi tests; analysis of variance). Statistical programs and treatment of elementary data, with a particular focus on how to treat them with R.
The open-source documentation available online to do statistics with R is immense, although it is less easy to find elementary texts specifically on language and psycholinguistics. The main text of reference will be the open source text by Danielle Navarro, Learning Statistics with R (https://learningstatisticswithr.com ). In particular, we will try to develop the material treated in chapters 1-16 (Chap. 15 probably excluded). Other reference material will be provided by the teacher during class, where deemed necessary.
The methods of evaluations will be adapted to the number of enrolled students. Constant participation in the class and class activities is strongly recommended. Special situations will have to be discussed directly with the teacher.
The teacher will accompany the theoretical presentation of the topics with practical exercises realized in the statistical programs of reference. We will pay particular attention to some test-cases from the psycholinguistic and cognitive literature, and to the analyses realized therein.
Italian
written and oral
Definitive programme.
Last update of the programme: 13/01/2020