Experimental Syntax

This will be the equivalent of a graduate level methods course in experimental syntax. We will discuss experimental design, data visualization, statistical analysis, and the application of experimental methods to theoretical questions. This course will be hands on. For the first two thirds, we will work through an example acceptability judgment experiment from design to analysis (using R). The final third will be more like a seminar, as we discuss the ways that experimental work can contribute to syntactic theory. When the course is over, students will have the skills (and R scripts) necessary to run theoretically interesting experiments on their own. Though the focus will be on acceptability judgment experiments, the design and analysis methods should carry over to any behavioral experimental method.