The Centre for Literacy and Multilingualism (CeLM), in collaboration with the South East Network for Social Sciences (SeNSS), is happy to announce the 6th CeLM Research Methods Summer School, taking place in July 2023. Starting in 2017, with a hiatus in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, the CeLM Research Methods Summer School provides advanced training in research methods and statistical analysis for researchers in language, literacy and multilingualism.
This year, the summer school will be delivered as two online workshops on advanced statistical analysis. Workshop 1 (July 6th/7th) will be delivered by Dr George Pontikas (University of Reading) and will be on Mixed-Effects Models in Language Research. Workshop 2 (July 20th/21st) will be delivered by Dr João Veríssimo (University of Lisbon) and will be on Bayesian Mixed-Effects Models in Language Research. A preliminary schedule is provided below.
The workshops are open to postgraduate students and early career researchers interested in learning more about these methods in language research. Attendance is free, but we only have a limited number of spaces. In case of oversubscription, we will create a waiting list. Both workshops will be delivered using the statistical software package R and require some existing understanding of how R works. As such, attendees must have experience of using R. Workshop 1 will provide extensive hands-on experience in using the lme4 package in R for analysing data using mixed-effects models, while Workshop 2 will provide experience with using the brms package for Bayesian analysis. Attendees at Workshop 2 do not need prior experience with Bayesian analysis, but must have experience of using mixed-effects models. Attendance at Workshop 1 will provide the pre-requisite knowledge for attendance at Workshop 2 for those who do not have experience with mixed-effects models.
To register for the workshop, please complete the online application form before the closing date of June 26th, 2023. Successful applicants will be contacted in due course with further information about the workshops.
Workshop 1: Mixed-Effects Models in Language Research (July 6th/7th 2023)
Dr George Pontikas (University of Reading)
Day 1: Introduction to Mixed Effects Models (July 6th)
Session 1 (9.30am – 11.30am)
– Mixed effects models in language research
– Fixed and random effects
Session 2 (1.00pm – 3.30pm)
– Random intercepts and random slopes
– Model comparison
Day 2: Analysing Data Using Mixed Effects Models (July 7th)
Session 1 (9.30am – 11.30am)
– Choosing an appropriate response distribution
– Coding schemes for categorical variables
Session 2 (1.00pm – 3.30pm)
– Handling convergence errors
– Reporting mixed effects analyses
Workshop 2: Bayesian Mixed-Effects Models in Language Research (July 20th/21st 2023)
Dr João Veríssimo (University of Lisbon)
Day 1: Introduction to Bayesian statistics
Session 1 (9.30am – 11.30am)
– Foundations of Bayesian statistics
– Parameters, priors and posteriors
Session 2 (1.00pm – 3.30pm)
– Prior choice recommendations
– Bayesian estimation and credible intervals
Day 2: Bayesian Hierarchical Models
Session 1: Mixed-effects models (9.30am – 11.30am)
– Fixed and random effects
– Estimating individual differences with random slopes
Session 2: Do we have a good model? (1.00pm – 3.30pm)
– Choosing a distribution family
– Model checks and model diagnostics