Randomised Controlled Trials for Language Research

Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) are thought to be the gold-standard level of proof for running and evaluating language interventions. Increasingly adopted from medical research into the social sciences, RCTs are highly valued since they are designed to eliminate as many sources of bias as possible from the scientific process, allowing maximum confidence in experimental findings. Among the current challenges faced by education practitioners, together with the replication crisis in psychology, language researchers are becoming increasingly interested in using RCTs and in developing their understanding of the method. Our expert speakers will present the core concepts of RCTs and will lead discussions about what RCTs can do and the challenges they bring. We will cover theory of change, logic models, common RCT designs, randomisation, efficacy measurement, sources of bias, quality indicators, and implementation and process evaluation. Our speakers will illustrate these concepts using their primary research. The workshop's target audience are researchers across career stages interested in using RCTs. It is interdisciplinary, bringing together researchers from Linguistics, Psychology, and Education, and is open to researchers from the Universities of at Leeds, York, Sheffield, and Warwick. A limited number of travel bursaries are available for ECRs from these institutions. This workshop is funded by Language@Leeds and the School of Languages, Cultures & Societies at the University of Leeds. If you have questions about the event, contact Cat Davies c.n.davies@leeds.ac.uk Please register at https://goo.gl/forms/MAQQ9efAMkAhHMkl2 by Wed 27th March.

Schedule:
1pm     Welcome and introduction to the workshop
1.15     Dr Louise Tracey (University of York) Randomised Controlled Trials in Language Education: What, why, how?
2.15     Dr Michelle McGillion (University of Warwick) Methodological decisions during two parent-delivered language interventions
2.45     Break
3pm     Dr Dea Nielsen (University of York) The oTTer project; Dr Silke Fricke (University of Sheffield): The Nuffield Early Language Intervention
4pm     Discussion
4.30     Close