ABSTRACT
Experimental materials are the fuel to a study engine; without them, the study cannot be run. Creating experimental materials is part creativity and part labor. A Latin square design is a special type of ANOVA that enables researchers to derive the maximum possible amount of information from a limited set of observations. Once researchers have settled on a number of items per condition, giving due consideration to all other design factors, they are ready to start item production. Critical or experimental trials are the trials in which a researcher is most interested. These are the trials that contain the researcher’s experimental manipulation and for which eye-movement data and any other dependent variables are collected. Secondary tasks provide a measure of participants’ attentiveness during the experiment and, in particular, during the primary task. Accuracy data collected for a secondary task reflect participants’ levels of engagement with the materials. They may also serve as a gauge of overall L2 proficiency level.
