PhD studentship in exploring and expanding statistical methods and their applications

How do researchers use and understand statistics, and how can statistical practice be improved? The quality of science depends critically on the quality of the statistical methods in use, their match to the questions that researchers have, and the level of understanding researchers have of these methods. Without good understanding of statistical inference, behavioural and social scientists have difficulty properly interpreting the results of experiments and building models used to understand human behaviour. This goal of this project is to explore and expand statistical methods in use by behavioural and social scientists. There are several possible angles from which this project can be approached, from quantitative psychology and the development of new (particularly Bayesian methods) to the experimental exploration of statistical cognition: how researchers understand and use statistical information.