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PSYX3332 – Principles of Psychological Assessment

2022 – Session 1, Online-flexible

General Information

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Unit convenor and teaching staff Unit convenor and teaching staff
Lorna Peters
lorna.peters@mq.edu.au
Credit points Credit points
10
Prerequisites Prerequisites
(PSY248 or PSYU2248 or PSYX248 or PSYX2248) and (10cp at 2000 of PSY or PSYU or PSYX units)
Corequisites Corequisites
Co-badged status Co-badged status
Unit description Unit description
This unit is concerned with the assessment of individual differences in intelligence and personality through the use of appropriate psychological tests. Important principles of psychological measurement and assessment are covered, including: standardisation, norms, reliability, test development and validation. The practical program emphasises test development and test administration; scoring and interpretation; and highlights current issues in the use and interpretation of tests.

Important Academic Dates

Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  • ULO1: Understand the historical and theoretical basis of psychological testing.
  • ULO2: Remember, explain, and apply statistical procedures to describe the psychometric properties of a test.
  • ULO3: Generate a psychological test and examine its adequacy using empirical procedures.
  • ULO4: Understand the theoretical and empirical bases of psychological tests used to assess the main domains of cognition and personality.
  • ULO5: Recognise the application of psychological tests in a variety of domains of psychological practice (e.g., organisational and clinical contexts).

General Assessment Information

Assessment in PSYX3332 is made up of a Midsession Exam, a Written Report, and the Final Exam.

All assessment times and other times in this unit BEFORE 3 April 2022 are GMT+11 (AEDT, Australian Eastern Daylight Time, SYDNEY) and AFTER 4 April 2022 are GMT+10 (AEST, Australian Eastern Standard Time, SYDNEY).

Midsession Exam

An online midsession exam will be conducted in week 7 (Tuesay 5th April). The online exam will be delivered via an iLearn quiz that will be made available for a 24 hour period (12am until 11.59pm). Within that 24 hour period, once the quiz has been started, students will have 40 minutes to complete the multiple choice quiz questions (some involving calculation). Students must start the exam by 11.19pm at the latest in order to have the full 40-minutes to complete the exam.

The midsession exam will test students’ ability to apply and analyse the statistics introduced in the lectures in weeks 2 – 5. Students will not be required to recall formulae – a sheet containing formulae will be provided. Questions will require students to use data to generate the statistics and to use the results of their calculations to make judgements about test scores. Different question sets will be generated for students to reduce the chance that students can copy directly from one another. Worked examples of the sorts of questions asked on the test will be demonstrated in the lectures. Students will be provided with their mark via the iLearn page for the unit after the exam closes.

If you are unable to sit the Midsession Exam at the specified time: Students who are unable to complete the online midsession exam at the specified time due to serious and unavoidable circumstances must make a claim for Special Consideration via ask.mq.edu.au attaching appropriate supporting documents within five (5) working days from the day of the midsession examination. The unit convenor will determine eligibility for a late midsession exam and eligible students will be notified via email (using the official university email address for the student) about the time (likely to be during week 8; this date is subject to change) of the late midsession exam. The format of the late midsession exam is at the unit convenor's discretion and is subject to change from the original midsession examination. There will be only one alternative time.

Written Report

A written report (maximum 1500 words), in APA format, will be due by close of business (5pm) on Tuesday 26th April. Students should submit their assignment via Turnitin on the iLearn webpage for the Unit. Feedback on the report will be returned via iLearn during week 12.

The report will be based on Practical 1 and 2 and will report on the construction and psychometric properties of a brief test developed in the practical exercises. The requirements of the assignment will be covered in a recorded lecture made available via iLearn by the end of Week 6.

A penalty will be applied for going over the word limit of 1500 words: 5% of the maximum assignment mark (i.e., 35/100) for every 100 words written over the word limit. An additional 99 words beyond the limit can be written without penalty. For example, if the assignment is 100-199 words over the word limit, 1.75 marks out of 35 will be deducted; if the assignment is 200-299 words over the word limit, 3.5 marks out of 35 will be deducted etc. The word limit excludes the title page, tables and figures, and References pages.

If you are unable to submit the Written Report on time: Assignments submitted after the due date, without an approved extension, will receive a 5% per day penalty including weekends and public holidays. That is, 1.75 marks out of 35 will be deducted from the assignment mark for every day the assignment is late. No late submissions will be accepted more than 5 days after the submission deadline, unless special consideration has been granted.  That is, assignments submitted after 5pm on Sunday 1st May will not be accepted and a mark of zero will be given for the assignment. If an extension is required for medical or other extenuating circumstances, students may request Special Consideration via ask.mq.edu.au with supporting documentary evidence (such as medical certificate, counsellor note, or similar) within five (5) working days after the due date for the assignment.  If you have an approved extension, submission after the extended due date will receive a 5% per day penalty including weekends and public holidays. No extensions will be granted beyond 5pm on Friday 20th May.

Final Examination

During the final exam period, students will complete a 1 hour multiple choice exam, which will assess recall, understanding, and application of material presented in lectures 8 to 12 inclusive and in practicals 3 to 6 inclusive, as well as any required readings associated with those lectures and practicals.

Students are expected to make themselves available for the final exam at the date and time set by the University, in line with the Assessment Policy and Procedure. Sitting the final exam is compulsory in order to be eligible to pass the unit. Any student who does not attempt the final exam will be granted a Fail Absent grade.

Special Consideration

If you experience serious and unavoidable difficulties at exam time or when assessment tasks are due, you can consider applying for Special Consideration. There is a link to the policy in the Policies and Procedures section of this Unit Guide.

Assessment Tasks

Name Weighting Hurdle Due
Online mid-session quiz 20% No Week 7
Report 35% No Week 8
Final Examination 45% No During the examination period

Online mid-session quiz

Assessment Type 1: Quiz/Test
Indicative Time on Task 2: 23 hours
Due: Week 7
Weighting: 20%

 

Online multiple-choice quiz testing unit content.

 
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Understand the historical and theoretical basis of psychological testing.
  • Remember, explain, and apply statistical procedures to describe the psychometric properties of a test.
  • Generate a psychological test and examine its adequacy using empirical procedures.

Report

Assessment Type 1: Report
Indicative Time on Task 2: 35 hours
Due: Week 8
Weighting: 35%

 

A 1500 word written report, in APA format, on the construction and psychometric properties of a brief test developed in the practical class.

 
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Remember, explain, and apply statistical procedures to describe the psychometric properties of a test.
  • Generate a psychological test and examine its adequacy using empirical procedures.
  • Understand the theoretical and empirical bases of psychological tests used to assess the main domains of cognition and personality.
  • Recognise the application of psychological tests in a variety of domains of psychological practice (e.g., organisational and clinical contexts).

Final Examination

Assessment Type 1: Examination
Indicative Time on Task 2: 30 hours
Due: During the examination period
Weighting: 45%

 

Final examination held within the University’s formal exam period, in accordance with relevant requirements.

 
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Understand the historical and theoretical basis of psychological testing.
  • Understand the theoretical and empirical bases of psychological tests used to assess the main domains of cognition and personality.
  • Recognise the application of psychological tests in a variety of domains of psychological practice (e.g., organisational and clinical contexts).

1 If you need help with your assignment, please contact:

  • the academic teaching staff in your unit for guidance in understanding or completing this type of assessment
  • the Writing Centre for academic skills support.

2 Indicative time-on-task is an estimate of the time required for completion of the assessment task and is subject to individual variation

Delivery and Resources

PSYX3332 is delivered as an online unit via Open Universities Australia (OUA). Please read this Unit Guide in conjunction with information provided about studying a Macquarie University unit via OUA at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/other-study-options/open-universities-australia.

Recorded Lecture Material

Recorded lecture material (up to 2-hours duration) will be available via iLearn each week of the session, apart from weeks 7 and 13. 

Readings associated with lectures will be listed in the lecture outlines posted on iLearn and most will be made available via Unit Readings on the Library webpage.

All lecture material is examinable (either in the midsession exam or in the final exam).

Practicals

There are six practicals to be completed over a two-week period commencing in week 2 of session. Required readings for the practicals will be listed in the practical sections on iLearn and made available via Unit Readings on the Library webpage.

All practical material is assessable (either in the assignment or in the final exam).

Recommended Text

Any recent text on Psychological Testing or Psychological Assessment will more than likely cover the main content of the unit. The text recommended for the unit in 2021 is:

Shum, D., O'Gorman, J., Myors, B., & Creed, P. (2017). Psychological Testing and Assessment (Third Edition). Melbourne, Vic.: Oxford University Press.

Unit Schedule

Week

Lectures

Practicals

1

Live via Zoom Tues 12-2pm or listen to the Recording: Unit information – objectives, assessment, organization

Recorded: Introduction to psychological assessment. Overview of types of tests. (Peters)

 

2

Recorded: Test scores. Norms. Reliability: Types; Sources of error; Methods of calculating (Peters)

Practical 1: Test construction (the assignment is based on this practical)

3

Recorded: Reliability: Reliability and standard error of measurement; worked examples

Validity: Types; Methods of determining validity

Relationship between reliability and validity (Peters)

4

Recorded: Test Construction (Peters)

Practical 2: Analysis of test data (the assignment is based on this practical also)

5

Recorded: Item Response Theory (Peters/Baillie)

 

6

Live via Zoom Tues 12-2pm or Listen to the Recording: Revision for the midsession exam (Peters)

Recorded: Assignment requirements (Peters; available by the end of Week 6)

Practical 3: Test fairness, test bias and testing special groups

7

MIDSESSION EXAM  No lecture this week

 

 

Midsession Recess

8

Recorded: Ethical issues in the use of psychological assessment (Peters)

Practical 4: IQ testing with the Wechsler tests

9

Recorded: Assessment of Intelligence: Theoretical Issues (Todorov)

10

Recorded: Assessment of Intelligence: Clinical Issues (Todorov)

Practical 5: Current Issues in IQ Testing

11

Recorded: Personality Assessment: Self-report Inventories (Peters)

12

Recorded: Personality Assessment: Other techniques (Peters)

Practical 6: Personality test administration, scoring and interpretation

13

No lecture this week

Policies and Procedures

Macquarie University policies and procedures are accessible from Policy Central (https://policies.mq.edu.au). Students should be aware of the following policies in particular with regard to Learning and Teaching:

Students seeking more policy resources can visit Student Policies (https://students.mq.edu.au/support/study/policies). It is your one-stop-shop for the key policies you need to know about throughout your undergraduate student journey.

To find other policies relating to Teaching and Learning, visit Policy Central (https://policies.mq.edu.au) and use the search tool.

Student Code of Conduct

Macquarie University students have a responsibility to be familiar with the Student Code of Conduct: https://students.mq.edu.au/admin/other-resources/student-conduct

Results

Results published on platform other than eStudent, (eg. iLearn, Coursera etc.) or released directly by your Unit Convenor, are not confirmed as they are subject to final approval by the University. Once approved, final results will be sent to your student email address and will be made available in eStudent. For more information visit ask.mq.edu.au or if you are a Global MBA student contact globalmba.support@mq.edu.au

Academic Integrity

At Macquarie, we believe academic integrity – honesty, respect, trust, responsibility, fairness and courage – is at the core of learning, teaching and research. We recognise that meeting the expectations required to complete your assessments can be challenging. So, we offer you a range of resources and services to help you reach your potential, including free online writing and maths support, academic skills development and wellbeing consultations.

Grading

Macquarie University follow standards-based assessment of student performance. All individual assessment tasks are subject to moderation, consistent with the Assessment Policy and Procedure. A student’s final mark for this unit, and associated grade, must reflect their attainment of the unit learning outcomes, and isn’t necessarily a simple summation of their individual assessment items.

OUA policies

For information and administrative processes specific to OUA studies, please see this website: https://students.mq.edu.au/study/faculties/open-universities-australia

Student Support

Macquarie University provides a range of support services for students. For details, visit http://students.mq.edu.au/support/

The Writing Centre

The Writing Centre provides resources to develop your English language proficiency, academic writing, and communication skills.

The Library provides online and face to face support to help you find and use relevant information resources. 

Student Services and Support

Macquarie University offers a range of Student Support Services including:

Student Enquiries

Got a question? Ask us via AskMQ, or contact Service Connect.

IT Help

For help with University computer systems and technology, visit http://www.mq.edu.au/about_us/offices_and_units/information_technology/help/. 

When using the University's IT, you must adhere to the Acceptable Use of IT Resources Policy. The policy applies to all who connect to the MQ network including students.

Unit information based on version 2022.03 of the Handbook