Faculty of Higher Education Lilydale

Unit of Study Outline PSS350 Psychological Measurement Project

Study Period 1, 2013
Version date (7 February, 2013)

Swinburne University of Technology, 2013 Except as provided in the Copyright Act 1968, this document may not be reproduced in any form without the written permission of the University.

Unit of Study Outline

Unit of study code Unit of study name Teaching Term/Semester & Year Contact Hours (hrs/wk) or total contact hours PSS350 Psychological Measurement Project Study Period 1, 2013 Online delivery 1 hour tutorial offered each fortnight Group project work and supervision through Blackboard/iLearn Projects are intended to be undertaken in a students final year of study. The following subjects are prerequisites for PSS350: PSS110 Introduction to Psychology 1; PSS120 Introduction to Psychology 2; STA102/STA15 Foundations of Statistics STA210 Analysis of Variance; STA310 Multivariate Statistics; and one of the following two units: PSS240 Cognition and Human Performance PSS250 Developmental Psychology Corequisites Credit Points None 12.5

Prerequisites

Teaching Staff Name Toby Mizzi Role Unit of Study Convenor/Tutor Email Address tmizzi@swin.edu.au Consultation Times Discussion Board and Email

Email

All emails sent to either your tutor or the unit convener of this unit need to be sent from your student email account. This will ensure your email is received in a timely manner and not automatically sent to the SPAM filter used by Swinburne. Swinburne email accounts can be forwarded to personal accounts. The Swinburne student email system, Outlook Live, is located at http://outlook.com. See http://live.swinburne.edu.au/faq.html for more information on how to use it. As part of the email criteria please clearly place in the subject heading the Unit Code and a brief topic description, also inside your email state your name (first name and last name) so that your email can be attended to as soon as possible.

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Aims This unit aims to provide students with an understanding of the fundamentals of psychological measurement. Students will gain familiarity with the general process of developing psychological scales, including a variety of measurement methods and administration formats. The unit will also address topics in basic psychometric theory, including reliability, validity, and norms. The unit is project-based and students will work in groups to complete some key assessment tasks. Students will be given the opportunity to develop professionally relevant skills and experience in the selection, construction and evaluation of psychological tests and measures. Learning Objectives After successfully completing this unit, you should be able to: 1. Describe the characteristics of a good psychological measure and explain how to evaluate the usefulness and appropriateness of a specific instrument for a specific application 2. Outline the steps involved in the development of psychological measures, and design your own program for the development and validation of a new measure 3. Calculate, report and interpret key statistics relevant to scale development and evaluation 4. Describe a range of different measurement formats and methods, explaining the pros and cons of each 5. Demonstrate the ability to work in a team to achieve project outcomes

Resources and Reference Material The essential text is Gregory, R.J. (2011). Psychological Testing. History, principles and applications. (6th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson. It is also recommended that you consult a reference on APA style and formatting when preparing submissions. There are many books and resources on APA style, but many students may already own Findlay, B. (2012). How to write psychology research reports and essays. (6th ed.). Frenchs Forest, NSW: Pearson Australia. These resources are available from OUAs book suppliers. Additional readings may be prescribed for the course. Other resources may be made available through the library catalogue Subject Materials Online for this unit. Lecture notes, information about assignments, and other learning resources will be placed on the Blackboard iLearn website for this unit.

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Content Lesson 1: Introduction to Psychological Testing Lesson 2: Item Development and Factor Analysis Lesson 3: Reliability Lesson 4: Validity Lesson 5: Group testing and Controversies in Ability Testing Lesson 6: Self-report measures, Behavioural Observation and Interviewing Lesson 7: Assignment 1 Submission Lesson 8: Intelligence Lesson 9: Personality: Clinical and Non-clinical Lesson 10: Neuropsychological Assessment Lesson 11: Industrial and Organisational Assessment Lesson 12 : Psychology and the Law/ Forensic Assessment Lesson 13: Assignment 2 Submission Key Generic Skills for this Unit of Study You will be provided with feedback on your progress in attaining the following generic skills: teamwork skills, analysis and problem solving skills, communications skills, ability to tackle unfamiliar problems, and ability to work independently

Learning and Teaching Structure As this is an online unit you will need to take responsibility for your learning. Teaching staff will be available to assist when required, but it will be up to you to take the initiative and contact your convenor or appointed tutor by email, during the chat sessions or via the online discussions. There is a 1-hour live online tutorial (i.e., chat session) each fortnight. Details concerning this tutorial will be published shortly before commencement of the study period. You are expected to watch the lesson overview video clips and do the recommended reading before the tutorial session. You are expected to utilise all of the resources which are available online and undertake the preparatory reading, activities and exercises given in the units learning materials. You are expected to attempt all the assessment tasks and utilise the feedback you receive to help guide your studies. Monitor Blackboard iLearn and contribute to the student discussion forums. In total you should expect to commit at least 5-7 hours of time to this unit, more if required. (For example, on-campus students typically spend twelve and a half hours of total time - formal contact time plus independent study time - a week on a 12.5 credit point unit of study).

You should follow the dates provided in your Weekly Schedule (as contained in this document) for all assessment items and suggested course content sequencing, and check each Lesson under the Learning Material menu on Blackboard iLearn. In a study period, you should normally expect to spend, on average, twelve and a half hours of total time (formal contact time plus independent study time) a week on a 12.5 credit point unit of study.

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Provisional Weekly Schedule Study Period 1 2013

#
1 2 3

Week Beginning
25 February 4 March

LESSON
Introduction to Psychological Testing Item Development and Factor Analysis Reliability

ACTIVITIES*
Workbook Task 1 Workbook Task 2 Workbook Task 3

ASSESSMENT
Workbook Task 1 Workbook Task 2 Workbook Task 3

11 March

18 March Census Date 4 18 March Validity Workbook Task 4 Workbook Task 4

5 25 March 6 1 April

Group tests and Controversies in Ability Testing Self-report measures, Behavioural Observation and Interviewing

Workbook Task 5

Workbook Task 5 Presentation (Wiki)

Workbook Task 6

Workbook Task 6

7 April - Last Day to withdraw without academic penalty (WD) 7 8 April Assignment 1 Consultation/Q&A Assignment 1 Due

15 April

Intelligence

Workbook Task 7

Workbook Task 7

21 April Last day to withdraw to receive (WDFP) 9 Personality: Clinical and Non-clinical Workbook task 8 Workbook Task 8

22 April

21 April Students withdrawing after this date will receive (NLWD) 10 11 12 13 29 April 6 May 13 May 20 May Neuropsychological Assessment Industrial and Organisational Assessment Psychology and the Law/ Forensic Assessment Assignment 2 Workbook Task 9 Workbook Task 10 Workbook Task 11 Consultation/Q&A Workbook Task 9 Workbook Task 10 Workbook Task 11 Assignment 2 Due

* The online tutorial sessions are primarily to assist students in achieving the project aims. The first six sessions have specific activities associated with them designed to help develop relevant skills. The second six sessions are open consultation sessions for project development. Workbook entries need to be made throughout the unit.

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Blackboard iLearn Site for this Unit of Study Important information concerning this unit of study is placed on the Swinburne course management system (Blackboard iLearn), accessible via http://ilearn.swin.edu.au/ It is your responsibility to access on a regular basis: the Blackboard iLearn site for your unit of study. Type in your ID number and your password. Note your ID number is your student ID and your password is initially set to your date of birth in the format DDMMYY the Announcements section on Blackboard iLearn, and any emails sent by the teaching staff to your student email address via Blackboard iLearn. If you access your email through a provider other than Swinburne, it is your responsibility to ensure that your Swinburne email is forwarded to your private email address. To redirect your Swinburne email, go to http://live.swinburne.edu.au/redirect.html for information on how to do this. Please note: Not all internet browsers support Blackboard iLearn. The compatible browsers are as follows: PC users: Firefox version 3.6 and above, Internet Explorer version 8 and above, Chrome. Mac users: Firefox version 3.6 and above, Safari version 5, Chrome. See http://kb.blackboard.com/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=101285989 for more information. Student Feedback: Swinburne seeks student feedback in a number of ways, including through Student Feedback surveys, as part of the universitys approach to quality assurance and improvement. Possible improvement based on both student and staff feedback is considered by Unit Convenors, Unit Panels made up of relevant teaching staff, Program Panels, Faculty Academic Committees, and the Academic Programs Quality Committee, as appropriate. Recent updates and improvements made to this unit of study include: The introduction of a new textbook.

Assessment a. Assessment Task Details:

Assessment Task Individual/Group Task Assignment 1: Scale Development Assignment 2: Major Development Proposal Wiki Individual Group Group Related Learning Objective(s) 1,2,3 1,2,4,5 1,2,4,5 Weighting Due Date

30% 45% 5%

11.55pm Sunday th April 14 11.55pm Sunday June 2nd 11.55pm Sunday March 31st Continual

Workbook Assessment

Individual

1,2,3,4,5

20%

Examination There is no formal examination for this unit. Details of each assessment will be published on Blackboard. b. Participation Requirements Students are encouraged to make use of all the electronic facilities and resources available on the unit website, which are online tutorials, discussion boards and emails. These methods of engaging in the unit are advised but not mandated.
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Group Project You are expected to collaborate with a group of students to complete the project. Group members may have different roles in the project and peer evaluation may form part of the grading process. You are expected to regularly interact with other members of your project group and your tutor/supervisor. Failure to do so may be ground for not passing the unit.

c. Minimum Requirements to pass this Unit of Study: In order to achieve a pass in this unit of study, you must: submit all assessments achieve an overall 50% minimum pass mark.

d. Assessment Criteria: Specific assessment criteria for each of the written assignments will be provided through Blackboard

Assessment is used to provide students with feedback to help gauge their learning and guide their study, and for teaching staff to asses rate students' knowledge and understanding of the unit content and skills. Marks and their associated grades are as follows: 85% or above 75% - 84% 65% - 74% 50% - 64% 0% - 49% High Distinction (HD) Distinction (D) Credit (C) Pass (P) Fail (N)

A few words of explanation about the meaning of these categories may help to interpret your marks. Sometimes students feel that they know more about the assignment than they have been given credit for, and this may well be true. However, staff can only give marks for what actually appears in the work being assessed. 1. An N grade (fail) indicates that a student has failed to present evidence of an acceptable level of knowledge or understanding of the area in question or has seriously misunderstood the requirements of the assignment. 2. A P grade (pass) indicates that either a student shows evidence of having grasped the basics of the area in question, but has done little to elaborate on basic material or ideas, or that there is an unevenness to the student's work such that, while some parts of it may be reasonable, other aspects are poor. 3. A C grade (credit) indicates that a student has shown a creditable knowledge and understanding of the area in question, has gone some way beyond the basic minimum reading, analysis or exposition. 4. A D grade (distinction) means that a student has distinguished herself or himself in the submitted work, has shown very good performance in research and exposition and has impressed the examiner by the level of demonstrated knowledge, effort and presentation. 5. An HD grade (high distinction) shows that a student is familiar with the topic in impressive detail, has made points and has taken up aspects of the topic which are original and refreshing and generally has submitted work which is of an exceptionally high standard. An HD indicates quite a rare level of work.

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You will find comments on your returned reports. Use these to improve your work. You are welcome to discuss your work after it has been returned to you. However, leave at least 24 hours after your have received an assignment back before discussing it with your tutor. e. Submission of Assignments: Written assignments must Have a title/copyright page with o o o o A title of the assignment, your name, your tutors name, and the day and time of your tutorial class. A plagiarism statement declaring that the assignment has not been copied or plagiarised. A template for this page can be downloaded from the Assessment section of Blackboard. Electronic submission of work is taken as an indication of compliance with Swinburne plagiarism, copyright and authorship requirements.

Be written in APA format (6th edition). See either of the following, or similar source for further information o o American Psychological Association (2009) Publication Manual (6th ed.). Washington: American Psychological Association. Findlay, B. (2012). How to write psychology research reports and essays. (6th ed.). Frenchs Forest, NSW: Pearson Australia.

Be typed double-spaced and have appropriate margins (at least 3cm on all 4 margins). Be numbered page by page. Be the correct length. Submissions which exceed the word limit may receive a marks penalty. Are submitted in the right place. Assignments should be submitted electronically on Blackboard iLearn by 11:55pm on due date. Due dates are shown in the Schedule o o o o Log on to the Blackboard iLearn site for this unit and click on the Assessment menu item. Follow the links and instructions for each assessment as appropriate. Files should be in PDF, Word or RTF format PDF preferred. See information on Blackboard about electronic formats IMPORTANT: before submitting, make sure your document opens correctly in the current version of Acrobat (currently version 9). Corrupt or faulty documents will not be marked.

Make and keep a copy of your assignment in case your original is lost or misplaced. It is your responsibility to make available a copy of any work, which you claim to have submitted.

Group Written Assignments Must comply with all the points above (for written assignments). Be submitted by ONE designated group member through blackboard iLearn.

Additional instructions will be made available via Blackboard iLearn. f. Extensions and Late Submissions: Assessment due dates are published in Unit Outlines at the start of the teaching period and will not normally be extended except where students had their studies adversely affected by acute illness, misadventure or other extraordinary cause or circumstance reasonably
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beyond their control. Students who need to request an extension of time to the due date for a piece of assessment (excluding end of teaching period final examinations) should contact their Unit Convenor directly to discuss their circumstances and submit the extension form located at http://www.lilydale.swinburne.edu.au/students/current.htm If approved, the convenor will notify the student of the extended date. For more information refer to http://policies.swinburne.edu.au/ppdonline/showdoc.aspx?recnum=POL/2007/9 . Late Submissions o A penalty of 10% of the available marks is deducted per day for late submissions. o Submissions more than 10 days late will receive zero marks. Students should also consult Swinburnes Assessment and Appeals Policy and Procedure. g. Assessment Results: You will be given informal feedback in supervision sessions and should make use of this information in the preparation of submissions. In the case of the Proposal Wiki task, feedback will normally be provided within one week of the due date of submission. Marks/grades and feedback for most assessment tasks are normally provided within 3 weeks from the due date of submission. For the project, grades and feedback will normally be available before the end of the exam period. Students must retain all assessed material until final results are published. Policy on Re-Marking If a student has good reasons to believe that she or he has been unfairly assessed, she or he should first discuss this with the staff member who examined the work. If the issue is not thereby resolved, the convener may arrange for a re-examination of the work. In this event, the student must submit a clean copy of the work to be assessed. The convener will then determine the mark to be allocated in consultation with the examiner(s). The final mark will usually be an average of the first and second mark, unless the two markers agree on a different mark. No discussion of grades will occur within 24 hours of the return of the graded work to students. This is to allow the student time to thoroughly read the comments made by the marker and absorb their implications, rather than perhaps reacting "in the heat of the moment" to the grade given. Have another look at what has been said about the awarding of grades in this document. Any request for re-marking must be made within seven (7) working days after the return of the particular work in question.

NOTE:

Students must retain all assessed material that contributes to the final result up until such time as the final results are published. h. Groupwork Guidelines: A group project is the collective responsibility of the entire group, and if one member is temporarily unable to contribute, the group should be able to reallocate responsibilities to keep to schedule. In the event of longer-term illness or other serious problems involving a member of a project group, it is the responsibility of the other members to make the project supervisor aware of the situation straight away. All group members must be satisfied that the work has been correctly submitted. Any penalties for late submission will apply to all group members, not just the person who submitted.
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i. Plagiarism: Swinburne University of Technology defines Plagiarism as the action or practice of taking and submitting or presenting the thoughts, writings or other work of someone else as though it is your own work. Plagiarism includes any of the following, without full and appropriate acknowledgment to the original source(s): (i) The use of the whole or part of a computer program written by another person; (ii) the use, in essays or other assessable work, of the whole or part of a written work from any source including but not limited to a book, journal, newspaper article, set of lecture notes, current or past students work, any other persons work, a website or database; (iii) the paraphrasing of anothers work; (iv) the use of musical composition, audio, visual, graphic and photographic models, (v) The use of realia, that is objects, artefacts, costumes, models and the like. Plagiarism also includes the preparation or production and submission or presentation of assignments or other work in conjunction with another person or other people when that work should be your own independent work. This remains plagiarism whether or not it is with the knowledge or consent of the other person or people. It should be noted that Swinburne encourages its students to talk to staff, fellow students and other people who may be able to contribute to a students academic work but that where independent assignment is required, submitted or presented work must be the students own. Enabling plagiarism contributes to plagiarism and therefore will be treated as a form of plagiarism by the University. Enabling plagiarism means allowing or otherwise assisting another student to copy or otherwise plagiarise work by, for example, allowing access to a draft or completed assignment or other work. j. Assessment and Appeals Policy and Procedure The information outlined in the Assessment sections above is covered in more detail in Swinburnes Assessment and Appeals Policy and Procedure. Students must be familiar with the Policy and Procedure, found at: http://www.swinburne.edu.au/corporate/registrar/ppd/docs/AssessmentandAppealsHigherEducatio n.pdf The Policy and Procedure provides details about: Assessment issues such as the conduct of examinations, plagiarism policies and details explaining how to apply for a review of results and other appeals, and Student progress issues such as unsatisfactory academic progress and early intervention procedures, and Information for students with disabilities and special needs and procedures for applying for special consideration. Students should make themselves familiar with all aspects of the Policy and Procedure, as failure to do so is not grounds for appeal. Students are advised to seek advice from the staff at the Swinburne Student Amenities Association SSAA (http://www.swinburne.edu.au/ssaa/) if they require assistance with advocacy for Sections 12 (At-Risk and Progress Review) and 13 (Appeals) of the Policy and Procedure. Safety Standards and Conduct Requirements: Student misconduct is an action by a student which is in breach of the policies specified by Swinburne in the student General Misconduct policy. This extends to publishing on websites even where those sites are not set up or managed by Swinburne. Swinburne accepts no responsibility for unauthorised material posted in social networking sites (such as Facebook). If you have any issues resulting from the behaviour of other students, you should immediately contact the Swinburne Student Amenities Association (SSAA) http://www.myssaa.com.au/Advocacy/About-academic-advice-and-advocacy

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Relevant links: Student General Misconduct policy http://policies.swinburne.edu.au/ppdonline/showdoc.aspx?recnum=POL/2007/29 Information Technology (IT) Systems Acceptable Use Policy http://policies.swinburne.edu.au/ppdonline/showdoc.aspx?recnum=POL/2008/34 All students are expected to respect the rights and sensibilities of their fellow students and teaching staff. This also applies in respect of the content of video and audio work submitted for assessment. The University has rigorous anti-discrimination and harassment policies and procedures. http://www.swinburne.edu.au/corporate/hr/equity/policies.htm Special Needs If you have special needs you should advise your Faculty and the Unit of Study Convenor by the end of the second week of the teaching period. In addition, you are recommended to notify the Equity Office if you have not already done so. See also the Students with Disabilities and Special Needs Section of the Assessment and Appeals Policy & Procedure, at: http://www.swinburne.edu.au/corporate/registrar/ppd/docs/StudentswithaDisability.pdf

Open Universities Australia

Withdraw from a unit If you need to withdraw from a unit the date of the notification is very important. See below for further information. From week 1 - 6 Please advise Open Universities Australia, of your intention to withdraw up until the end of week 6, the unit(s) will be removed from your record. From weeks 1 3 you will, however, incur an administration fee. Please refer to the OUA website https://www.open.edu.au/public/studentadmin-and-support/changing-your-study/withdrawing for these details. You will not incur a FEE HELP debt for the unit(s). Financial penalties are based on the date that Open Universities Australia receives your withdrawal request. From weeks 4-6 you will incur your fee help debt. Weeks 7-13 Please submit a withdrawal form http://www.lilydale.swinburne.edu.au/oua/withdrawal.pdf , to advise Swinburne University of Technology, Higher Education Lilydale, of your intention to withdraw from week 7 and no later than eight weeks after the start of the Study Period, the unit(s) will receive a WDFP Withdrawn, Fee Payable grade on your academic record. You will retain the FEE HELP debt for the unit(s). If the notification of withdrawal is received after Week 8 of the Study Period, the unit(s) will receive a NLWD Not Pass, Late Withdrawal grade on your academic record. You will retain the FEE HELP debt for the unit(s). If you do not formally withdraw and you have submitted work, it will be assessed and a grade awarded accordingly. If no work for assessment has been submitted, a Not Assessed grade will be awarded. Refunds for withdrawal after the Census Date are available under Special Circumstances for students who have paid their registration fees upfront. Please refer to the Special Circumstances
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section of the Refund Guidelines in the Open Universities Australia handbook or the website www.open.edu.au for further information. Further Information For further information on OUA through Swinburne University of Technology a website has been provided. The address for this site is: http://www.ld.swin.edu.au/oua/ Contacts Swinburne University of Technology, Lilydale Locked Bag 218 Lilydale VIC 3140 ouald@swin.edu.au Phone: (+613) 9215 7206 Fax: (+613) 9215 7254 Student Advisers - Open Universities Australia GPO Box 5387 Level 1, 131 Queen St., Melbourne VIC., Australia 3001 http://www.open.edu.au/contactus Phone (+61) 1300 36 36 52 Fax (+613) 8628 2955

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