Overview
This unit is part of the sequence of units that culminates in the degree of Master in Clinical Psychology. This unit is intended to provide supervision and knowledge necessary for developing and finalising a thesis proposal. It is also intended to help the student inculcate research skills necessary for working as a Clinical Psychologist.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
Academic Course = CG17
Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).
Offerings For Term 1 - 2017
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes – in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 12-credit Postgraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 25 hours of study per week, making a total of 300 hours for the unit.
Class Timetable
Assessment Overview
Assessment Grading
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%). Consult the University’s Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades.
All University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
You may wish to view these policies:
- Grades and Results Policy
- Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework)
- Review of Grade Procedure
- Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure – Domestic Students
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure – International Students
- Student Refund and Credit Balance Policy and Procedure
- Student Feedback – Compliments and Complaints Policy and Procedure
- Information and Communications Technology Acceptable Use Policy and Procedure
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Feedback from Student feedback
Students would like to do their theses in relation to their placements.
Try to align theses themes to placements where possible to assist learning.
We encourage students to utilise their placements to do their research project. Already we have implemented three research projects where data collected within the Wellness Centre during their internal placement can be utilised for students in their theses.
Feedback from Student feedback
Students report excessive stress levels for thesis in term 2.
To ensure students are time managed better in term 1, and research supervisors are in regular contact with students.
I have advanced the timeline of the thesis so that work on the thesis begins after exams in term 2 of the first year with the aim of reducing the stress at the end of term in the 2nd year.
- Utilise research knowledge and skills applicable to working from a Scientist - Practitioner base as a clinical psychologist.
- Apply systematic inquiry skills to clinical problems including problem identification, and the acquisition, organisation, and interpretation of information to allow critical analysis and disciplined, rigorous, careful and scientific inquiry of the psychological phenomena.
- Generate hypotheses of relevance to clinical practice and operationalise these into testable research questions.
- Demonstrate a high level knowledge of qualitative and/or quantitative design and methods, including the systematic collection of data and the subsequent skilled analysis of data allowing accurate interpretation of findings.
- Utilise skills of critical evaluation to identify and analyse research literature.
- Incorporate a knowledge of ethical, legal and professional matters into the research process.
- Apply high level written communication skills and an awareness of professional writing styles to the production of the final thesis.
Each of the learning objectives is linked to current external accreditation guidelines and reflect a course ethos on developing scientist-practitioners.
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment - 100% | |||||||
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | |
| 1 - Knowledge | |||||||
| 2 - Communication | |||||||
| 3 - Cognitive, technical and creative skills | |||||||
| 4 - Research | |||||||
| 5 - Self-management | |||||||
| 6 - Ethical and Professional Responsibility | |||||||
| 7 - Leadership | |||||||
| 8 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures | |||||||
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment - 100% | ||||||||
Textbooks
There are no required textbooks.
IT Resources
- CQUniversity Student Email
- Internet
- Unit Website (Moodle)
All submissions for this unit must use the referencing style: American Psychological Association 6th Edition (APA 6th edition)
For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.
s.blunden@cqu.edu.au
Module/Topic
Thesis topics, supervisors, Gantt charts, literature review drafts and project proposal would have been competed by the start of Term 1.
Preparation of ethics submission
Chapter
Students need to have read the Masters in Clinical Psychology Thesis Manual available on the students available university drive
WellnessCentre/STUDENTS/MANUALS
Thesis reading program to be developed in consultation with supervisor.
Events and Submissions/Topic
By week 1, students would have already confirmed their supervisor and project (Due November 30th 2016) and submitted, to either to the course-coordinator, and/or their supervisor:
1. A Time line/Gantt Chart (Due December 23rd 2016)
2. First Draft of literature review (Due January 27th 2017)
3. Project proposal (due February 24th)
Module/Topic
Preparation of ethics proposal
Chapter
In consultation with supervisor.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Submission of Ethics application prior to Ethics committee meeting
Ethics Committee meeting dates for March 2017 to be confirmed
Module/Topic
Continuing development of Literature review
Re-submissions of Proposal if needed
Re-submissions of Ethics if needed.
Chapter
In consultation with supervisor.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Continuing development of Literature review
Re-submissions of Proposal if needed
Re-submissions of Ethics if needed.
Chapter
In consultation with supervisor.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Continuing development of Literature review
Re-submissions of Proposal if needed
Re-submissions of Ethics if needed.
Chapter
In consultation with supervisor.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Continuing development of Literature review
Re submissions of Ethics if needed.
Data collection can commence as soon as:
1. Ethics has been approved and
2. Research proposal has been passed
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Continuing development of literature review
Data collection can commence as soon as:
1. Ethics has been approved and
2. Research proposal has been passed
Chapter
In consultation with supervisor.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Continuing development of literature review
Data collection
Chapter
In consultation with supervisor.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Continuing development of literature review
Data collection
Chapter
In consultation with supervisor.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Continuing development of literature review.
Data collection
Chapter
In consultation with supervisor.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Data collection continues.
Finalisation of draft literature review.
Preliminary development of methodology section.
Identification of target journal.
Chapter
In consultation with supervisor.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Data collection.
Development of methodology section.
Chapter
In consultation with supervisor.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Submission of second draft of literature review
End of term review with supervisor on progress to date.
Course -coordinator and supervisor to review progress
Thesis components Due: Week 12 Friday (2 June 2017) 5:00 pm AEST
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
1 Written Assessment
See Guidelines inMaster of Clinical Psychology Thesis Manual 2017. It is expected that by the end of the Thesis 1 subject students will have demonstrated satisfactory progress on the development of the thesis. This includes:
- Satisfactory completion of project proposal.
- Identification of target journal
- Development and supervisor approval of project GANNT chart.
- Submission of ethics application with either approvals completed or in progress.
- Submission of a second draft of their literature review to supervisor.
- A draft of their methodology section for their research report
Week 12 Friday (2 June 2017) 5:00 pm AEST
Completion as ascertained by course coordinator and supervisor approved satisfactory progress on thesis tasks as described above
Monday (5 June 2017)
Directly through the supervisor and publised in Moodle
See Guidelines for Master of Clinical Psychology Thesis that was sent out to all prospective students and is stored in the Wellness Centre STUDENT drive. It is understood that specific projects may, for a range of reasons, not have met all expected timelines.
It remains however the responsibility of the supervisor to endorse the continuation of the project through to the Thesis ll subject. If the proposal is not passed by the supervisor and the course coordinator, then a second review of the proposal will be sought. If the second reviewer concurs with the initial supervisor then the student will be required to withdraw from the Thesis l subject and will not be permitted to enrol in Thesis ll of that academic year.
- Utilise research knowledge and skills applicable to working from a Scientist - Practitioner base as a clinical psychologist.
- Apply systematic inquiry skills to clinical problems including problem identification, and the acquisition, organisation, and interpretation of information to allow critical analysis and disciplined, rigorous, careful and scientific inquiry of the psychological phenomena.
- Generate hypotheses of relevance to clinical practice and operationalise these into testable research questions.
- Demonstrate a high level knowledge of qualitative and/or quantitative design and methods, including the systematic collection of data and the subsequent skilled analysis of data allowing accurate interpretation of findings.
- Utilise skills of critical evaluation to identify and analyse research literature.
- Incorporate a knowledge of ethical, legal and professional matters into the research process.
- Apply high level written communication skills and an awareness of professional writing styles to the production of the final thesis.
- Knowledge
- Communication
- Cognitive, technical and creative skills
- Research
- Self-management
- Ethical and Professional Responsibility
- Leadership
As a CQUniversity student you are expected to act honestly in all aspects of your academic work.
Any assessable work undertaken or submitted for review or assessment must be your own work. Assessable work is any type of work you do to meet the assessment requirements in the unit, including draft work submitted for review and feedback and final work to be assessed.
When you use the ideas, words or data of others in your assessment, you must thoroughly and clearly acknowledge the source of this information by using the correct referencing style for your unit. Using others’ work without proper acknowledgement may be considered a form of intellectual dishonesty.
Participating honestly, respectfully, responsibly, and fairly in your university study ensures the CQUniversity qualification you earn will be valued as a true indication of your individual academic achievement and will continue to receive the respect and recognition it deserves.
As a student, you are responsible for reading and following CQUniversity’s policies, including the Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure. This policy sets out CQUniversity’s expectations of you to act with integrity, examples of academic integrity breaches to avoid, the processes used to address alleged breaches of academic integrity, and potential penalties.
What is a breach of academic integrity?
A breach of academic integrity includes but is not limited to plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, cheating, contract cheating, and academic misconduct. The Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure defines what these terms mean and gives examples.
Why is academic integrity important?
A breach of academic integrity may result in one or more penalties, including suspension or even expulsion from the University. It can also have negative implications for student visas and future enrolment at CQUniversity or elsewhere. Students who engage in contract cheating also risk being blackmailed by contract cheating services.
Where can I get assistance?
For academic advice and guidance, the Academic Learning Centre (ALC) can support you in becoming confident in completing assessments with integrity and of high standard.
What can you do to act with integrity?
