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 - 2019
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 evaluations
Some of the instructions in the thesis manual were unclear regarding timelines and requirements.
Undertake annual review of the thesis manual to ensure clarity and consistency in requirements and timelines.
Feedback from Student evaluations
Students suggested including a session on ethical procedures for Masters level theses.
Suggest including specific instructions regarding ethics procedures early in the second 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
c.l.thompson@cqu.edu.au
Module/Topic
Chapter
Refer to the Masters in Clinical Psychology Thesis manual
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Submission of Gantt Chart and a Draft of the Research Proposal in one document for Review
Submission via Moodle (5:00pm EST Friday March 22nd 2019)
Module/Topic
Comments on draft proposals will be returned for revisions.
Chapter
Refer to readings on Moodle regarding thesis and scientific writing
Events and Submissions/Topic
Draft proposals returned with comments
Returned via Moodle (5.00PM EST Friday 12th April 2019).
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Submission of Final Research Proposal for Review
Submission via Moodle (5:00pm EST Friday April 5th 2019)
Module/Topic
Specific instructions for Ethics submissions are on Moodle and in the Masters in Clinical Psychology Thesis manual.
Chapter
Refer to the Masters in Clinical Psychology Thesis manual
Links in Moodle
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Refer to the Masters in Clinical Psychology Thesis manual:
Ethics Submissions
Events and Submissions/Topic
Submission of ethics documentation to the Ethics Committee Secretariat (ethics@cqu.edu.au)
by 5:00pm EST Friday April 26th 2019
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Refer to Masters in Clinical Psychology Thesis manual for all components of thesis that need to be completed for completion of Thesis I
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Written Assessment Due: Week 12 Friday (7 June 2019) 5:00 pm AEST
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
1 Written Assessment
The Written Assessment is composed of three parts: (1) Gantt Chart and Draft Proposal (2) Approved Proposal (3) Ethics documentation. All parts of this Written Assessment must be submitted in order to pass this Unit. Details of submission will be available on Moodle.
Week 12 Friday (7 June 2019) 5:00 pm AEST
Submissions via Moodle by due date
Week 12 Friday (7 June 2019)
Grades displayed in Moodle
Assessment criteria are detailed in Moodle and in the Masters in Clinical Psychology Thesis manual, which is on Moodle
- 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?
