Overview
Thesis I (PSYC22003) is the first of two research units that form the cornerstone of the research component of the Master of Clinical Psychology. In this unit you will work under supervision to develop and submit a research proposal, Gantt chart and ethics application, which must be passed in order to progress to Thesis II (PSYC22004) in Term 2. These tasks will prepare you for data collection, analysis and interpretation and is linked to Thesis II (PSYC22004), thereby developing the research skills necessary for working as a Clinical Psychologist.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
There are no requisites for this unit.
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 - 2020
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 pass/fail (non-graded) unit. To pass the unit, you must pass all of the individual assessment tasks shown in the table above.
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
Student resources all need to be available through Moodle (i.e. Thesis Manual and ethics documents) rather than the specific University drive, for easier student access.
All documents needed by students will be available on the unit Moodle site.
Feedback from Students evaluations
The list of supervisors listed in the Manual was out of date.
The list of available supervisors will be updated annually.
- Apply advanced knowledge and skills to plan a research project that is applicable to clinical psychology
- Investigate methods to inform, formulate and test a research question, including methods of data collection appropriate to clinical psychology
- Apply critical analysis and rigorous scientific inquiry to relevant literature in preparation of an ethics application and research proposal
- Communicate research professionally, ethically and in a culturally appropriate manner fit for a range of audiences.
These Learning Outcomes are intended to link with the 2019 Australian Psychology Accreditation Council accreditation guidelines and in particular, Clinical Psychology guidelines and competencies of Knowledge of the Discipline and Research and Evaluation. In addition, the Learning Outcomes are linked with the CG17 Master of Clinical Psychology course Learning Outcome: "Demonstrate the capacity to formulate, research and successfully complete a discipline based research project."
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Research Proposal - 0% | ||||
| 2 - Research Assignment - 0% | ||||
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 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 - Research Proposal - 0% | ||||||||
| 2 - Research Assignment - 0% | ||||||||
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.
jessica.paterson@cqu.edu.au
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Submit one document to Moodle containing your draft Gantt chart and draft Research Proposal
Both must have already been approved by your supervisor.
Due date: 0900 AEST Monday March 30th, 2020
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Reviewer’s comments on the draft Gantt chart and draft Research Proposal will be returned by the UC with any comments by 0900 AEST Monday April 6th, 2020.
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The final Gantt chart and Research Proposal must be uploaded to Moodle once comments from reviewers have been discussed with your supervisor and the proposal has been revised if necessary.
Due date: 0900 AEST Monday April 14th, 2020
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By the end of Week 12, you need to have submitted:
- At least one draft of the Literature Review to your supervisor
- Proof of ethics application submission and/or approval, and proof of organisational approvals to unit coordinator
Due date: 0900 AEST Friday June 5th, 2020
1 Thesis/Dissertation
The completed research project shall be the sole piece of assessment for the Psychology Research Project and graded according to the University's system of grading (HD 85 -100%; D 75 - 84%; C 65 - 74%; P 50 - 64%; F 0 - 49%).
THESIS SECTIONS
The Literature Review and the Research Report must be in the ONE thesis document (called The Dissertation). Below is a checklist of all the sections needed in The Dissertation and how to present them:
1. Title page of the whole document with the following information centred:
a. Title of The Dissertation
b. Name of candidate
c. Qualifications of candidate
d. Thesis statement:
A report submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Clinical Psychology
CQUniversity
9th October 2020
2. Signed and Dated Statement of Originality
Please note that the declaration includes a statement that the work is original and your own, and also that you have provided your data and analyses to the Course Coordinator (see below for hard copy submission).
Declaration of Candidate
This is to certify that the work presented in this document is my own work except for that which is cited in the text. I declare that the material shown has not been submitted in partial or full form for any other degree at this or any other university. The research thesis that is being submitted is in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Clinical Psychology.
I also declare that a file containing all of the data collected for this dissertation and files with all analyses that are referred to in this dissertation have been provided to the Master of Clinical Psychology Course Coordinator and are available from the School of Psychology upon request.
Name: ________________Signature: ________________Date: ______________
3. Acknowledgements
This section provides a brief, formal acknowledgement of the assistance you received in preparing the dissertation. This may include, but is not limited to, academic advice, assistance with access to participants / equipment / facilities, assistance with development of instruments / surveys. This is an important courtesy, but it is also important to ensure that the contribution of others to the work is recognised. In writing your acknowledgements, bear in mind the confidentiality of research participants. For example, identifying the institutional affiliation of a person who assisted with recruitment could make it possible to identify participants. You may also acknowledge support from family and friends or any other significant personal supports.
4. Table of Contents
Section headings and page numbers for the entire thesis, that is, for the literature review AND the research report
5. Literature Review Title Page
Use APA formatting
6. Literature review abstract
This is a concise summary of the literature review of no more than 250 words (not included in the word limit count of the literature review). Below the abstract include the following statement:
The word length of this literature review including the abstract and references is XX words.
The word length without the abstract and references is XXXX words
7. Literature review text
5000 words plus / minus 10%, not including abstract and references
8. Literature review references
A reference list is required for both the literature review and the research report – not all citations are needed(or expected) to appear in both.
9. Research Report Title Page
Present according to your chosen journal’s Author Guidelines.
10. Research Report Abstract
Present according to your chosen journal’s Author Guidelines. This is a concise summary of the manuscript (word length as specified in targeted journal author guidelines). Below the abstract include the following statement:
This manuscript is prepared for name of journal. The author guidelines for name of journal are provided in Appendix X. The word length specified by this journal is XX words. The word length of this manuscript excluding abstract, tables / figures and references is XX words.
11. Research Report
Format consistent with requirements of journal for which the manuscript is prepared. The manuscript should include a reference list. Please note that author guidelines for particular journals may specify a fixed word count. Thus, you should discuss this with your supervisor and prepare your manuscript to meet the guidelines of the journal. If there is material that you believe is important for examiners to be aware of for the purpose of assessing your work but is not required by the journal, this information can be included in an Appendix that is referred to in the text of the manuscript. Such information would include, for example, include the results of preliminary data screening analyses.
12. Research Report References
A reference list is required for both the literature review and the research report – not all citations are needed(or expected) to appear in both.
13. Appendices for the Dissertation
Numbered consecutively, each to commence on a new page headed Appendix #. Appendices will include journal author guidelines, letter from the HREC (and/or other HREC) confirming approval for the research to be conducted and/or permission statements to conduct research. You must also include your final ethics report in the appendices.
Subsequent Appendices will include information such as the following: letters / advertisements to recruit participants in the study, information statement, consent form, details of debriefing procedures, instructions to participants, details of assumption checking for statistical tests, SPSS / other output, any additional analyses not presented in detail in the text, questionnaires / structured interviews / surveys used to collect data. This list is not exhaustive and provides examples only. You should seek advice from your research supervisor about what else may be required for your dissertation.
14. Tables, Figures, and other illustrations
These will be of photo-ready standard and, wherever possible, will be inserted in the appropriate place in the text. Where journal articles require these to be appended at the end of the article this is permitted for submission. Tables and figures will be appropriately headed and labelled according to APA Style and will normally be designed so that they fit on a single A4 page (or aligned with journal requirements). Pages must be numbered for both the literature review and the publication.
SUBMITTING THE DISSERTATION
Hard copy submission is no longer a requirement for the MPsych(Clin) Research Project at CQU.
The thesis will only be submitted online via Moodle. An electronic version of the Research Project is to be submitted through Moodle by 5.00pm AEST Friday October 9th 2020. This copy must include all the sections above.
Submit your dissertation as a single word document electronically through the eLearning Moodle site for PSYC22004 Thesis II.
PLEASE USE THE FOLLOWING NAMING CONVENTION:
“Surname Initial MPC Dissertation” e.g., “Smith J MPC Dissertation”.
Students must submit items listed below to the Department Administration Office of the Health, Medical and Applied Sciences (HMAS) (Rockhampton Building 6, 1st floor), by 5.00pm Friday October 9th 2020. If your data will arrive after that date, you must post it by COB Friday October 9th 2020, and let HMAS know. HMAS will contact the unit coordinator to let them know who has or has not submitted.
I. A disk copy of all data (DVD or USB) with your name on it. This will be stored at the University;
II. All original survey forms or questionnaires, or whatever media were used to collect the data must be submitted for storage as required by CQUniversity regulations and APS ethical guidelines - this is in addition to the inclusion of a disk copy of the data set used for the analysis.
Publication of Research Report and or Literature Review
AFTER RECEIVING MARKER FEEDBACK, STUDENTS ARE EXPECTED TO SUBMIT THEIR RESEARCH PAPER TO THE SELECTED JOURNAL.
If the student has not done this within six months of receiving feedback from the marker, the supervisor can approach the student and discuss publishing the paper as first author. The supervisor and the student will then negotiate the order of the authorship in that case. Students are requested to notify the UC and the Head of Course when their paper has been submitted.
The Literature Review section of the thesis will comprise 30% of the student's overall thesis grade.
The Empirical Report (Paper) section will comprise 70% of the student's overall thesis grade.
Weighted grades will be calculated based on the examiner’s grades.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Title and Abstract of Literature Review
The abstract in this instance should outline the direction the review is going to take, and indicate the conclusions reached by the review regarding the progress of research towards clarifying a specific problem and future research directions.
Literature Review
The Literature Review should be a stand-alone piece of work that provides a broad overview of the general topic and overarching research concept the student is studying. It should conclude with identification of future research directions that are needed based on the current state of research surrounding the topic. It should act as a justification for the project that is described and presented in the research report component of the thesis, but should not discuss specific aims and hypotheses – this should be reserved for the introduction section of the empirical report.
Style, Referencing and Written Expression
In this section you should consider both the use and format of in-text citations, as well as the format and content of the reference list. All students should adhere to APA 6th edition style guidelines.
EMPIRICAL REPORT
Title and Abstract of Empirical Report
The abstract should outline the background, aims, methods, findings and conclusions of the empirical report, including potential future research directions.
Introduction
The introduction should provide a comprehensive and critical review of previous research in the area of the report, including the aims and hypotheses/research questions to be addressed in the report.
Method
When assessing the method section the following aspects should be present:
· Clear description of relevant participant details, - for example, mean age and/or age group frequencies, gender split and any other variable that has substantial bearing on thesis content (i.e. if the thesis isexamining differences based on membership of a particular group then the frequencies of participantsfalling in each group should be present).
· The Materials section should clearly and succinctly outline the instruments used, whether they be survey instruments or validated experimental protocols. Citations should be provided for validated instrumentsand protocols.
· The procedure section should clearly and concisely outline how the study was undertaken, including aspects of participant recruitment, and the survey/experimental procedures. This section should include enough detail that the study could be easily replicated by an independent observer.
· Theses using an existing data set should clearly indicate the source of the data in the Method section.
· Some indication of the prior reliability of validated instruments should be provided – reliability from the current study should also be presented, this may be in the method section, at the beginning of the results section, or in the Appendices.
· Some theses may add a design section or other details, please assess these as to the clarity they add to the Method, however, the three core sections of Participants, Materials and Procedure MUST be present.
Results
The results section of the empirical report should contain some limited information regarding data screening and assumption testing (i.e. a statement indicating screening and assumption testing were completed and there were the following issues, which were dealt with in this way, with reference to a specific appendix).
Please note that for qualitative papers it is acceptable to combine the results and discussion sections. However, the student needs to clearly describe the data (results) and explain the implications (discussion). Accordingly, for a qualitative thesis, the assessment in this section should reflect the student's description and presentation of results/outcomes
Data Screening and Assumption Testing
This section is most likely to be found as an Appendix, which should be clearly referenced and cited within the results section. As there is no fair equivalent for a qualitative thesis (detail regarding the type of qualitative approach and data collected should be in the method section), markers will indicate if this requirement is not met due to the student submitting a qualitative paper.
Discussion
The discussion should provide a comprehensive interpretation and justification of results in relation to the research hypotheses/research questions. It should also provide a discussion of the implications, limitations and applications of the findings, and discuss directions for future research.
Style, Referencing, Written Expression and Adherence to Journal Requirements
All students should adhere to APA 6th edition style guidelines, or the requirements of the journal to which they intend to submit.
- Apply systematic inquiry skills organisation, critical analysis and rigorous scientific inquiry to psychological phenomena
- Generate hypotheses relevant to clinical practice and develop testable research questions
- Use qualitative and/or quantitative design and methods, including the systematic collection, analysis and interpretation of data, to investigate research questions relevant to clinical psychology
- Critically evaluate and analyse research literature
- Communicate research findings professionally and ethically and in manners fit for a range of audiences.
- 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?
