PSYC13020 - Individual Differences and Assessment

General Information

Unit Synopsis

This unit will introduce you to the principles, processes, applications, and issues pertaining to the development and use of psychological assessment. This unit is presented through a number of themes, covering topics such as origins, ethics and uses of psychological testing; testing in adults, children and vulnerable populations; neuropsychological testing and testing for industry and career development. The psychometric basis of psychological assessment and testing is emphasised. You will focus on a variety of common psychological procedures and tests measuring individual differences. Consideration of individual differences and assessment in an Australian context will be a key component of your studies in this unit.

Details

Level Undergraduate
Unit Level 3
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 4
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites

96 credit points

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).

Class Timetable View Unit Timetable
Residential School No Residential School

Unit Availabilities from Term 1 - 2023

Term 2 - 2023 Profile
Adelaide
Bundaberg
Cairns
Online
Rockhampton
Townsville

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).

Assessment Overview

Recommended Student Time Commitment

Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.

Assessment Tasks

Assessment Task Weighting
1. Online Quiz(zes) 40%
2. Written Assessment 40%
3. Presentation 20%

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

Past Exams

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Previous Feedback

Term 2 - 2021 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 4.6 (on a 5 point Likert scale), based on a 45.58% response rate.

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.

Source: Student feedback via 'Have Your Say' survey and on discussion forums.
Feedback
Students requested that the topics/questions for the Long-Answer Questions (Written Assessment) be released earlier so that they could better plan their assessment priorities across the term.
Recommendation
Release the topics/questions for the Long-Answer Questions (Written Assessment) earlier in the term.
Action Taken
Topics for each part of the written assessment were released two weeks earlier than in the previous term. The release dates for the topics and the due dates were also amended to allow for students to plan their assessment priorities around university and school holidays.
Source: Student feedback via 'Have Your Say' survey and in class.
Feedback
Students requested that information and resources for the Long-Answer Questions (Written Assessment) and Oral Presentation be provided earlier in the term in a way that is more readily accessible (i.e. rather than clarifying information provided on the Moodle forum, which can be difficult to navigate).
Recommendation
Develop an information pack for the Written Assessment and Oral Presentation that expands on the current information, includes examples from past students and a video explainer of the task and its expectations. Provide this information as early as possible in the term directly within the Assessment tile in Moodle.
Action Taken
A suite of online resources, including an information pack, examples from past students and a video explainer were made available to students at the start of the term on Moodle.
Source: Student feedback and personal observations.
Feedback
Several students had difficulty with the technological requirements of the Oral Presentation (e.g., using video-recording technology, condensing video files for uploading to Moodle).
Recommendation
Within the Oral Presentation information pack, include clear step-by-step instructions and advice on how to record their presentation within Zoom and how to use Camtasia (or similar) to condense the file to upload into Moodle.
Action Taken
The online resources included instructions and advice for recording, saving and uploading a video file to Moodle.
Source: Student feedback via email, in class and in the 'Have Your Say' survey.
Feedback
Students indicated that they enjoyed the applied focus and learning opportunities provided by the Oral Presentation task, which involved a role play. However, several students indicated that they found it difficult to find a person to conduct the role play with.
Recommendation
Continue to offer the oral presentation as an assessment task but use Moodle (or other suitable technology) to allow students to form small groups early in the term. This will enable students to work together to practice the task and develop their final submission.
Action Taken
Students were supported to form small groups of 3 or 4 students to practice the role play for their oral presentation. They were given the opportunity to form their own groups if they preferred and to communicate this with the Unit Coordinator. For the remaining students who did not have classmates to work with, the Unit Coordinator allocated them to small groups based on location, to enable them to practice either in-person or online.
Source: Verbal feedback in class and written feedback via the 'Have Your Say' survey.
Feedback
Students commented that the due dates for several assessment tasks were spaced too close together at the end of the term.
Recommendation
Review assessment due dates, particularly those tasks with multiple parts and submission points, to ensure that there is a better spread across the final weeks of the term.
Action Taken
Nil.
Source: Written feedback via the 'Have Your Say' survey.
Feedback
Students commented that they enjoyed activities involving case studies of assessment information as these enabled them to see the practical application of the psychometrics and tests discussed in class.
Recommendation
Incorporate more case studies and other similar activities into the workshop sessions to enhance student understanding of the practical application of the unit content.
Action Taken
Nil.
Unit learning Outcomes

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

  1. Articulate the purposes and principles of psychological assessment and testing
  2. Identify and articulate the knowledge of test construction processes and basic statistics to develop and validate a test of a psychological construct
  3. Apply knowledge of psychometric principles to evaluate the reliability, validity and other relevant features of psychological assessment processes and tests
  4. Locate and use professional standards, ethical codes and sources of information relevant to developers and users of psychological assessments and tests.

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4
1 - Online Quiz(zes) • •
2 - Written Assessment • • • •
3 - Presentation • •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4
2 - Problem Solving •
3 - Critical Thinking • • • •
4 - Information Literacy •
7 - Cross Cultural Competence •
8 - Ethical practice • •
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
3 - Presentation • • • •
2 - Written Assessment • •
1 - Online Quiz(zes) • • • •