PSYC14050 - Ethics & Professional Issues in Psychology

General Information

Unit Synopsis

This unit will provide you with comprehensive training in Research Ethics and the Ethics of Professional Practice. This unit will develop and assess your ability to apply ethical concepts in real life situations and scenarios, with emphasis placed on the provision of evidence-based reasoning and justifications. As an advanced level unit there is a high level of expectation regarding independent study and self-directed learning. You are expected to be an active participant in the learning process, to independently research and read widely and to reflect upon multiple perspectives and opinions about best ethics practice in psychology, both in research and in professional practice. The unit is split into two six-week modules. Module 1 - Research Ethics will provide you with an understanding of the necessity for, and the processes which underpin, research ethics within the Psychology discipline. This module has a focus on, and will acquaint you with, the human research ethics procedures set by the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC). Module 2 - Professional Practice aims to equip you with the knowledge necessary for practicing as a psychologist in a professional manner. The focus of this module is on the identification of ethical issues in practice and the development of professional decision-making skills. This module will acquaint you with the Code of Ethics and the Ethical Guidelines set by the Australian Psychological Society (APS).

Details

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

Students must be enrolled in CC42 Bachelor of Psychological Science (Honours)


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 Compulsory Residential School
View Unit Residential School

Unit Availabilities from Term 3 - 2024

There are no availabilities for this unit on or after Term 3 - 2024

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. Group Work 35%
2. Written Assessment 35%
3. Online Test 30%

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 1 - 2022 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 85.71% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 74.47% 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 representatives and discussions during Zoom tutorials.
Feedback
Move the Residential School to Week 4 to allow more preparation time.
Recommendation
Move the Residential School to Week 4.
Action Taken
The compulsory Residential School was moved to Week 4.
Source: Student representatives and discussions during Zoom tutorials.
Feedback
Allow extra time in the online tests for perusal prior to responding to the test questions.
Recommendation
Extend the time permitted to complete the online test.
Action Taken
The time permitted to complete the end-of-term test was extended by 15 minutes to allow perusal time.
Source: End of term evaluation (Have your say) and Residential School evaluation.
Feedback
Change the room that was used for the Ethics section of the Residential School. It was hard to see the lecturers and hear the contributions from the students on Zoom.
Recommendation
Request a different teaching room for future Residential Schools.
Action Taken
The room allocated to the ethics sections of the Residential School was changed to a lecture theatre.
Source: End of term evaluation (Have your say).
Feedback
The real life examples were relevant and helpful to illustrate the ethical issues.
Recommendation
Continue to provide contemporary and relevant real life examples.
Action Taken
The teaching team continued to draw on real-life experience for examples of contemporary and relevant research and professional ethical issues.
Source: End of term evaluation (Have your say).
Feedback
The text book supported the subject matter presented in the lectures.
Recommendation
Retain the current textbook as a teaching and learning source.
Action Taken
The current textbook was retained as a teaching resource.
Source: Student Feedback (SUTE)
Feedback
Instructions for assessments need to be clearer
Recommendation
Assessment instructions will be reviewed to ensure clarity.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: Student Feedback (SUTE)
Feedback
The Unit Coordinators and lecturers always made themselves available via forums or email.
Recommendation
The teaching team will continue to be as responsive as possible.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: Student Feedback (SUTE)
Feedback
The structure of the unit was confusing, with the lecture material on professional ethics in the first 6 weeks, but at Residential School, there was an assessment on research ethics.
Recommendation
Residential School incorporates all aspects of ethics, so both the research ethics component (the in-person group presentation) and the professional ethics workshop component (learning to apply the ethical decision making model) were included. Rather than removing one of these important components from the Residential School, the structure of the unit will be more clearly explained at the beginning of the term.
Action Taken
In Progress
Unit learning Outcomes

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

  1. Identify and apply the ethical requirements of psychological research in an Australian context, particularly as they relate to the National Health and Medical Research Council Guidelines for the Ethical Conduct of Human Research
  2. Critically evaluate research from an ethics perspective and propose changes to a research approach and/or design to address the ethical issues identified
  3. Apply and evaluate ethical decision making strategies across multiple professional contexts, particularly as they relate to applications of the Code of Ethics and the Ethical Guidelines of the Australian Psychological Society.

Learning outcomes fulfil the level 2 pre-professional core competencies required by the updated Australian Psychology Accreditation Council (APAC) guidelines. The learning outcomes also meet the study criteria as specified by the Psychology Board of Australia (PsyBA) and as appropriate for study at level 8 as stated by the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF).

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3
1 - Group Work • •
2 - Written Assessment •
3 - Online Test • • •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3
1 - Communication • • •
2 - Problem Solving • • •
3 - Critical Thinking • • •
4 - Information Literacy • •
5 - Team Work • •
8 - Ethical practice • • •
9 - Social Innovation •
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