Psychology Project
Overview
This unit provides students with an understanding of the fundamentals of psychological measurement. Students will gain familiarity with the general process of developing psychological scales, including a variety of measurement methods and administration formats. The unit will also address topics in basic psychometric theory, including reliability, validity, and norms. Students will be given the opportunity to develop professionally relevant skills and experience in the selection, construction and evaluation of psychological tests and measures.
Requisites
PSY20007 Developmental Psychology
STA20006 Analysis of Variance and Regression
Rules
Pre-requisite
PSY20006 Cognition and Human Performance
AND
PSY20007 Developmental Psychology
AND
STA20006 Analysis of Variance and Regression
Equivalent
HAY303 - Psychology Project; HAY309 - Psychological Measurement; LSY332 - Psychology Project; SLSY332 - Psychology Project
01-June-2025
08-June-2025
05-October-2025
Learning outcomes
Students who successfully complete this unit will be able to:
- Describe the characteristics of a good psychological measure and explain how to evaluate the usefulness and appropriateness of a specific instrument for a specific application
- Outline the steps involved in the development of psychological measures, and design your own program for the development and validation of a new measure
- Calculate, report and interpret key statistics relevant to scale development and evaluation
- Describe a range of different measurement formats and methods, explaining the pros and cons of each
- Work collaboratively with peers to achieve project outcomes
Teaching methods
Hawthorn
| Type | Hours per week | Number of weeks | Total (number of hours) |
|---|---|---|---|
| On-campus Lecture | 1.00 | 12 weeks | 12 |
| On-campus Class | 2.00 | 12 weeks | 24 |
| Specified Activities Various | 2.00 | 12 weeks | 24 |
| Unspecified Activities Various | 7.50 | 12 weeks | 90 |
| TOTAL | 150 |
All Applicable Locations
| Type | Hours per week | Number of weeks | Total (number of hours) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Live Online Class | 1.00 | 13 week | 13 |
| Online Directed Online Learning and Independent Learning | 10.54 | 13 week | 137 |
| TOTAL | 150 |
Assessment
| Type | Task | Weighting | ULO's |
|---|---|---|---|
| Online Tests | Individual | 10% | 1,2,3,4 |
| Report 1 | Individual | 40% | 1,2,5 |
| Report 2 | Individual | 50% | 1,2,3,4 |
Content
- Theories and methods for psychological measurement
- Fundamentals of test construction
- Methods for evaluating the properties and quality of tests
- Administration and scoring of tests
- Cultural appropriateness and sensitivity
- Professional and ethical issues in psychological measurement and research
- Graduate Attribute 2 (Communication 2 - Communicating using different media)
- Graduate Attribute 3 (Teamwork 1 - Collaboration and negotiation)
- Graduate Attribute 4 (Teamwork 2 - Teamwork roles and processes)
- Graduate Attribute 5 (Digital Literacies 1 - Information literacy)
Study resources
Reading materials
A list of reading materials and/or required textbooks will be available in the Unit Outline on Canvas.