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 addresses 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. This unit will help students adapt skills learned in previous studies to the analysis and communication of contemporary problems in psychological measurement.
Requisites
PSY70015 Developmental Psychology
PSY70014 Cognition and Human Performance
Rules
Pre-requisite
STA70007 Analysis of Variance and Regression
AND
PSY70015 Developmental Psychology
AND
PSY70014 Cognition and Human Performance
08-June-2025
05-October-2025
Learning outcomes
Students who successfully complete this unit will be able to:
- Explain the characteristics of a good psychological measure and evaluate the usefulness and appropriateness of a specific instrument for a specific application
- Explain the steps involved in the development of psychological measures, and design their own program for the development and validation of a new measure
- Calculate, report, and interpret key statistics relevant to scale development and evaluation
- Evaluate a range of different measurement formats and methods, explaining the pros and cons of each
- Work collaboratively with peers to achieve project outcomes
- Reflect on ethical issues in psychological measurement
Teaching methods
Swinburne Online
| Type | Hours per week | Number of weeks | Total (number of hours) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Live Online Class | 1.00 | 4 weeks | 4 |
| Online Directed Online Learning and Independent Learning | 12.17 | 12 weeks | 146 |
| TOTAL | 150 |
Assessment
| Type | Task | Weighting | ULO's |
|---|---|---|---|
| Online Tests | Individual | 10% | 1,2,3,4 |
| Report | Individual | 40% | 1,2,5,6 |
| Report | Individual | 50% | 1,2,3,4,6 |
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
Study resources
Reading materials
A list of reading materials and/or required textbooks will be available in the Unit Outline on Canvas.