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

Prerequisites
PSY20006 Cognition and Human Performance
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

Teaching periods
Location
Start and end dates
Last self-enrolment date
Census date
Last withdraw without fail date
Results released date
Study Period 3
Location
Hawthorn
Start and end dates
26-August-2024
24-November-2024
Last self-enrolment date
08-September-2024
Census date
16-September-2024
Last withdraw without fail date
11-October-2024
Results released date
17-December-2024
Study Period 3
Location
Hawthorn
Start and end dates
26-August-2024
24-November-2024
Last self-enrolment date
08-September-2024
Census date
16-September-2024
Last withdraw without fail date
11-October-2024
Results released date
17-December-2024
Semester 1
Location
Hawthorn
Start and end dates
03-March-2025
01-June-2025
Last self-enrolment date
16-March-2025
Census date
31-March-2025
Last withdraw without fail date
24-April-2025
Results released date
08-July-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
TOTAL150

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
TOTAL150

Assessment

Type Task Weighting ULO's
Online TestsIndividual 10% 1,2,3,4 
Report 1Individual 40% 1,2,5 
Report 2Individual 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.