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 in CC43, CF59, CL51, CL55, CM62, CC13, CG85, CG93 or CA10, OR admission to CC10 and completion of PSYC11010. 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 - 2026
Term 2 - 2026 Profile
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).
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%).
Past Exams
All University policies are available on the Policy web site, however you may wish to directly view the following policies below.
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of policies are available on the Policy web site .
Term 2 - 2024 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 92.68% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 28.67% 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 SUTE.
Students commented that some of the lecture recordings were too detailed and could be more engaging.
Review lecture content and associated recordings, and record new videos for those that require updating.
Lecture content was reviewed and two new recordings were developed. Lecture content and recordings will be reviewed on an ongoing basis in coming terms.
Source: Unit coordinator reflection
The academic integrity of the written assessment task in this unit is likely to be at-risk for misuse of generative AI (artificial intelligence) by students.
Review and redesign this assessment task so that there is minimal risk of students using generative AI to complete the task. Ensure that expectations around the use of generative AI are made clear to students in the unit profile and on the Moodle site.
The written assessment task was redesigned so that it involved students developing a formal professional report for one of two simulated workplace scenarios to help prevent misuse of generative AI. Using the resources provided by the Academic Learning Centre, students were provided with information in the unit profile and on the Moodle site about permissible and non-permissible uses of generative AI across all assessment tasks.
Source: Student feedback
Students requested more feedback on their written assessment task.
Review feedback processes and develop a video of general feedback to help contextualise the individual feedback provided to students on their assessment tasks.
In Progress
Source: Student feedback
Students requested support in identifying psychometric information for a test from journal articles to support them in writing the psychological test evaluation report (Assessment 3).
Deliver tutorial activities designed to build students' skills in identifying relevant psychometric information about individual tests from journal articles.
In Progress
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Articulate the purposes and principles of psychological assessment and testing
- Identify and articulate the knowledge of test construction processes and basic statistics to develop and validate a test of a psychological construct
- Apply knowledge of psychometric principles to evaluate the reliability, validity and other relevant features of psychological assessment processes and tests
- Locate and use professional standards, ethical codes and sources of information relevant to developers and users of psychological assessments and tests.
This unit addresses Foundational Competencies as specified by the Australian Psychology Accreditation Council (APAC) and specifically aligns to:
1.1 Comprehend and apply a broad and coherent body of knowledge of psychology, with depth of understanding of underlying principles, theories and concepts in the discipline, using a scientific approach, including the following topics:
(i) the history and philosophy underpinning the science of psychology and the social, cultural, historical and professional influences on the practice of psychology
(ii) individual differences in capacity, behaviour and personality
(iii) psychological health and well-being
(iv) psychological disorders and evidence-based interventions
(vi) cognition, language and perception
(xi) culturally appropriate psychological assessment and measurement
(xii) research methods and statistics.
1.2 Apply knowledge and skills of psychology in a manner that is reflexive, culturally appropriate and sensitive to the diversity of individuals.
1.3 Analyse and critique theory and research in the discipline of psychology and communicate these in written and oral formats.
1.4 Demonstrate an understanding of appropriate values and ethics in psychology.
1.5 Demonstrate interpersonal skills and teamwork.
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Online Quiz(zes) | • | • | ||
| 2 - Written Assessment | • | • | • | • |
| 3 - Presentation | • | • | ||
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 2 - Problem Solving | • | |||
| 3 - Critical Thinking | • | • | • | • |
| 4 - Information Literacy | • | |||
| 7 - Cross Cultural Competence | • | |||
| 8 - Ethical practice | • | • | ||
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | |