Course

Psychological Assessment

Faculty
Humanities & Social Sciences
Department
Psychology
Course Code
PSYC 4360
Credits
3.00
Semester Length
15
Max Class Size
35
Method(s) Of Instruction
Lecture
Typically Offered
To be determined

Overview

Course Description
This course provides students with an introduction to the fundamental principles guiding the psychological assessment process, across the range of current applications. The historical-cultural context and relevant ethical principles are considered. Psychological assessment is presented as an integrative and multi-method process which includes structured tests. Key issues of reliability, validity and utility are addressed. Applications in education and training, forensic, workplace, health care, clinical and counselling, and rehabilitation contexts are considered, with an overview of current assessment practices.
Course Content
  1. Historical overview and implications of cultural context for psychological assessment
  2. Ethical principles
  3. Assessment as an integrative process
  4. Reliability, validity, utility considerations
  5. Test development
  6. Distributions, normative samples, standardization and the meaning of individual scores
  7. Statistics of particular importance to psychological testing
  8. Psychological assessment applications in:
    • Education and training
    • Neuropsychology
    • Clinical and Counselling: psychodiagnostics and psychological treatment
    • Forensics
    • The workplace
    • Healthcare
    Learning Activities

    The primary methods of instruction may include: 

    • Lecture
    • Group activities
    • Case study presentations
    • Audiovisual media
    • Guest lectures

     

    Means of Assessment

    The course evaluation will be in accordance with the Douglas College Evaluation Policy and Psychology Department policies. Evaluations will be based on the course objectives. The specific evaluation criteria will be provided by the instructor at the beginning of the semester.

    An example of a possible evaluation scheme would be:

    • Integrative assessment report - 20%
    • Exams - 5 at 14% each - 70%
    • Written reflection assignments - 5%
    • Participation - 5%
    • Total - 100%
    Learning Outcomes

    At the conclusion of the course, the successful student will be able to:

    1. Describe and explain:

    • Historical and cultural contexts of and consequent implications for the assessment process.
    • Ethics, culture and best practices in psychological assessment.
    • Statistical concepts of particular importance to psychological assessment, including reliability, validity and utility.
    • Distributions, standardization, norm development and application to individual scores.
    • The process of test development and item analysis.

    2. Interpret, calculate, or apply statistics of particular importance to psychological testing.

    3. Articulate and apply relevant ethical principles.

    4. Describe current practices in psychological assessment across a range of service-provision contexts: education and training, forensics, workplace, healthcare, clinical/counselling, neuropsychological.

    Textbook Materials

    Textbook(s) such as the following, the list to be updated periodically:

    • Gregory, R.J. (2014). Psychological testing: History, principles and applications (7th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.  

    • Hogan, T.P. (2013). Psychological testing: A practical introduction (3rd ed.).  New York, NY: Wiley

     

    Requisites

    Prerequisites

    PSYC 1100 AND PSYC 1200 both with a C- or better AND PSYC 2300 with a C or better

    AND

    Admission to the Bachelor of Arts in Applied Psychology Program or the Bachelor of Arts in Applied Psychology Honours Program or Bachelor of Arts in Applied Criminology or Bachelor of Arts in Applied Criminology-Honours or with permission from the instructor.

    Corequisites

    No corequisite courses.

    Equivalencies

    No equivalent courses.

    Course Guidelines

    Course Guidelines for previous years are viewable by selecting the version desired. If you took this course and do not see a listing for the starting semester / year of the course, consider the previous version as the applicable version.

    (Current)

    Course Transfers

    These are for current course guidelines only. For a full list of archived courses please see https://www.bctransferguide.ca

    Institution Transfer Details for PSYC 4360
    Simon Fraser University (SFU) SFU PSYC 1XX (3)
    Thompson Rivers University (TRU) TRU PSYC 4XXX (3)
    University of the Fraser Valley (UFV) UFV PSYC 306 (3)
    University of Victoria (UVIC) UVIC PSYC 3XX (1.5)

    Course Offerings

    Winter 2023