Psychology 2080B-650
Introduction to Test and Measurement
If there is a discrepancy between the outline posted below and the outline posted on the OWL course website, the latter shall prevail.
1.0 CALENDAR DESCRIPTION
This course examines principles of psychological assessment in an applied context through lectures and demonstrations. Topics will include reliability and validity, legal and ethical issues in test construction, and selected controversial questions relating to assessment in areas such as personnel selection, standardized testing in schools, and group differences in test performance.Antirequisite: Psychology 3840F/G
Antirequisites are courses that overlap sufficiently in content that only one can be taken for credit. So if you take a course that is an antirequisite to a course previously taken, you will lose credit for the earlier course, regardless of the grade achieved in the most recent course.
0.5 course
2.0 COURSE INFORMATION
Instructor: Sarah Mackrell, M.Sc.Office: SSC 7331
Office Hours: by appointment
Email: smackrel@uwo.ca
If you or someone you know is experiencing distress, there are several resources here at Western to assist you. Please visit: http://www.uwo.ca/uwocom/mentalhealth/ for more information on these resources and on mental health.
Please contact the course instructor if you require material in an alternate format or if you require any other arrangements to make this course more accessible to you. You may also wish to contact Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD) at 519-661-2111 ext 82147 for any specific question regarding an accommodation.
3.0 TEXTBOOK
Kaplan, R.M. & Saccuzzo, D.P. (2009) Psychological Testing Principles, Applications, and Issues. 8th Edition. (Belmont, CA.: Wadsworth). (Note: this is a special edition of the text printed for this course, and should have the words “Psychology 2080 A/B” on the front cover.)4.0 COURSE OBJECTIVES
The objectives of this course are:• To provide students with basic knowledge about psychological tests and testing in applied areas, including neuropsychology, industrial/organizational psychology, educational psychology, and intelligence.
• To ensure students understand important terms and concepts, with particular attention to the concepts of reliability and validity
• To acquaint students with important pitfalls in the testing process, by describing problems with particular tests, particular testing procedures, and inappropriate uses of test results
• To ensure students understand ethical and legal implications of psychological testing
5.0 EVALUATION
Exams (80% of final grade): There are two multiple-choice exams, each worth 40% of your final grade. Each exam will test the material covered in the preceding lectures. Exams are non-cumulative, however, concepts in later lectures build on those learned earlier in the course. The exams will test knowledge presented in the lectures and course textbook.Assignments (20% of final grade): There will be four short assignments, each worth 5% of your grade. Details about each assignment will be provided throughout the term. All assignments will be submitted online through the course OWL site and will be due at 11:59pm on the corresponding due date.
Although the Psychology Department does not require instructors to adjust their course grades to conform to specific targets, the expectation is that course marks will be distributed around the following averages:
70% 1000-level and 2000-level courses
72% 2190-2990 level courses
75% 3000-level courses
80% 4000-level courses
The Psychology Department follows the University of Western Ontario grading guidelines, which are as follows (see http://www.uwo.ca/univsec/pdf/academic_policies/general/grades_undergrad.pdf ):
A+ 90-100 One could scarcely expect better from a student at this level
A 80-89 Superior work that is clearly above average
B 70-79 Good work, meeting all requirements, and eminently satisfactory
C 60-69 Competent work, meeting requirements
D 50-59 Fair work, minimally acceptable
F below 50 Fail
6.0 TEST AND EXAMINATION SCHEDULE
7.0 CLASS SCHEDULE
|
Topic |
Date |
Reading |
|
1. Introduction and Basic Statistics |
January 4 |
Chapter 1 & 2 |
|
2. Reliability |
January 11 |
Chapter 4 |
|
3. Validity |
January 18 |
Chapter 5 |
|
4. Writing Items |
January 25 |
Chapter 6 |
|
5. Interviewing |
February 1 |
Chapter 8 |
|
6. Intelligence |
February 8 |
Chapter 9 |
|
Reading Week February 15-19 (no readings) |
||
|
Midterm Exam (Chapters 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9) Date and time TBA |
||
|
7. Other Individual Tests of Ability in Education and Special Education |
February 22 |
Chapter 11 |
|
8. Workplace I |
February 29 |
Chapter 16 |
|
9. Workplace II |
March 7 |
Chapter 18 |
|
10. Health |
March 14 |
Chapter 17 |
|
11. Test Bias |
March 21 |
Chapter 19 |
|
14. Ethics |
March 28 |
Chapter 21 |
|
15. Exam Review |
April 4 |
No readings |
|
FINAL EXAM PERIOD APRIL 9-30th (Exam date and time TBA, Chapters 11, 16, 18, 17, 19, 21 ) |
||
8.0 STATEMENT ON ACADEMIC OFFENCES
Students are responsible for understanding the nature and avoiding the occurrence of plagiarism and other scholastic offenses. Plagiarism and cheating are considered very serious offenses because they undermine the integrity of research and education. Actions constituting a scholastic offense are described at the following link: http://www.uwo.ca/univsec/pdf/academic_policies/appeals/scholastic_discipline_undergrad.pdf
As of Sept. 1, 2009, the Department of Psychology will take the following steps to detect scholastic offenses. All multiple-choice tests and exams will be checked for similarities in the pattern of responses using reliable software, and records will be made of student seating locations in all tests and exams. All written assignments will be submitted to TurnItIn, a service designed to detect and deter plagiarism by comparing written material to over 5 billion pages of content located on the Internet or in TurnItIn’s databases. All papers submitted for such checking will be included as source documents in the reference database for the purpose of detecting plagiarism of papers subsequently submitted to the system. Use of the service is subject to the licensing agreement, currently between Western and Turnitin.com http://www.turnitin.com
Possible penalties for a scholastic offense include failure of the assignment, failure of the course, suspension from the University, and expulsion from the University.
9.0 POLICY ON ACCOMMODATION FOR MEDICAL ILLNESS
The University of Western Ontario’s policy on Accommodation for Medical Illness can be found at:
http://www.westerncalendar.uwo.ca/2015/pg117.html
Students must see the Academic Counsellor and submit all required documentation in order to be approved for certain accommodation:
http://counselling.ssc.uwo.ca/procedures/medical_accommodation.html
10.0 OTHER INFORMATION
Office of the Registrar web site: http://registrar.uwo.ca
Student Development Services web site: http://www.sdc.uwo.ca
Please see the Psychology Undergraduate web site for information on the following:
http://psychology.uwo.ca/undergraduate/student_responsibilities/index.html
- Policy on Cheating and Academic Misconduct
- Procedures for Appealing Academic Evaluations
- Policy on Attendance
- Policy Regarding Makeup Exams and Extensions of Deadlines
- Policy for Assignments
- Short Absences
- Extended Absences
- Documentation
- Academic Concerns
- 2015 Calendar References
No electronic devices, including cell phones, will be allowed during exams.
