Internal Code: 2ADDH
Research Proposal Assignment
SECTION 1 – What this assignment is about
Preamble
Imagine that you are an academic or a consultant with expertise in human measurement. You have been invited to write a research proposal describing how you will create and evaluate a novel test or battery of tests (i.e., a novel combination of two or three tests, which could be existing tests) to measure people’s skill, ability, aptitude, personality trait, or mental state, in a specific real world domain. The aim is to propose something that would be of real benefit to society in some way.
The design of the test must be based on empirical research and the research proposal must demonstrate your understanding and application of psychometric principles (i.e., central to your proposal must be a description of how you will establish your test’s reliability and validity).
For example, empirical research indicates that individuals with good hazard perception skills have fewer car crashes. In this case you might aim to create a new hazard perception test that can differentiate safe vs. high-risk drivers. You would also need to detail how your test offers an advantage over existing hazard perception tests.
What to do first
To help illustrate what we’re after in this assignment, I’ve written an example assignment and also commissioned a former high-scoring student of PSYC3020 to write a second example on a different topic. We submitted both these assignments to be marked by two experienced PSYC3020 tutors, who have added comments and feedback. The tutors independently scored both assignments as being of a high Grade 7 standard.
Before you read any further through this briefing, go and download both these assignments and read them (available in the Assessment ? Assignment Materials section on the PSYC3020 Blackboard website). Hopefully, this will give you a clearer idea of what this assignment is about and the sort of document we’d like you to produce (obviously you have to do your assignment on a different topic).
You will be submitting this assignment twice
You will resubmit your assignment a second time after receiving feedback from your tutor. This time you will have the opportunity to improve your proposal by responding to any feedback that your marker raised with your first submission. You will also write a cover letter, detailing your responses to all the feedback to the marker (as if you were responding to reviewer feedback to a journal article submission). I’ll provide further details of what to do for your second submission closer to the time.
Your assignment topics
In choosing your topic for this assignment, you have two options:
(1) If there is an area you are particularly interested in, construct your own topic (Topic 1 below);
or (2) Select one of the ‘Suggested assignment topics’ listed below (Topics 2 to 5 below).
Suggested assignment topics
The topics suggested are listed below in order of difficulty, with Topic 1 being the most difficult to write a research proposal for (you have to think up your own topic) and Topic 5 being the easiest (with most support provided). Bear in mind that if you select an easier topic, your proposal will have to be proportionally more interesting and engaging (which also demonstrates extensive evidence of originality, independent thinking, and critical analysis of the empirical evidence) to achieve a high grade. If you pick a more challenging topic, there will be less support provided in this briefing and fewer previous research studies for you to base your research proposal on, but there may be more opportunities for innovative thinking. Again, you will need to write an interesting and engaging proposal which also demonstrates extensive evidence of originality, independent thinking, and critical analysis of the (limited) empirical evidence to achieve a high grade.
You have also been provided with starting references for Topics 2 to 5 (note that the references for this assignment are not on the PSYC3020 library site – this is deliberate to help develop your literature search skills). You should read other literature beyond these starting references in order to maximise your mark.
TOPIC 1 (hardest option; but easier to gain marks for independent thinking and more likely to be engaging from your perspective): Design and validate a new test or a new battery of tests for differentiating people in the domain of your choice.
If you construct your own assignment topic, you must have it approved by your tutor. Although you are welcome to discuss your ideas with your tutor in person, the final topic must be requested and approved via e-mail (to ensure it is documented). If you choose this option, it is your responsibility to ensure that your suggested topic is of an appropriate scope for the required word length.
Narrowing a suggested topic
Even if you choose a suggested topic, you may find that you wish to narrow it to make the scope of your assignment more manageable, given the word limit. If you simply wish to narrow a topic, you do not need your tutor’s approval. However, it is your responsibility to ensure that the narrowed version of the topic is of an appropriate scope for the required word length.
TOPIC 2 (hardest of prescribed topics; least support): Design and validate a new test or a new battery of tests to select the best applicants for entry into a postgraduate training program for clinical psychology.
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