Prospectus

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Psychodiagnostics (IBP)

Course
2014-2015

Students of the Dutch bachelor’s programme, see Psychodiagnostiek

Admission requirements

There are no formal admission requirements, but students are expected to be familiar with the theories covered in the first year (relating to personality, clinical, social and cognitive development psychology). Students are also expected to be familiar with terms from the field of psychometrics, such as test construction, standardisation (stanines, deciles, T-scores, etc.), reliability and validity.

Description

This course provides an introduction to psychodiagnostics relating to children and adults. Students acquire knowledge and skills in the field of psychodiagnostics in accordance with the guidelines of the Basisaantekening Psychodiagnostiek (BAPD), a quality label of the Dutch Association of Psychologists (NIP). The lectures and work groups focus on diagnostic research into intelligence and personality, neuropsychology, psychopathology, learning disorders, vocational interest and professional competences. In the work groups, assignments are used to help students acquire practical knowledge of diagnostics for hypothesis testing, selecting research tools, and interpreting and reporting on the results. The theoretical knowledge acquired in the lectures and assigned reading material is put into practice in the work groups, where the primary focus is on the diagnostic process, forming and testing hypotheses, the intake procedure and reporting. In addition, students work with an online programme to help them practise their psychodiagnostic skills.

Course objectives

After completing the Psychodiagnostics course, students will have:

  • Demonstrable theoretical knowledge of the contents and progress of the psychodiagnostic process with regard to different diagnostic questions.

  • Demonstrable knowledge and understanding of the different steps (from intake to recommendation) of the diagnostic process.

  • Skills in developing and testing diagnostic hypotheses.

  • Some skills in recognising, selecting, scoring and interpreting diagnostic resources (observation, interview) and tools (tests, questionnaires).

  • Skills in documenting in writing the various steps of the psychodiagnostic process (from intake and hypotheses to recommendation), according to the guidelines of the BAPD.

Timetable

Psychodiagnostics (2014-2015):

Registration

Course

Students need to enroll for lectures and work group sessions. Please consult the Instructions registration

Examination

Students are not automatically enrolled for an examination. They can register via uSis from 100 to 10 calendar days before the date; students who are not registered will not be permitted to take the examination. Registering for exams

Mode of instruction

Lectures

There are eight lectures in total. The main objective of the eight lectures is to introduce students to the content and progress of the diagnostic process in relation to different psychodiagnostic topics/questions (course objectives 1 and 2). The main lecture materials consist of a course book that is covered in the lectures, together with examples from practice (case studies, video fragments and guest speakers from the field).

Work groups

Of the six compulsory work group sessions, three focus on youth diagnostics, and the other three on adult diagnostics. The main objective of the six work group sessions is to help students learn to recognise, select and interpret diagnostic tools and to formulate a diagnostic report (course objectives 3, 4 and 5). In the work group sessions, students are invited to actively practise these practical diagnostic skills using video fragments and diagnostic material. In addition, students are expected to write (either as a group or individually) a diagnostic report on the skills practised in the work group sessions. These reports are submitted online and provided with feedback. Every work group assignment has its own learning objectives. For each work group (assignment), students are provided with standard guidelines (advice) which they can follow to meet these objectives. Work group lecturers assess whether the students have met these learning objectives. This is announced for each assignment via instructions and online feedback.

Interactive online computer programme

By using the compulsory interactive online computer programme (ViP) students acquire and practise the professional skills required for precise psychodiagnostic assessment. Some of these ViPs are covered in the work group sessions.

Assessment

Regulations on grade calculation for compulsory courses of the second year

Specifics for this course:

  • The grade for the course is made up of two partial grades: an examination grade (60%) and a work group grade (40%). The latter grade is determined based on 5 sub-assignments that students have to carry out. Each assignment will be assessed as: fail, pass, good, or very good. The combination of these 5 grades will be calculated to arrive at the work group grade (see Blackboard for the calculation table).

  • There will be only one opportunity to re-take the examination, in April. Work group assignments cannot be re-taken.

  • Students are allowed to miss a maximum of one work group session, if they have a valid reason. Students need to communicate their absence by means of an email sent to their work group instructor. Students need to compensate for missing a work group session by carrying out a compensation assignment related to that particular work group session. If a student misses more than one work group session, he/she will be excluded from the course and has to re-take the course in the year to follow.

The Faculty of Social Sciences has instituted that instructors use a software programme for the systematic detection of plagiarism in students’ written work. In case of fraud disciplinary actions will be taken. Please see the information concerning fraud

Blackboard

Additional information can be found on Blackboard

Reading

  • Course Book: Psychological Testing & Assessment (2014). Pearson Customized Edition. ISBN 9781784470913 (available via Labyrinth or Studystore.nl). Please Note: this book contains a personal code that provides access to the online chapter “Behavioral Assessment”. This e-chapter is also part of the examination.

  • Online Reader: Available via Blackboard.

  • Course book: Henk van der Molen, Henk Schmidt & Manon A. de Jong (red.), Skills in Psychodiagnostics, Den Haag: Eleven International Publishing, 2014. ISBN 978-94-6236-051-8. (Available via Labyrinth).
    Please note: This book contains a personal code that provides access to the online course. All students must have a unique code before the start of the course!

  • Lecture material

Contact

  • Youth diagnostics:
    Developmental and Educational Psychology Unit

    • Dhr. Dr. M.J.W. van der Molen
  • Adult diagnostics:
    Clinical Psychology Unit