Entry 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 offers 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 Basic Registration Psychodiagnostics, a quality label of the Dutch Association of Psychologists (NIP). The lectures and work group sessions focus on diagnostic research into intelligence and personality, neuropsychology, psychopathologyand learning disorders. In the work group sessions, assignments are used to help students acquire practical knowledge of diagnostics for hypothesis testing, selecting research tools, and interpreting and reporting on the results. These workgroup sessions give excellent insight into the work field of a child / clinical psychologist (see learning objectives 1-3). The theoretical knowledge acquired in the lectures and assigned reading material is put into practice in the work group sessions, where the primary focus is on the diagnostic process, forming and testing hypotheses, the intake procedure and reporting. Both the lectures and the workgroup sessions will cover the ‘ethics of psychological assessment’ (e.g., confidentiality of clients’ information).
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; a. Skills in testing diagnostic hypotheses and skills in documenting in writing the various steps of the psychodiagnostic process (from hypotheses to recommendation), according to the guidelines of the BAPD; and b. Some skills in recognising, selecting, scoring and interpreting diagnostic resources (observation, interview) and tools (tests, questionnaires).
Timetable
For the timetable of this course please refer to MyTimetable
Registration
NOTE As of the academic year 2021-2022, you must register for all courses in uSis. You do this twice a year: once for the courses you want to take in semester 1 and once for the courses you want to take in semester 2.
Registration for courses in the first semester is possible from July. Registration for courses in the first semester is possible from December.
The exact date on which the registration starts will be published on the website of the Student Service Center (SSC). First year Bachelor students as well as premaster students will be registered by the Student Service Center; they do not need to register themselves.
The registration period for all courses closes five calendar days before the start of the course.
Also read the complete registration procedure
Mode of instruction
Lectures and knowledge clips (taking 2 hours per week, during 8 weeks) and 6 2-hour work group sessions.
The main objective of the lectures and clips is to introduce students to the content and progress of the diagnostic process in relation to different psychodiagnostic topics/questions (course objective 1). Lectures will be in English.
Of the 6 compulsory work group sessions, 3 focus on youth diagnostics, and the other 3 on adult diagnostics. The main objective of the 6 work group sessions is to help students learn to recognise, select and interpret diagnostic tools, to formulate a diagnostic research question, and to learn to write a psychological report (course objectives 2 and 3). 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 (in a group and individually) a diagnostic report on the skills practised in the work group sessions. These reports are submitted online and provided with feedback from the workgroup tutor. Workgroups are in English.
Assessment method
The grade for the course is made up of 2 partial grades (one grade for the exam, one grade for the workgroup sessions). The assessment method is in English for the exam as well as the workgroup assignments.
Exam grade: based on a written exam assignment (counts for 60% of the total grade, examination of course objectives 1 and 3). Exam material is based on the reading list (see below), the (web)lecture content, and the workgroup content (e.g., tests covered, examples of psychological cases). More detailed information on the exam content is provided in the course syllabus for students (PDF made available via the Blackboard course module).
Workgroup grade: Students will carry out 2 assignments: 1 practice assessment and 1 graded assignment (examination of course objectives 2 and 3). Participation in the workgroups is mandatory. The graded assignment counts for 40% of the total grade. (examination of course objectives 2 and 3).
The Institute of Psychology uses fixed rules for grade calculation and compulsory attendance. It also follows the policy of the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences to systematically check student papers for plagiarism with the help of software. Disciplinary measures will be taken when fraud is detected. Students are expected to be familiar with and understand the implications of these three policies.
Reading list
Psychological Testing & Assessment (2016). Pearson Customized Edition. ISBN: 9781784482855 (available via Studystore)
Additional readings will be made available via Brightspace.
Contact information
The course coordinators, Jessica Heemskerk, Bart Verkuil and Semiha Aydin, can be contacted via: psychodiagnostiek@fsw.leidenuniv.nl