MSc Marking Criteria - pre-registrations

Class	Mark	Marking guidelines
Distinction		Strong evidence of wider reading to derive a theoretically-justified and relevant research question Research hypotheses are clearly identified and justified using the literature, and specified in sufficient detail Methods chosen are suitable and clearly described Planned analyses are appropriate to address the research hypotheses and clearly described Strong evidence that ‘researcher degrees of freedom’ have been considered and accounted for, and sufficient detail is present throughout to allow for replication
Excellent Distinction	100	Assignment reaches an exceptional level of achievement that significantly exceeds the standards described by the above statements
Good Distinction	90	Assignment exceeds the standards described by the above statements
Solid Distinction	80	Assignment is well described by the above statements
Low Distinction	75	Assignment mostly meets the standards described by the above statements
Merit		Some evidence of wider reading to derive a clear research question Research hypotheses are mostly clearly identified, but may not be fully justified using the literature or may not be very detailed Methods chosen are suitable and clearly described, with minor exceptions Planned analyses are generally appropriate to address the research hypotheses and clearly described (with minor exceptions or omissions) Some evidence that ‘researcher degrees of freedom’ have been considered and accounted for, detail throughout is good and would nearly allow for replication
Good Merit	68	Assignment exceeds the standards described by the above statements but does not meet the standards for a distinction
Solid Merit	65	Assignment is well described by the above statements
Low Merit	62	Assignment mostly meets the standards described by the above statements
Pass		Reasonable use of literature discussed in class to derive a research question Research hypotheses are present and related to the background literature, but may be underspecified Methods chosen are largely suitable and contain key details but miss some important aspects Planned analyses are partially appropriate to address the research hypotheses but some significant errors or omissions are present Limited evidence that ‘researcher degrees of freedom’ have been considered and accounted for, detail throughout would only allow for partial replication
Good Pass	58	Assignment exceeds the standards described by the above statements but does not meet the standards for a merit
Solid Pass	55	Assignment is well described by the above statements
Low Pass	52	Assignment mostly meets the standards described by the above statements
Marginal fail		Research question does not appear to be logically derived from literature Research hypotheses are very vague, or may not be related to literature or research questions Methods chosen are generally unsuitable or poorly specified Planned analyses are not well-linked to the research question or display substantial omissions or errors in understanding Weak evidence that ‘researcher degrees of freedom’ have been considered and accounted for, preregistration is not detailed enough to allow for replication
	48	Assignment exceeds the standards described by the above statements but does not meet the standards for a pass
	45	Assignment is well described by the above statements
	42	Assignment falls below the standards described by the above statements
Clear Fail		Research question is minimally logical, no coherent links to literature Research hypotheses are not present Methods chosen are poorly described Planned analyses are omitted or largely inappropriate No evidence that ‘researcher degrees of freedom’ have been considered and accounted for, or that replication has been considered
	38	Assignment exceeds the standards described by the above statements but does not meet the standards for a marginal fail
	32	Assignment is well described by the above statements
	10	Assignment falls below the standards described by the above statements
Zero Marks	0	No psychology-related content.

Grade assignment decision rules

Note. If an assignment meets some of the descriptive criteria for a degree class (e.g. Merit), and some of the descriptive criteria for another degree class (e.g. Pass), it is at the discretion of the marker where to assign the grade (i.e. somewhere in the Merit or Pass range).