The Discipline Specific Knowledge Compressive Evaluation (otherwise referred to as the DSK Comps) is an assessment of the student's knowledge of the specific disciplines established by the American Psychological Association’s Commission on Accreditation (APA CoA). The DSK Comps requires that the student develops a written document consisting of nine subsections (one for each DSK area) with each subsection containing an annotated bibliography and a synthesis and critical review of the literature included.
Purpose of the DSK Comps Evaluation: To determine if a student demonstrates Minimum Levels of Achievement in each of the DSK areas set forth by the APA CoA. APA’s description of the DSK domains can be found here and is included below (APA DSK Domains). The DSK areas are
History and Systems of Psychology
This includes the origins and development of major ideas in the discipline of psychology
Additional guidance: This section should include articles/book chapters that are comprehensive reviews or meta-analyses that summarize the research in your topic area AND/OR historical/seminal articles in your field. If the modern rendition of your area of focus has a recent history (i.e., a diagnosis that was recently added in the DSM), you may want to trace the roots of your topic of focus and identify some of the early articles that pre-dated your area of study. For example, you may find an early article on trauma that uses the term “shell shock” to describe what is now called PTSD. All references should be empirical or theoretical articles or book chapters as opposed to textbook chapters or newspaper/magazine articles.
Affective Aspects of Behavior
This includes topics such as affect, mood, and emotion. Psychopathology and mood disorders do not by themselves fulfill this category.
Biological Aspects of Behavior
This includes multiple biological underpinnings of behavior, such as neural, physiological, anatomical, and genetic aspects of behavior. Although neuropsychological assessment and psychopharmacology can be included in this category, they do not, by themselves, fulfill this category.
Cognitive Aspects of Behavior
This includes topics such as learning, memory, thought processes, and decision-making. Cognitive testing and cognitive therapy do not, by themselves, fulfill this category
Developmental Aspects of Behavior
This includes transitions, growth, and development across an individual’s life. A curriculum limited to one developmental period is not sufficient.
Social Aspects of Behavior
This includes topics such as group processes, attributions, discrimination, and attitudes. Individual and cultural diversity and group or family therapy do not, by themselves, fulfill this category.
Research Methods
This includes topics such as strengths, limitations, interpretation, and technical aspects of rigorous case study; correlational, descriptive, and experimental research designs; measurement techniques; sampling; replication; theory testing; qualitative methods; meta-analysis; and quasi-experimentation.
Additional guidance: A helpful approach to this section could be to find some articles or book chapters that describe and discuss a specific research method or study design that is commonly used in your area of study (i.e., case studies, participatory action research, randomized clinical trials). You could use these articles to critique the remaining articles you choose in regards to how well they implement the research method or study design. Otherwise, you will want to focus on finding articles that provide good examples of commonly used research methods or study designs in your area of study. Psychological Methods is a journal that may have helpful articles on specific research methods and study designs.
Statistical Analysis
This includes topics such as mathematical modeling and statistical analysis of psychological data, statistical description and inference, univariate and multivariate analysis, null-hypothesis testing and its alternatives, power, and estimation.
Additional guidance: A helpful approach to this section could be to find some articles or book chapters that describe and discuss a specific statistical method that is commonly used in your area of study. You could use these articles to evaluate how well the remaining articles apply the statistical method based on the guidance provided in the article(s) that describe the specific statistical method. Otherwise, you will want to focus on finding articles that provide good examples of commonly used statistical methods (regressions/moderations, ANOVAS, structural-equation modeling) in your area of study.
Journals that may have stats/methods articles:
Psychological Methods: This journal is dedicated to statistical and methodological issues in psychology.
Psychometrika: Focuses on mathematical and statistical modeling in psychology and psychometrics.
Structural Equation Modeling: Publishes research on structural equation modeling and other advanced statistical techniques.
British Journal of Mathematical and Statistical Psychology: This journal focuses on mathematical and statistical aspects of psychological research.
Multivariate Behavioral Research: Publishes research on multivariate statistical methods and their applications in behavioral sciences.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: General: A highly respected journal that often features articles on research methods and statistical analysis.
Frontiers in Psychology: Publishes a wide range of research, including statistical methods and research design.
Psychometrics
This includes topics such as theory and techniques of psychological measurement, scale and inventory construction, reliability, validity, evaluation of measurement quality, classical and contemporary measurement theory, and standardization
Additional guidance: Your area of study will include constructs that have been operationalized in some way in the literature, meaning researchers have attempted to measure these construct(s) in the past by using scales, measures, or assessments. Identify five articles that describe these scale or assessment development processes or papers that assess the validity/reliability of these scales and assessments. One of your five articles could be a paper or chapter that discusses general scale-development process and the best-practices for scale validation (see Devellis, 2017, Scale Development for one example). You would then use that article/chapter to critique the other 4 articles you found that discuss a scale/assessment used in your topic area.
Advanced Integrative Knowledge of Basic Discipline-Specific Content Areas
This domain does not require a separate annotated bibliography. This domain is evaluated based on the student's synthesis of information within each domain.
Requirements for the Written Document
Please note our program’s AI policy (CCP AI Policy). The use of AI in the generation of writing for the DSK comps is prohibited and will be treated as an instance of academic misconduct equivalent to cheating and plagiarism.
Abstract: Prior to the first subsection of the DSK document, you must include a formal abstract. This section serves as a concise roadmap for the reviewers, identifying your "Major Topic" (your area of emerging expertise) and explaining how this topic serves as a unifying thread across the Discipline-Specific Knowledge (DSK) domains.
Content Requirements
The abstract is an opportunity to frame your program of research. Specifically, the abstract should:
Define the Major Topic: Clearly state your overarching theme or area of expertise. Provide definitions, where applicable, about the core construct(s) in your area of expertise.
Demonstrate Integration: Rather than listing every DSK area individually, focus on the integration of these disciplines. Briefly describe how the selected literature across the nine domains informs a holistic understanding of your research topic.
Explain Scope and Alignment: If necessary, explain how the chosen articles align with your expertise.
Example: You may clarify if you had to "zoom in" on a specific aspect of your topic or "zoom out" to take a broader view in certain domains to meet specific DSK content criteria.
Formatting & Submission Guidelines
Length: Between 200 and 250 words.
Placement: The abstract must appear on its own page, immediately following the title page and preceding the first DSK area.
The DSK Comps involves compiling an annotated bibliography organized by subsections corresponding to the APA CoA DSK areas. The exception to this is Advanced Integrative Knowledge domain, which is evaluated based on the student's synthesis of information in each domain and does not require a separate subsection. The literature included in each subsection should intersect the student's developing area of expertise with that DSK area. Students should include:
Five journal articles (no more, no less) in each subsection.
The references can be a mix of theoretical and empirical writings (unless otherwise specified in the specific domain instructions); however, it is advised to include at least three empirical studies in each subsection.
The references should include seminal works and more contemporary writing that reflects the current state of the literature as it relates to the specific DSK area.
The student should include the impact factor of the journal where they got the article.
Each article summary should be between 200-250 words.
Each subsection of the annotated bibliography will be followed by a synthesis and critical review of the literature. This synthesis and critical review should integrate the material to demonstrate the student's understanding of the literature as a whole, while revealing problems, contradictions, controversies, and strengths of the literature. Particular emphasis should be placed on advanced synthesis and critique of relevant literature and not on basic epidemiology or knowledge. The review should also analyze the distinction between authors' interpretation of their data and the actual empirical evidence presented. Each synthesis and critical review section should not exceed 500 words. Please follow the formatting outlined in the DSK template (DSK Template). Please review the rubric for a clear understanding of how your synthesis and critique will be graded (DSK rubric).
Steps to Completing the DSK Comps (Timeline)
Articulate the Major Topic: The Major Topic of the DSK Comps should reflect the student's chosen area of emerging expertise and, therefore, should be discussed and agreed upon between the student and primary mentor upon entering the CCP Program. When discussing the articulation of the Major Topic, students should make sure that it is stated in a manner that is: (a) sufficiently broad enough to address all of the DSK areas, (b) consistent with the student’s developing program of research, and (c) has the potential to serve as the foundation for a thesis or dissertation literature review. The Major Topic will be submitted as part of PSY500 (Proseminar) during the fall semester of the student's first year in the program.
Collect Relevant Literature: Students should be regularly reviewing literature relevant to their Major Topic throughout their time in the CCP Program. For the purposes of the DSK Comps, students should focus their learning on their Major Topic to coincide with the CCP Foundational Courses taken during the first two years in the CCP Program. For example, students whose Major Topic is the understanding and prevention of suicide could utilize their learning in Cognitive Neuroscience to inform their learning about cognitive models of suicide and related research on information processing during acute crises and implicit bias, among others. Consequently, such focused reading on the student's Topic Area might also be useful in performing assignments for those courses (e.g., term papers, research proposals, etc.).
Students are strongly encouraged to schedule a meeting with their major advisor by the end of their second year to review and discuss their selected articles for all DSK domains. While students are expected to independently justify the scholarly relevance of their chosen readings in their submissions, early advisor consultation may help ensure alignment with expectations and prevent potential delays.
Write the Synthesis & Critical Review: As students would be well-served to collect and annotate their bibliographies during the courses corresponding with the DSK areas, they would also be well-served to draft their Synthesis & Critical Review statements at the end of the semester for each of those courses. Alternatively, the timeline of the DSK Comps Evaluation is scheduled such that students would be able to compose these sections during the summer of their second year in the program.
Submission of the Document: The DSK Comprehensive Exam document must be submitted by the end of the first week of the fall semester of the student’s third year in the CCP Program. Students will be granted access to their DSK folder to submit their materials starting a week before the deadline. This deadline is strictly enforced, in keeping with the structured progression into clinical comprehensive exams in the spring semester. Late or incomplete submissions will not be accepted, except under documented extenuating circumstances. It should be noted that if a student does not pass any domain, they have a chance to revise and resubmit the domain before the end of the semester. However, the student must submit a full and complete document (i.e., 5-article annotated bibliography with a synthesis/critique for each DSK domain) to be included in the initial review.
Examples of extenuating circumstances may include, but are not limited to:
A family emergency
A personal health crisis
Other serious, unforeseen circumstances beyond the student’s control
In such cases, students must notify the program as soon as possible, providing supportive documentation (e.g., medical note, obituary, etc.) to request consideration for an extension. The length of any extension will be assessed on a case-by-case basis, taking into account the nature and severity of the circumstance.
Because DSK Comps are integral to the momentum and cohesion of the program (particularly the transition into spring clinical comprehensive exams), submissions delayed into the spring semester cannot be accommodated. If a student fails to submit by the fall deadline (or receives no granted extension), it will be considered a non-submission. These students must wait an additional calendar year to complete the DSK Comps, consequently delaying their continued progression in the program by one year.
Students who are on probation or who have taken a leave of absence or medical withdrawal will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Such cases will be reviewed in alignment with existing program policy, which stipulates that DSK Comps may not be completed outside of the fall semester. Any accommodations will depend, in part, on the availability of faculty to evaluate all domains at a later point within the fall semester. As such, students in these situations should anticipate the potential for delays in their continued progression through the program and are strongly encouraged to discuss their timeline proactively with their primary mentor.
Evaluation
Each of the DSK Comps subsections will be reviewed and rated by three CCP faculty (Core and/or Affiliate) using the DSK rubric. The review and rating assignments will be made by subsection such that each subsection is reviewed and rated by faculty with expertise in the DSK area. Each committee member will review the document subsection independently with scores averaged across the three raters. Students are determined to have passed the DSK subsection if they receive an average score of 1.67 or higher across the three raters.
If a student receives an average rating less than 1.67, they will be provided with written feedback and allowed to draft a revised document that may include revisions to the annotated bibliography and synthesis and critical review, and a direct response to the written feedback. This revision will be re-evaluated in the same manner as the original submission.
If, after revision, a student is determined to not meet minimal levels of achievement within any individual DSK area, the student will be placed on remediation plan wherein the identified deficits are described and appropriate supports and benchmarks put in place to ensure that the student meets the minimum levels of achievement in all of the DSK areas. Failure to successfully resolve the remediation plan may result in the student being placed in formal probation or being dismissed from the program.