PSY 321 Research Methods - Dickard: Tests & Measures
Core Resources for Tests & Measures
It can be challenging to find the full text of tests, instruments, and measures, and includes some confusing terminology. Many well-known tests are commercial property and must be purchased; these commercially available tests are described as "published" tests. "Unpublished" tests are simply tests not sold commercially, but rather available via research articles, handbooks or other means.
You may also want to review The American Psychological Association's Finding Information About Psychological Tests guide for researchers.
- PsycTESTSProvides full text access to many psychological testing instruments as well as supporting documentation and related literature.
- Mental Measurements Yearbook with Tests in PrintDatabase of published, commercial tests. You are unlikely to find the actual instrument, instead, you will find reviews of instruments that examine their reliability and validity.
Tips on Searching PsycTESTS
(The following is adapted from APA's Setting up a PsycTESTS Search.)
PsycTESTS provides information on tests mined from the scholarly literature in PsycINFO. Nearly 40,000 unique tests are represented in PsycTESTS, organized into 15 instrument types and 30 classifications.
There are a number of ways to search for a test, including the author name, keywords, test name, or test construct. (A construct is the concept the test is measuring, such as Confidence or Anxiety.)
PsycTESTS also includes limits, or controlled lists of values, that can be set before you run the search, toward the bottom of the advanced search page, or after you run the search, along the side of the search results page. Examples of these limits include:
- Administration Method – how the test is given to participants, such as Paper or Interview.
- Instrument Type – the primary testing category of the instrument, such as Checklist or Task.
- Supporting Documentation – supporting documentation types, such as instructor guide or answer sheet.
Tests in Handbooks
PSU Library has a number of books of tests and measures (psychological, social, and educational) that you can check out or access online. Researchers might administer the measures directly or use as examples in creating their own test. A few titles are below; more can be found by searching the Library Catalog using the keyword "measures".
- Handbook of psychiatric measures byCall Number: RC473.P78 A46 2008ISBN: 9781585622184Publication Date: 2008
- Measures for Clinical Practice and Research, Volume 1 & 2 byCall Number: BF176 .C66 2013ISBN: 0199778582Publication Date: 2013-08-01On reserve, request at the circulation desk; 2 hour loan
- Positive psychological assessment : A handbook of models and measures byCall Number: BF176 .P67 2003ISBN: 155798988Publication Date: 2003
- Gender roles: A handbook of tests and measures byCall Number: HM253 .B43 1990ISBN: 0313262780Publication Date: 1990Basement
- Measures of Personality and Social Psychological Constructs (ebook) byISBN: 0123869587Publication Date: 2014
- Implicit Measures for Social and Personality Psychology (ebook) byISBN: 1446209466Publication Date: 2011
- Practitioner's Guide to Empirically Based Measures of Social Skills (ebook) byISBN: 1441906088Publication Date: 2009
Additional Test Resources
- TestLinkThe nonprofit ETS collects tests and other measurement devices regarding standardized tests and research instruments from the early 1900s to the present.
- Tests and Measures in the Social SciencesArchives psychosocial tests and instruments from books, compiled by the University of Texas-ArlingtonLibrary.
Need Surveys?
- Survey ResourcesA list of survey resources on the Sociology guide. Many of these resources provide the survey instrument.
About Testing & Assessment
- Encyclopedia of Psychological Assessment (ebook) byCall Number: BF176 .E53 2003ISBN: 9781847877178 1847877176
- Comprehensive handbook of psychological assessment v. 1 byCall Number: BF176 .C654 2004ISBN: 047141610X 9780471416104Shelved in reference on the 2nd floor