Finding Psychological Tests, Scales and Measurements
Introduction
Tests and measurements are survey tools that gauge certain traits, aptitude, habits, or needs. This guide will help you identify tests on particular topics, information about tests (including reviews), and full text copies of tests.
These sources are good places to start for general information about testing and tests.
American Psychological Association Science Directorate: Testing and Assessment
A guide to commonly-asked questions on testing. See especially the
Frequently Asked Questions and the list of
Links to Other Testing-Related Sites
Top
Identifying Tests
The first place to start when looking for test information and descriptions is in one of the reference sources below. Tests can be looked up by title. If you don’t know the test title, but are looking for a test/measurement in a particular area, the subject index in each resource will guide you to relevant tests.
Directory of Unpublished Experimental Mental Measures.
Briefly describes and gives references for noncommercial experimental instruments.
Ref. BF431 q.G625 1996
Encyclopedia of Psychological Assessment. 2 vols.
"Each entry includes a general conceptual and methodological overview, a section on relevant assessment devices, followed by links to related concepts in the Encyclopedia and a list of references."
Ref. BF39 .E497 2003
Mental Measurements Yearbook.
"Descriptive listings, reference, and critical reviews of commercially published tests in English." Current volume in reference; many older volumes in stacks.
Ref. Z5814 .P8 B932
Measures for Psychological Assessment.
"A guide to 3,000 original sources and their applications." A little tricky to figure out, but this is a good tool for finding tests and measures used in journal articles.
Ref. BF698.5 .C45
Tests: A Comprehensive Reference for Assessments in Psychology, Education, and Business.
Gives concise descriptions of measurement instruments; includes multiple indexes.
Ref. BF176 .T43 1997
Tests in Print V.
"An index to tests, test reviews and the literature on specific tests."
Ref. Z5814 .E9 B82 1999
Top
Finding Information about Tests
Tests, reviews of tests, and articles which deal with the use of tests/measurements in research, teaching, and other applications, are also published in journals. Find these articles by searching the following databases via the library’s main web page under Databases and Indexes. Searching by test name or acronym in the title field, using keywords such as assessment, instrument, tool and using the database thesaurus are all helpful when searching for tests in the following databases:
Test Reviews Online
Searchable and browsable index to reviews of tests. Gives brief description of the test, contact information, and citation for the volume of Mental Measurements Yearbook in which the actual review appears.
http://buros.unl.edu/buros/jsp/search.jsp
Mental Measurements Yearbook
"Descriptive listings, reference, and critical reviews of commercially published tests in English." Current volume in reference; many older volumes in stacks.
Ref. Z5814 .P8 B932
Sex and Gender Issues: A Handbook of Tests and Measures
Ref. BF692 .B38 1990
Top
Finding Actual Tests
Lawrence Library does not have copies of individual tests but many of the sources included in this guide contain sample questions or testing measurements. Most often, in order to access the full text of published tests, it is necessary to buy the test. Contact the publisher of the test for prices, test availability, and ordering information. Mental Measurements Yearbook, Tests, and Tests in Print all have publishers directories with contact information. Unpublished tests are generally not available for purchase from established commercial test publishers. They may, however, be found in journal articles, ERIC Documents, books and dissertations. For other unpublished tests, you could also try contacting the test's author/developer and asking for a copy.
In PsycInfo, aearching for Publication Type (PT): pt=test/survey appended will turn up articles that contain the text of a test.
Educational Testing Service Test File
Searchable database of 20,000 tests and measurements. Information available includes test description and availability. Gives journal citations for tests published in the literature and contact information for tests that must be purchased.
http://www.ets.org/testcoll/index.html
Rating Scales: Full Text Sources
From the University of Adelaide, an alphabetical list of rating scales, with citations and/or links for the full-text of the scales.
http://www.library.adelaide.edu.au/guide/med/menthealth/scales.html
Top
Links to other Test/Measurement Information
Buros Institute of Mental Measurements
http://www.unl.edu/buros/index.html
Practical Assessment, Research and Evaluation (PARE)
"A peer-reviewed electronic journal."
http://pareonline.net/
Survey Instruments in Information Systems
http://www.ucalgary.ca/~newsted/tutor.htm
Top