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Research materials and methods tips for counselors, DSM-5 Access and Psychological Tests
Why are tests so hard to find?
Why are tests so hard to find?
- Proprietary - Many standard test instruments are published and must be purchased.
- Ethical standards -Some researchers may want their test only used by those trained in its use.
- Size - some journals don't want to include tests along with articles because they take up a lot of room.
What can you do?
- Focus on tests available online through the PsycTESTS database.
- Use the techniques in the PDF Guide to the right to locate instruments appended to journal articles.
- Contact researchers or owners of the copyright for permission to use the test.
- Buy the published test. However, published tests are often expensive and purchasers must show that they have the credentials to administer the test.
Tests & Measures
This guide walks you through the options for obtaining the full text of a psychological test. Many scholarly articles describe studies conducted with psychological tests; they do not often include the test itself. You can still find a lot of information about the tests in the literature.
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- PsycTestsAPA PsycTESTS includes the full text of many, but not all, psychological tests. You can try one of the resources listed below if PsycTests doesn't have the full text.
- PavloviaPavlovia is a place for the wide community of researchers in the behavioural sciences to run, share, and explore experiments online.
- PubMedPubMed lists journal articles back to 1947. It indexes about 5,400 journals and covers the areas of medicine, nursing, dentistry, veterinary medicine, health care systems, preclinical sciences, and related areas.
- CINAHLPreferred starting point for Nursing Education topics.
Also for Allied Health (OT,PT, Audiology+) Education topics. - ERICComprehensive source of articles from journals included in the Current Index of Journals in Education and Resources in Education Index. The go-to database for education-related articles.
- Guide to searching for for full text testsThis guide from Simmons College provides an overview of finding tests and measures appended in articles within APA PsycInfo, APA PsycTests, and Cinahl. This also works within APA PsycBooks.
Published tests are standardized tests available for purchase. Often, these tests must be purchased in quantity and the producer may not want the test available to the general public, or for copying. If you need more information about a published test try a search in Mental Measurements Yearbook with Tests in Print.
- Mental Measurements Yearbook with Tests in PrintProduced by the Buros Institute of Mental Measurements, the Mental Measurements Yearbook™ (MMY) provides users with a comprehensive guide to testing instruments. Tests in Print (TIP) serves as a bibliography to commercially available tests that are currently in print in the English language. TIP provides information including test purpose, test publisher, in-print status, price, test acronym, intended test population, administration times, publication date(s), and test author(s).
Directory of Unpublished Experimental Mental MeasuresCall Number: BF 431.D5Publication ceased in 2008. These volumes supplement the Mental Measurements Yearbook.
- Educational Testing ServiceThe Educational Testing Service provides information on more than 25,000 research instruments and standardized tests. Some foreign tests are included.
- Mental Help NetOne of the goals of this web site is "to encourage the further development of outcome assessment measures, better treatment, and to add to the existing knowledge base of mental health disorders." Some online tests are available.
- SAGE Research MethodsAn online research methods tool that helps students, faculty and researchers with their research projects. Included are over 175,000 pages of SAGE’s book, journal and reference content with advanced search and discovery tools. You find information about research design, methodologies, and writing up your results.
Communication Research MeasuresCall Number: Eisenhower D Level Blue Labels P91.3 .C623 2009An update of the first edition, this does not include everything in the first edition. New measures are included in Part II. Part III describes measures imported from other fields. Most of the profiles include the measure itself.
Handbook of Psychiatric MeasuresCall Number: Eisenhower C Level Reference, Non-Circulating RC473.P78 A46 2008Measures are organized by domain. Information provided includes descriptive summaries and psychometric properties, practical issues, clinical utility, references and suggested readings. Additionally, 180 actual measures are included on the CD-ROM that can be requested from the Libraries Service Center (COMP FILE 4807).
Tests and Assessments in Counseling by Call Number: OnlineISBN: 9781315279527Publication Date: 2018provides students with current information on assessment tools and techniques through detailed case scenarios and vignettes.
Measuring HealthCall Number: Eisenhower C Level RA408.5.M38 2006Includes reviews, descriptions, test properties, etc., for rating scales and questionnaires that cover topics such as physical disability, pain, psychological well-being, and quality of life. The book is also available online.
Measures of Personality and Social Psychological AttitudesCall Number: In PrintContains many tests related to personality, self-esteem, and other social attitudes.
Handbook on Measurement, Assessment, and Evaluation in Higher Education by ISBN: 1138892149Publication Date: 2017-08-10This handbook gives a detailed understanding of contemporary theories and practices in the fields of measurement, assessment, and evaluation, with guidance on how to apply these ideas for the benefit of students and institutions.
Handbook of Family Measurement TechniquesCall Number: Eisenhower B Level, Non-circulating HQ728.H267 2001 QUARTOVolume one contains abstracts describing 976 measures developed between 1929-1986. Volume two covers the period 1987-1996. Descriptions in these two volumes include reliability/validity information, references, sample items, and available from information. Areas covered include dimensions of family/marital interaction, intimacy and family values, parenthood, and roles and power. Volume three includes 168 selected examples of actual instruments described in the two volumes of abstracts. A subject index is also included in volume three.This book can only be used in the Eisenhower Library and cannot be checked out.
Handbook of Tests and Measurements for Black PopulationsCall Number: Eisenhower C Level BF176.H37 1996This is a collection of more than 100 psychological tests and measures developed for use with African Americans. Volume one focuses on children, adolescents, and family, and volume two presents measures appropriate for late adolescents, young adults, and older age groups. The tests are in various stages of development, but information regarding rationale for the measure and reliability and validity data are provided. Except as otherwise noted, most of the authors have granted non-commercial use of the tests and measures for research, service, or instructional purposes.- Tests and Measures in the Social Sciences: Tests Available in Compilation VolumesCompiled by Helen Hough, Health Sciences Librarian at the University of Texas at Arlington, this is an index of full text measures in print monographs. Eighty sources are included and searchable by author or keyword. You must include 'TMdb' in your search string. Search for libraries with copies using the WorldCat online catalog of university and special libraries worldwide, then order a copy through the library's Interlibrary Loan (ILL) Department.
Purchase a specific test: If you have the name of the test, determine the publisher by using the reference books and databases listed in this guide. Commercial tests must be purchased through the publisher.
Purchase a test in a subject area: If you are looking for a type of commercial test (such as a scale that you can use to measure depression in adolescents and any will do) consider a company that makes a wide variety of tests available for a fee:
- WPS Western Psychological ServicesWPS is an independent publisher of educational and psychological assessments and related intervention resources.
- HMH Houghton Mifflin HarcourtProvides educational tests for purchase.
- Test Collection @ ETSThe Test Collection at ETS is a database of more than 25,000 tests and other measurement devices, most of which were created by authors outside ETS. With information about tests from the early 1900s to today, containing tests from U.S. publishers, individual test authors and non-U.S. sources.
- SAGE Research MethodsAn extensive, comprehensive online resource filled with in-depth, step-by-step descriptions of how and when to conduct specific types of research. It covers all the widely used (and some rarer) qualitative and quantitative techniques.
- ITC Guidelines for Translating and Adapting TestsThe International Test Commission (ITC) is an “Association of national psychological associations, test commissions, publishers and other organizations committed to promoting effective testing and assessment policies and to the proper development, evaluation and uses of educational and psychological instruments.” (ITC Directory, 2001).
- Joint Committee on Testing Practices (JTCP)A collaboration of the American Educational Research Association, the American Psychological Association, and the National Council on Measurement in Education, the American Counseling Association, the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, the National Association of School Psychologists, and the National Association of Test Directors, the JCTP provides "a means by which professional organizations and test publishers can work together to improve the use of tests in assessment and appraisal." This portal provides guidelines and documentation from their efforts.