PSYC 415: Developmental Research Methods

• Identify assessments, tests, and measures used in your research area
• Justify your choice of assessments, tests, and measures in your research proposal
• Find assessments, tests, and measures and determine if you have permissions to access them
• APA Handbooks of Testing and Assessment in Psychology
• Other Psychology Assessment Resources
• Advice from the American Psychological Association

To identify the assessments, tests, and measures that have been used by Psychology researchers in studies related to your research area:

1. Search for your research area in PsycINFO. 

2. In the Refine Results sidebar to the right of the list of search hits, click the arrow beside the heading, Tests & Measures. 

• This opens a list of the tests and measures used to study your research area (with the number of articles using each test in parentheses)
• Click on Show More at the bottom of the list to open the full list of tests and measures

You can use both PsycINFO and PsycTESTS to find the information you need to justify your choice of tests and measures for your proposals and projects:

1. In PsycINFO there are two ways to find articles that use your test:

• Click the arrow beside the Tests & Measures heading under the Refine Results sidebar beside the list of search hits
  • click on Show More at the bottom of the list to open the full list of tests  
  • check the box beside your test in the list of search hits under to focus them to research articles which use that test as part of its research design
  • Use those research articles, and how they were used in your research area, in your proposal as justification for your research design, as well as to find information about administering the test and its reliability and validity

 OR

• type the test name in the search box
  • open the Select a Field drop-down menu beside the search box and choose TM Tests and Measures
  • all the articles in the list of search hits will be ones that used your test as part of their research studies, so they will have information about administering the test and its reliability and validity

2. In PsycTESTS,

• Search for the name of your test:
• Use the information in PsycTESTS about your test as justification for your research design, such as:
  • citations to the original article discussing the test development (under the Source Citation tab)
  • how the test has been used (under Description)
  • restrictions for using the test (under Permissions)

PsycTESTS:

• To find a specific test, type the test name in the search box. You can also search for topics/constructs.
• Click on Browse at the top to browse through tests, constructs, and instrument types.
• Check out the APA Search Guide or this short video for more help and information on searching PsycTESTS.

Look at the Permissions listed in the records of tests/scales you find:

• If your test has May be Used for Research/Teaching permissions, it is relatively easy to find that test through PsycTESTS. You may also find it appended to articles in PsycINFO or CINAHL.
• If your test has Contact Corresponding Author permissions, you will need to contact the author of the test to get a copy of it and permission to use it.
• If your test has Contact Publisher permissions, it is a commercial test that needs to be purchased.
  • You cannot order commercially published Psychology tests and measures through interlibrary loan, since their purchase and use is restricted to licensed professionals. 
  • Contact Dr. Nancy Wrobel, who has a library of commercially published assessments.  You may also want to see if you can identify an equivalent assessment that has May be Used for Research/Teaching permissions. 

PsycINFO: To find a specific test, type the test name in the search box and choose TM Tests and Measures from the Select a Field drop-down menu beside the search box. Research articles that use tests with May be Used for Research/Teaching permissions may have pdf files of that test appended for download. Take a look at this short video for a demonstration of finding tests in PsycINFO.

CINAHL: To find a specific test, type the test name in the search box and choose the Research Instrument or Questionnaire/Scale limits under Publication Type. Research articles that use tests with May be Used for Research/Teaching permissions may have pdf files of that test appended for download. Take a look at this short video for a demonstration of finding questionnaires and scales in CINAHL and this short video for a demonstration of finding research instruments in CINAHL. 

Measurement Instrument Database for the Social Sciences (MIDSS): a repository of more than 500 instruments that are used to collect data from across the social sciences. See their About Us page for more info.

PsyToolkit: PsyToolkit is a free-to-use toolkit for demonstrating, programming, and running cognitive-psychological experiments and surveys, including personality tests. 

• Vol 1: Test theory and testing and assessment in industrial and organizational psychology
• Vol 2: Testing and assessment in clinical and counseling psychology (including health psychology)
• Vol 3: Testing and assessment in school psychology and education

This 3-volume handbook is a comprehensive review of the theory and application of tests and assessments in Psychology. It begins with an in-depth description of psychometrics. It then provides thorough, up-to-date, comprehensive chapters related to industrial/organizational psychology, clinical psychology (including health psychology), counseling psychology, and educational psychology.

TMdB: Tests and measures available in compilation volumes. Entries include instrument title, author, date, pages located in the compilation volume, and links to information about each compilation volume so you can track it down. 

Comprehensive Handbook of Psychological Assessment: 4 volume set, each volume covering a major class of psychological assessment instruments: intelligence/neuropsychological, personality, behavioral, and industrial/organizational. 

Mental Measurements Yearbook: supports Psychology test selection with descriptions and critical evaluations of commercially available tests

Measures for Clinical Practice and Research provides copies of hundreds of tests, mostly derived from scholarly journal articles

ETS Test Link lists more than 25,000 tests and measurements on a wide variety of topics. Take a look at this User Guide for more help and information on searching ETS Test Link.

Finding the right tools: What student researchers need to look for when they're choosing a test or measure

Choose your research methods wisely: Experts offer tips on balancing ambition and realism in your research design