Locating Psychological and Educational Tests and Measurements
Scope note: This web page supplements the information needs of the students in
the School of Social Work. For additional information, please contact
Library
staff at
social.work.library@umich.edu. The
reference texts and services listed in this document are have varied availability.
Please see
http://www.lib.umich.edu/socwork/testresources.html for
information on availability and on how to use these resources. Please note that
the University Library, which includes the Social Work Library, does not collect
tests.
Tests and measurements are standardized instruments, such as questionnaires,
inventories, and scales, which are used to evaluate populations, individuals,
or processes. Finding the actual instruments is sometimes difficult because
they are protected for some or all of the following reasons:
- Overexposure could familiarize test-takers with the material and make it
less useful.
- Credentials may be required to administer the test.
- They are intellectual property of authors and publishers who require a
fee for use of the copyrighted material.
When looking for tests or test reviews, there are several questions to be
asked:
- Am I looking for a specific test or for tests on a certain subject?
- What database or other resources will have what I need?
- Am I looking for a test that has been commercially published?
- Is the test in print?
- Do I need test reviews, the actual instrument or both?
- Do I need research studies that have used specific tests?
- Will I need to use the tests on subjects? What permissions will I need
to get?
Locating Commercial Tests (those that are published
for commercial sale)
The first place to start is several reference books. These reference books
provide comprehensive, useful, and directive information on tests.
The titles of the most useful and popular references to tests are:
- Tests in Print (Z5814 .E9 T471 Reference)
- Mental Measurements Yearbook (LB 1131 .A1 R97 Reference) NOTE:
Also Full-text available online for U-M students at http://searchtools.lib.umich.edu/V/?func=native-link&Resource=UMI03068
- Tests: A Comprehensive Reference for Assessments in Psychology, Education
and Business (BF 176 .T431 Reference)
- Test Critiques (BF 176 .T4191 Reference)
(For a description of these reference books, see
http://www.lib.umich.edu/socwork/testresources.html.)
Finding a Test on a Particular Topic
When trying to locate tests on a specific topic (e.g. tests that measure personality
traits), you should begin your search with one of the reference books identified
above.
- Start with Tests in Print because it has the most entries per volume
- Look in the subject index at the back of the book
- Once you have identified several tests of interest, review the more
detailed entries on each test. Entries typically identify the age or
school grade levels for which the test is appropriate, as well as any
sub tests.
- If you are searching for a very specialized test or measure, your search
is not so simple. In this case, your best option is to go to the Mental
Measurements Yearbook and use the 'score index,' which would identify
tests measuring subareas (e.g., honesty or letter recognition).
- You may also want to take advantage of the various search fields within
the online version of Mental
Measurements Yearbook to refine your search. You can narrow your
search to include only specific catagories of tests, or tests administered
to groups versus to individuals, or you can search by test population, i.e.,
tests designed for preschool children or adults.
Locating a Specific Test
If you have a name or author of a test, your chances of locating it are greatly
improved.
- Again, start with Tests In Print and the Mental Measurements
Yearbook because they have the largest lists of tests. Title and author
indexes in each of these reference books should refer you to the section
of the book describing the test.
- If you still cannot locate the test and are sure that you have the correct
title and author, it is either a very recent publication, or may not be commercially
available. See the Noncommercial
Tests section of this page to get tips for locating the test.
Locating Test Publishers
Directories of test publishers are included in all of the major testing reference
books (Mental Measurements Yearbook, Tests, Tests in Print, Test Critiques)
and as appendices in some circulating books.
Purchasing Tests
Publishers hold the copyright to tests they distribute, and they maintain
the copies of tests, test manuals, and scoring keys. Commercially available
tests are usually purchased through the test publisher. Contact the publisher
with your request for information on a particular test (including purchase
inquiries). Many publishers have separate policies for individual and organizational
purchases of tests. Individuals may be required to complete a test purchaser
qualification form that allows a publisher to determine if the purchaser is
qualified and competent to administer and interpret the test.
Contacting the Author of a Test
Sources for the current address of an author are well organized on the guide, Finding
Biomedical Biographical Information (Taubman Medical Library).
Locating Noncommercial Tests (usually published
in journals)
Psychological measures are not limited to commercial tests; a huge number
of unpublished inventories, checklists, scales, projective techniques, and
other instruments are available in the behavioral sciences literature. Attempting
to locating these instruments can be frustrating.
There are directories and indexes that organize tests by journal citation,
subject area, author, and test name. For the most part, these reference texts
and databases encompass literature from the 1970s to the present. Many other
tests can be found in the psychological and educational journals. The journal
indexes will tell you what journal and issue contain them.
A list of resources for finding noncommercial tests and measures is available
at http://www.lib.umich.edu/socwork/testresources.html.
Reference Books
Tests
and Measures in the Social Sciences: Tests Available in Compilation Volumes
This website indexes many compendiums owned by us (by Helen Hough) - Directory of Unpublished Experimental Measures (LB 1131 .A1 D59)
- Cumulative Index to Tests in Microfiche and Tests in Microfiche:
An Annotated Index
For finding tests in Tests in Microfiche (available in the Graduate
Library)
Must use index to find actual tests in Tests in Microfiche (available
in the Graduate Library Serials Room).
Databases
- Very useful to find studies that appear in journals, but never become commercially
available. HAPI cites articles that have utilized measurements or scales.
Most of the time the articles include source information allowing the researcher
to obtain a copy of the measurement or scale. Producers of HAPI can sometimes
sell copies of these instruments. Contact: Behavioral Measurement Database
Services,
P.O. Box 110287, Pittsburgh, PA 15232-0787, 412/687-6850. Reliability and
validity can be used as keywords to access instruments with tested psychometric
properties.
Search Tip: Use the check box for "Primary Source" to limit searches to the first time a test or measure was used in a study. The questionnaire is more likely to be appended in primary sources.
- Use PsycINFO, an index of published journal and book literature in psychology
since 1887. PsycINFO provides abstracts for each article and will mention
if the author developed a measure in the context of the study. These citations
also include the university or organizational affiliation of the authors,
along with an address where you can forward correspondence regarding the
article. Write to the author and ask for more information on the test or
measure.
Search Tip: Sadly, a PsycINFO feature that used to allow one to
use a "Limit" pull-down menu in Advanced Search to support a Form/Content
Type with a value of "test/survey appended" is no longer available. To
retrieve citations that include a test in the article text or appended
to the article, try using "appended" in your search strategy, but
unfortunately this method is not reliable. Apparently data about appended
tests was lost during a system migration. To know for sure if a test is
in the article or appended to the article, you will have to see the full
text.
- This database indexes research published in the educational literature.
ERIC Documents (as opposed to journal articles) are in the public domain
and may include instruments that were designed for a local project funded
by a grant. These will not be "Gold Standard" tests with reviews,
but they can be useful for special ethnic or language groups.
- Dissertation
Abstracts
Dissertations are indexed in PsycINFO and other databases, but you will
need to use Dissertation Abstracts to identify the degree-awarding institution.
Sometimes dissertations have instruments appended. Once you have a complete
citation, request the dissertation via the Interlibrary
Loan Form.
Responsibilities of Test Users
Users of unpublished tests have certain ethical responsibilities to: (a) contact
the test author and request permission to use their test and (b) secure their
permission in writing if the material is copyrighted. No matter how difficult
this process may seem, you should make every effort to contact an author or
copyright holder to secure permission before using any test or other instrument.
In many cases, you may need to consult your local Institution Review Board
prior to administration of a test. At the University of Michigan, the IRB Behavioral
Sciences Committee provides information at: http://www.irb.research.umich.edu/IRB_Behavioral/New/IRB_Behavioral.html
There are several places where you can find test reviews or citations to test
reviews.
(See http://www.lib.umich.edu/socwork/testresources.html for
additional information and descriptions.)
| Finding Books
on Tests and Measurements |
The following Library of Congress subject headings will take you to many of
the books about educational and psychological tests. Some books may
contain actual tests while others will have information about the test. In
addition to these headings listed below, you may also do a search on the name
of a specific instrument (such as Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory).
Use these headings in the Mirlyn catalog as subject searches.
Library of Congress Subject Headings for:
Tests for Certain Characteristics/Situations
- psychological tests
- educational tests and measurements
- substance abuse detection
- intelligence tests
- psychometrics
- personality tests
- personality assessment
- anxiety--testing
- attitude (psychology)--testing
- reading--ability testing
- love--testing
- ability--testing
- mental illness-diagnosis
- aggressiveness (psychology)--testing
- aptitude tests
- stress (psychology)--testing
- rorschach test
- validity
- testing
- death--psychological aspects--testing
- work environment--testing
- vocational interests--testing
|
Tests for Specific Populations
- minorities--psychological testing
- Hispanic americans--psychological testing
- family assessment
- family-testing
- psychotherapy patients--psychological testing
- handicapped youth--psychological testing
- aged--psychological testing
- problem youth--psychological testing
- incest victims--psychological testing
- behavioral assessment of teenagers
- behavioral assessment of children
- child development--testing
|
NOTE: There is a wide range of subject headings useful for
finding tests. These are only some of the possibilities.
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