First Step: Read these pages from the American Psychological Association about Finding Psychological Tests and Measures
Second Step: Use these print indexes to determine if someone has created a test/scale/measurement in your subject area.
Tools to use are:
- Tests in Print: Hamline has parts I (1961), II (1974), III (1983), and on order part IX (2016). Located in the first floor Reference Collection: BF176 .T37 These volumes are a bibliographic encyclopedia listing commercially available tests in psychology and achievement. It is considered the master index to other sources.
- Mental Measurements Yearbook (MMY) is available at Hamline for editions 1-20, 1938-2017 First Floor Reference Collection BF176 .M466.
Use MMY to read descriptive information and critical reviews about the test you've found. Just because you've discovered a test exists, doesn't mean it is valid and reliable. Spending the effort to read the reviews will help you determine if there are any problems administering the instrument, or using the data created by other researchers who have relied on an instrument, in the past.
When searching the PsycInfo database, or ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global Full Text database, include either or both the words validity and reliability, along with your other search terms, and you'll get back results that could include descriptions of the measurement instruments used by other authors, in your topic area. Then you can pursue locating those instruments (scales, measurements, tests). Sometimes, graduate students develop their own instruments to use for their dissertation, and they may be willing to share it with you, if you reach out to them.
Step 3: Congratulations! You've determined which test you want to view/use, and from reviews, you believe the instrument you seek is reliable and valid. There are several ways to actually get your hands on them.
- Sometimes tests are accessible within other publications (often in books, sometimes on web sites, etc.) Helen Hough, a librarian at the University of Texas at Arlington, has created a Tests and Measures in the Social Sciences : Tests Available in Compilation Volumes (TMdb) web site. Note: Hamline may not own some of the books listed there. Search HamCAT for the books, or submit requests through Interlibrary Loan to get the compilation books.
- Another web site compilation of tests is from Professor Alan Reifman, from Texas Tech University. The Social-Personality Psychology Questionnaire Instrument Compendium (QIC) points to specific instruments, as well as other web pages which have compiled tests.
- Sometimes it is most efficient to contact the author of the test, to determine availability and access.
- Please note: Hamline University does not subscribe to the PsycTESTS research database, nor the HaPI- Health and Psychosocial Instruments research database, nor the ETS Test Link. If you provide enough details about your instrument in an Interlibrary Loan request, we can attempt to obtain a copy from an lending partner.
- The library does not generally purchase individual tests, measures or instruments
