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Statistics, data and test instruments: Surveys and test instruments

Locate test instruments and critiques of measures

Overview

Test and measurement tools are standardised measures used to assess a particular variable e.g. intelligence, personality or development or functioning. They are widely used in psychology, health, education and business and include inventories, scales, questionnaires and indexes.

Some measurement tools are commercially published, and must be purchased from the test publisher. Other measurement tools are not commercially published and may be found in books, journal articles, appendices, printed reports, websites or may be available from the author. You should check the copyright information before using these tests in your research and you may have to obtain permission from the author or publisher first.  

Please note: UWA Library does not hold copies of published tests.

Find tests and critiques

Mental Measurements Yearbook

Mental Measurements Yearbook provides full text, edited reviews written by experts on more than 3000 published testing instruments. Reviews include information about reliability, validity and test administration, as well as descriptive information about the test such as the publisher to locate the test and price. The Mental Measurements Yearbook does not usually contain the full text of the test. 

 

Journal articles

Reviews of tests and survey instruments can also be found in journal articles. Search for reviews by including the name of the test and keywords such as 'review', 'critique', 'reliability' or 'validity' etc. When searching, include the full name of the test and the acronym e.g. '‘Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory’ OR 'MMPI'

 

Web resources

APA: Finding information about psychological tests
American Psychological Association FAQ about finding published and unpublished tests.

ETS Test Collection
The ETS Test Collection is a database of more than 25,000 tests and and other measurement tools. It contains a brief description of each test, however the full text of the test is not freely available online. 

PsyToolkit
​PsyToolkit is a free-to-use toolkit for demonstrating, programming, and running cognitive-psychological experiments and surveys, including personality tests. You can find ready to run psychological surveys and scales in PsyToolkit’s survey library.

Psychology Tools
Psychology Tools is a free to use website providing psychology professionals, students, and the general public with transparent access to academically validated psychological assessment tools. You can find various psychological scales and tests on their website. 

Test Reviews Online
Test reviews online allows you to search for tests by subject categories, and includes reviews of published tests from the Mental Measurements Yearbook. The full text of the critique and the full text of the test is not freely available online, but critiques are available through the Mental Measurements Yearbook. 

Find Tests Using Databases


Databases can also help you to find information about the development, application, reliability, validity and adaptations of a test. When you find articles that refer to certain tests, the article may contain sections of the test itself or contact details to obtain a copy of the test. 

Databases can help you to locate a test, even if you don't know the exact name. Search for the topic of the test and keywords relating to tests to help you locate articles. 
If you know the name of a particular test, search for the full name of the test as well as the acronym e.g. ‘Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory’ OR 'MMPI'. 

Subject headings and keywords
Some databases provide specific search limits or subject headings to help find tests. Subject headings allow for greater precision as they include all articles on a topic regardless of the terminology used. 

You can also include search terms along with your topic to find relevant articles in all databases:
assessment*
questionnaire*
interview*
rating*
post-test*
scale*
measure*
test*
survey*

PsycINFO

PsycINFO is a database of literature of psychology and behavioural sciences. 

PsycINFO has a Tests & Measures field which you can use to limit your search. 

1. In the Multi Field Search, enter the name of the test or the topic and select Tests & Measures from the drop down menu. 

 

To limit to articles which may include the actual test, add "append* " to your search and select Tests & Measures from the drop down menu.

 

 

CINAHL Plus 

CINAHL Plus is the databases of literature in nursing and allied health professions.

Enter the name of the test in the search box, and use the Field Code: IN (Instrumentation) 

To limit your search to articles which may include the actual test:
Enter the name of the test/topic in the search box and under the search options Publication Type select Interview, Questionnaire/Scale or Research Instrument. 

Tip: You can chose more than one publication type by holding the Ctrl key as you select them.

Subject headings include 'Research Instruments' and sub-headings:
Instruments by name - if you know the exact test name use "..." eg. "Autism Spectrum Quotient"
Instrument by type
Instrument construction
Instrument scaling
Instrument validation

ERIC 

Education Resources Information Centre (ERIC) database contains literature in counselling, curriculum, education and social sciences.

Enter the name of the test/topic in the search box, and in the Document Type box select Tests/Questionnaires.

Useful subject headings (descriptors) from the ERIC thesaurus can be found here. These can be combined with relevant keywords for a more specific search. ​

Embase

Embase is an international biomedical database covering Europe and Japan.

Subject headings include: 
test 
inventory 
interview 
measurement 
assessment 
psychological test 
psychological rating scale 
surveys

Medline

Medline is an international biomedical database produced by the US National Library of Medicine covering clinical medicine, dentistry, nursing, health services, administration, nutrition and more.

Subject headings include:
test 
inventory 
interview 
measurement 
assessment 
psychological test 
psychological rating scale
surveys

 

Scopus & Web of Science

Citation databases such as Scopus, Web of Science and Google Scholar can be used to find tests and track the literature discussing a particular test over time.

Search for the title of the test e.g. Autism Spectrum Quotient, to find articles which have referred to it. Click on the Cited by number to find a list of articles which have referred to the article the test appeared in.

 

Designing Tests and Surveys

UWA staff and research students can create surveys within Qualtrics. Log in with your UWA Uni ID details to create surveys. Please note, before you will be able to distribute them, each survey must: 

 For help with constructing appropriate survey questions, approach your supervisor. 

For help to construct/distribute a survey and retrieve results search through the  Help and Tutorials on Qualtrics's Learn the XM Platform webpages.

 

CONTENT LICENCE

 Except for logos, Canva designs, AI generated images or where otherwise indicated, content in this guide is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International Licence.