Introduction
This guide is intended to help UK students identify tests, measures, instruments, scales, checklists, and other assessments for research/academic purposes.
Reviews of Tests & Measures
HAPI and MMY contain reviews of tests and measures, which often include validity and reliability information.
- Health and Psychosocial Instruments (HaPI)Provides access to information on measurement instruments (i.e. questionnaires, interview schedules, checklists, index measures, codes schemes/manuals, rating scales, and tests) in health fields, psychosocial sciences, and organizational behavior.
- Mental Measurements YearbookProduced by the Buros Institute, contains full-text information about and reviews of English-language standardized tests covering educational skills, personality, vocational aptitude, psychology, and related areas as included in the printed Mental Measurements Yearbooks. Please note: Limited to four simultaneous users.
Research Studies Containing Tests & Measures
Search in these databases to locate research studies that have utilized tests and measures:
- Web of Science Core Collection This link opens in a new windowWeb of Science Core Collection indexes primary journals and article citations in several databases spanning a wide range of disciplines.
- PsycINFOProvides access to abstracts, citations, articles, books, and dissertations in the psychological, social, and behavioral sciences. Includes all American Psychological Association journals.
- Social Work AbstractsProduced by the National Association of Social Workers. Contains references to social work and other related journals on topics such as homelessness, AIDS, child and family welfare, aging, substance abuse, legislation, and community organization. Please note: Limited to four simultaneous users.
- Social Services AbstractsProvides indexing and abstracts of current research focused on social work, human services and related areas, including social welfare, social policy and community development. The database abstracts and indexes over 1,300+ serials publications and includes abstracts of journal articles and dissertations and citations to book reviews.
- PubMed (University of Kentucky)Provides abstracts to articles in medicine, nursing, dentistry, veterinary medicine, allied health, and the pre-clinical sciences. Includes biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books. Also includes links to articles available through UK Libraries' subscriptions.
- Dissertations and Theses Global (ProQuest)
As the official digital dissertations archive for the Library of Congress, ProQuest Dissertations and Theses includes millions of searchable citations to dissertations and theses from 1861 to the present day with over a million full-text dissertations. The database offers full text for most dissertations added since 1997 and retrospective full-text coverage for older graduate works.
Published Tests
Tests and measures that are published are usually only available by purchasing them from the publisher, and not available to the general public. Check the HAPI or MMY databases on this guide for publishing information on a specific test or measure. Or do a web search for the title.
Statement on the Use of Secure Psychological Tests in the Education of Graduate and Undergraduate Psychology Students, from the American Psychological Association.
Unpublished Tests
Not all tests and measures are published. Many unpublished (or noncommercial) tests and measures exist in the in the behavioral sciences literature, i.e. in research studies published in journal articles. See the box titled "Research Studies Containing Tests & Measures" to identify a database to use.
Ethical User Responsibilities
Users of unpublished tests have certain ethical responsibilities. Please contact the instrument's author and request permission to use it. If you cannot locate the author, obtain permission from the publisher holding the copyright to the original material.
Example of Published Test
Multidimensional Anxiety Questionnaire (MAQ) is a commercially available instrument published by PAR Inc.
Example: review of this questionnaire in Mental Measurements Yearbook.
Example: research study that utilized the questionnaire located in the Health and Psychosocial Instruments (HaPI) database.
Example of Unpublished Test
The Student Worry Questionnaire-30 is an unpublished instrument, attached as an appendix to this journal article:
Osman, A., Gutierrez, P. M., Downs, W. R., Kopper, B. A., Barrios, F. X., & Haraburda, C. M. (2001). Development and Psychometric Properties of the Student Worry Questionnaire–30. Psychological Reports, 88(1), 277–290. https://doi-org.ezproxy.uky.edu/10.2466/pr0.2001.88.1.277