Library Guides: Education: Tests & Measures

Finding Tests and Measures

Tests and measures are created by researchers in a variety of disciplines for a variety of purposes. Many instruments have gone through rigorous testing for validity and reliability and are excellent tools for use in research studies.

Some instruments are published in books and journal articles and are available for re-use. Other instruments are only available for use for a fee and must be ordered. In some cases you need not pay a fee but must request permission. A database such as PsycTESTS will list re-use information.

Tips for Finding Tests and Measures

Keep these tips in mind when searching for tests and measures:

As you read through scholarly journal articles, you'll find references to various tests that were used. You can search for these tests by their names in some of the databases and books listed here.
Tests and measures that are located in scholarly journals and dissertations and theses will generally be included in an appendix at the end of the paper.
You can search for tests and measures by a particular topic, such as anxiety or creativity. If you're searching in a database such as PsycINFO, ERIC, or ProQuest Dissertation and Theses, try using words such as evaluation, measure, or instrument as search terms.
You can try searching for tests through Google or Google Scholar, but be aware that free versions of tests may be shortened or altered.
Many tests are listed by their abbreviations. Make sure to search for all iterations of a test name when searching.
If you can't find a copy of an instrument, you can try contacting the author (or publisher, if you can find this information). Contact information for authors is generally included in all scholarly journal articles. You can also search for author contact information through Google.
For more information, see APA's FAQ: Finding Information about Psychological Tests.

Tests and Measures Database

Use one of these databases to find complete or partial copies of published research instruments, as well as examples of journal articles that have used different instruments.

PsycTESTS
Provides access to published, unpublished, and commercially used psychological tests, measurements, and instruments.

Books

The books below contain various tests and measures. For more collections, see TMdb: Tests and Measures in the Social Sciences.

Measuring Bullying Victimization, Perpetration, and Bystander Experiences: A Compendium of Assessment Tools
Bullying, particularly among school-age children, is a major public health problem both domestically and internationally (Nansel, Craig, Overpeck, Saluja, & Ruan, 2004). Current estimates suggest that nearly 30% of American adolescents reported at least moderate bullying experiences as the bully, the victim, or both. Specifically, of a nationally representative sample of adolescents, 13% reported being a bully, 11% reported being a victim of bullying, and 6% reported being both a bully and a victim (Nansel et al., 2001).
The Measurement of Attitudes Toward People with Disabilities
Content covers Fundamentals of Attitude Measurement, Direct Methods of Attitude Measurement; Multidimensional Scaling; Indirect Methods of Attitude Measurement; Reliability; Validity; Psychometric Characteristics of Attitude Scales; General Attitudes Toward People with Disabilities, Attitudes Toward Physical Disability Groups; Attitudes Toward Psychiatric Disability Groups; Attitudes Toward People Who are Mentally Retarded, Societal Responsibilities Toward People with Disabilities.
Measures of Personality and Social Psychological Attitudes
ISBN: 0125902441
This volume is sponsored by Division 9 of the American Psychological Association: The Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues. This is an essential reference book for any social scientist or student who uses measuresof attitude or personality in his or her research. The earlier version, published twenty years ago, was to be found on the shelf of virtually everyone who worked in the field.
Handbook of Tests and Measurement in Education and the Social Sciences
Are you a teacher or guidance counselor looking for an accessible reference guide? This revised edition of a popular 1993 anthology includes 120 tests and surveys, bringing together psychometric information about instruments developed to measure constructs in education and social sciences.
Communication Research Measures
The development of communication as a discipline has resulted in an explosion of scales tapping various aspects of interpersonal, mass, organizational, and instructional communication. This sourcebook brings together scales that measure a variety of important communication constructs. The scales presented are drawn from areas of interpersonal, mass, organizational, and instructional communication--areas in which the use of formal, quantitative scales is particularly well developed. Communication Research Measures reflects the recent important emphasis on developing and improving the measurement base of the communication discipline. It results in an equal amount of labor saved on the part of the scholars, students, and practitioners who find this book useful, and it contributes in a significant way to research efforts. Originally published by Guilford Press in 1994, now available from Routledge.
Communication Research Measures II
Expanding and building on the measures included in the original 1994 volume, Communication Research Measures II: A Sourcebook provides new measures in mass, interpersonal, instructional, and group/organizational communication areas, and highlights work in newer subdisciplines in communication, including intercultural, family, and health. It also includes measures from outside the communication discipline that have been employed in communication research.