Research Guides: Psychological & Educational Tests & Measures: Noncommercial/Unpublished Tests

Noncommercial/Unpublished Tests

Noncommercial/Unpublished Tests are not sold through a test publisher. They can take a bit of digging to find! Their name is a bit confusing because they are often actually published in conjunction with the research in a journal article, dissertation, or other research-based literature, they are just not published commercially by a commercial test publisher. The boxes below provide details on how to identify and locate unpublished tests and measures.

BEST PLACE TO START when looking for NONCOMMERCIAL TESTS ***

APA's PsycTESTS database is the easiest way to identify and access the full text of instruments. If you DO NOT find what you need there, try some of the resources and strategies described in the other boxes below.

PsycTESTS
Thousands of test instruments (including aptitude tests, personality scales and cognitive functioning measures, surveys and other assessments), as well as descriptive information about tests that were developed for research but not made commercially available (i.e. unpublished tests). Most of the tests have links to published documents, primarily peer-reviewed journal articles that include further information about the development of the test. APA has gathered these tests from a variety of sources: directly from authors who wish others to use their tests in research; peer reviewed journals for which APA has rights or permission to use; books, dissertations, and websites.
More than 70% of entries contain the actual test. Pay attention to the PERMISSIONS field to see how the test can be used.
Produced by the American Psychological Association (APA). Coverage: 1910-present.

Using Subject Databases to Find Unpublished Tests

CINAHL Ultimate indexes nursing and allied health professions literature. In it, you may find articles describing the use of a test instrument as well as occasionally the test instrument itself.

Steps and Tips for Searching

The Instrumentation (IN) field in a record includes the names of instruments used in the research study.

To search for articles that used a specific instrument...

From the main search page, type the instrument title (or title keyword(s)) into the search box, and use the dropdown menu to specify to search in the "IN Instrumentation" field.
Click on "Search."
The resulting set of documents will all contain the word or phrase searched in the Instrumentation field of each record.

To search for an appended instrument,

If the instrument itself is included in CINAHL, go to the SEARCH OPTIONS section in the middle of the advanced search screen and under PUBLICATION TYPE, choose either "research instrument" OR "questionnaire/scale" and then enter your search terms in the search box at the top of the page. Your search results should include insturments that have those keywords.

ERIC (Proquest) (Educational Resources Information Center) includes scholarly articles, reports, curriculum and teaching guides and conference papers covering multiple levels of education from preK to higher education.

Steps and Tips for Searching

From the main search page, type in your keywords/search term(s) in the first line
in the line below, change the connector dropdown to AND and then enter words such as: test* OR measure* OR survey* OR questionnaire* OR scale* OR batter* OR inventor* OR checklist* OR instrument* OR pretest* OR posttest* OR interview*
This will give you general results -- any article that used one of these methods could come up.

PsycINFO the database to search for psychology related articles.

Use the advanced search box's "Select a field" dropdown menu and choose the "TM Tests & Measures" field and then enter keywords related to the instrument you would like to find.
To search for articles that have the full text of the test inlcuded, in the advanced search after adding your keywords to one line, in the line below, add the word "appended" to the search and change the "Select a field" dropdown menu to "TM Tests & Measures" field.

Note that under the SEARCH OPTIONS section there is a "Tests & Measures" search box that also allows you to search for words in titles of tests.

PubMed indexes biomedical articles.

MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) headings for the concept of tests and measurement include: questionnaires, psychological tests, psychometrics outcome, and process assessment (health care). Locating an instrument or test in Pubmed may also be done using important words from the title of a particular instrument.

Google Scholar (be sure to use this link or the UNM Library's Google Scholar link in order to easily connect to UNM resources you find in Google Scholar).

Google Scholar is often a good tool to use to search for a known item, such as a test or measure.

Indexes to Unpublished Tests in Books & Journals

TMdb: Tests and Measures in the Social Sciences: Tests Available in Compilation Volumes
This database, run by Helen Hough, a librarian at the University of Texas at Arlington, indexes books with actual tests and measures.

Search Tips:
Click on the link above. On the page that displays, click on "Quick Search using UT Arlington (host) web site [powered by Google]". The UTA Google search box page will display. Enter your search terms and include "TMdb" as one of your keywords in order to search only the TMdb page. (Ex: math anxiety TMdb)

Search for author last names, no first names included. (Ex: John W. Brown, Jr. listed as Brown Jr JW)

For "subject" searching, always consider searching with other synonyms (Ex: learning OR teaching OR educating)

Click on result links and do a "Find" (Ctrl + F) for your topic (e.g., stress)

If you find a test that interests you, make a note of the book in which it appears (title, author, publication date, edition, page number, etc.)

Search for the book in the UNM library catalog see if we have it. If we do not have the book, you can request it through Interlibrary Loan.
The Test Collection at ETS
Find information on more than 25,000 tests (commercial and unpublished) and their availability. Actual tests are not included. However, some of the unpublished tests are downloadable for a fee. To access the other tests you will need to contact the test publisher or track down the citation in which the noncommercial/unpublished test was published.
Measures for psychological assessment : a guide to 3,000 original sources and their applications
NOTE THIS IS AN OUT OF DATE RESOURCE but it is useful in helping the researcher answer such questions as, “What empirical findings have been produced by the use of a given measure?” or “What additional information about a measure has been acquired since its publication?” It is a helpful resource when looking for a specific measure appearing in the literature during the 1960s or early 1970s, but you would want to consult a more recent measure that is appropriate for your need.

Provides annotated references to thousands of psychological measures first appearing in journal articles or other publications. The first section, "Primary References," lists each of these 3,000-plus article references, along with the name of the measure and one or more applications of this measure in other experimental studies. The "Applications" section lists over 6,600 additional studies that provide experimental tests or additional uses of the original measures. Author and subject indexes are included.

Print resources that provide instruments

Measures of Personality and Social Psychological Attitudes by John P. Robinson (Editor); Philllip R. Shaver (Editor); Lawrence S. Wrightsman (Editor)
Call Number: Centennial Reference BF698.4 M38 1990
Publication Date: 1990
Includes evaluations of 150 scales along with the test questions.
Measures for Clinical Practice and Research by Joel Fischer; Kevin Corcoran
Call Number: Centennial Reference BF176 .C66 2007
Publication Date: 2007
In addition to discussing the essential features of measurement, these 2 volumes present hundreds of relatively brief questionnaires on a wide range of emotional and behavioral problems of couples, families, children and adults.
Handbook of Tests and Measurement in Education and the Social Sciences by Paula E. Lester; Lloyd K. Bishop
Call Number: Zimmerman 3rd Floor LB3051 L4543 2000
Publication Date: 2000
Includes 120 tests and surveys, bringing together psychometric information about instruments developed to measure constructs in education and social sciences.

Free online resources

Open-Source Psychometrics Project
Collection of interactive personality tests with detailed results that can be taken for personal entertainment or to learn more about personality assessment. These tests range from very serious and widely used scientific instruments and popular psychology tests to self produced quizzes. A special focus is given to the strengths, weaknesses and validity of the various systems.

Buss Lab Research Instruments
Evolutionary Psychology lab (UT Austin)
Gosling Lab Tests
Research instruments in personality and other areas (UT Austin)
Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) Questionnaires
Health-related telephone surveys that collect state data about U.S. residents regarding their health-related risk behaviors, chronic health conditions, and use of preventive services (CDC)
CHIPTS Surveys and Scales
Tests relating to alcohol/drug use, HIV-AIDS, and other community health issues (Center for HIV Identification, Prevention, and Treatment Services, UCLA)
National Survey of Children’s Health Questionnaires, Datasets, and Supporting Documents
Questions used for an annual survey (Health Resources & Services Administration)
Questionnaires for Students, Teachers, and School Administrators
Survey questionnaires are voluntarily completed by students, teachers, and school administrators who participate in a NAEP assessment (National Assessment of Educational Progress)
Positive Psychology Questionnaires
(University of Pennsylvania)
Health-related Surveys
(RAND Corporation)

Links adapted from UTAustin and Penn State Library research guides.