Selecting Tests / Assessments
Social Work Selector's Toolbox
Identifying Tests || Reviews of Tests || Locating Tests
Identifying Tests
Databases such as PsycINFO, ERIC, CINAHL, HAPI, MEDLINE, Sociological Abstracts, Social Work Abstracts, or Social Services Abstracts may be used to identify tests and to find information about and evaluation of tests.
Mental measurements yearbook . Lincoln, NE: Buros Institute of Mental Measurements, 1940- Irregular.
MMY provides access by title, subject class, author, publisher, scoring. Information includes title, purpose, population, date, scoring, administration, parts/editions/variations, price, time, reference to manual, comments, author, publisher, cross references to reviews and to Tests in print. Includes 1-2 evaluative reviews by professionals for each test. Also available as a database from Silverplatter/Ovid/EBSCO. Many items listed in Tests in print are not covered in MMY. Coverage is 1985-. For further information on using Buros products: http://www.unl.edu/buros/.
Maddox, Taddy, ed. Tests: A comprehensive reference for assessment in psychology, education, and business. 5th ed. Austin, TX: Pro-ed, 2003. (also, 4th ed. 1997).
Arranged by subject and indexed by title, author, and publisher. Brief descriptions of tests as well as publisher and contact information.
Also, encyclopedias and handbooks, such as Fernandez-Ballesteros, Rocio. Encyclopedia of psychological assessment. 2 vols. London: Sage Publications, 2003.
Contains articles which list examples of major tests for particular topic areas.
Reviews of Tests
Mental measurements yearbook and list of Databases. See above.
Keyser, Daniel J. and Richard C. Sweetland, eds. Test critiques. Kansas City, MO: Test Corporation of America, 1984-1994.
Ceased in 1994 with volume 10. Additional information on practical applications and technical aspects of tests including reliability, validity, etc. This is a companion volume to Tests: A comprehensive reference for assessment in psychology, education, and business. See above.
Test reviews online . Lincoln, NE: Buros Institute of Mental Measurements, Buros Center for Testing. http://buros.unl.edu/buros/jsp/search.jsp [cited 23 May 2005].
This provides access to reviews in MMY 1985-. These reviews can also be downloaded for a fee. Reviews of tests before 1985 are only in print MMY volumes. It can be searched by title, purpose, author, acronym, publisher, scores.
Locating Tests
Some tests may be attached to journal articles. Useful databases to search are PsycINFO, ERIC, CINAHL, HAPI, etc.
Tests are also frequently attached to dissertations. Use Digital Dissertations or appropriate subject database such as those listed at the beginning of this section.
Tests are available in collections in books. See the excellent index to collections in books that Helen Hough (University of Texas, Arlington) has compiled to tests which appear fulltext in books: Hough, Helen. Tests and measures in the social sciences: Tests available in compilation volumes. [Dated May 2005, cited 23 May 2005]. Available from http://libraries.uta.edu/helen/test&meas/testmainframe.htm This includes 83 resources with 10,000 measures. *
Goldman, Bert A., et al, eds. Directory of unpublished experimental mental measures . Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association, 6 volumes. 1996. Volume 7 (1997) and volume 8 (2003) are edited by Bert A. Goldman, Paula E. Egelson and David F. Mitchell. Access to experimental mental measures, tests and surveys used by researchers. Tests are arranged by function, and entries include purpose, format, technical aspects, etc. These are non-commercial tests.
Maddox, Taddy, ed. Tests: a comprehensive reference for assessment in psychology, education, and business. 5th ed. Austin, TX: Pro-ed, 2003. See above.
TestLink . Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service.
http://www.ets.org/testcoll/index.html [cited 23 May 2005.]
This test collection offers more than 20,000 educational and psychological tests and measurements, some from as far back as the early 1900's. Includes test information and purchase instructions. Some tests can be downloaded from the site for free. Others can be downloaded for a fee or must be ordered.
Tests in microfiche . Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service.
The 1000+ non-commercial tests in this collection are accessible and available via TestLink. See above.
Tests in print . Lincoln, NE: Buros Institute for Mental Measurements, 1961+ Edited by Oscar K. Buros.
Includes descriptive information on tests. This is a comprehensive bibliography of all commercially available tests in English. Same categories of information as MMY, but non-evaluative. Provides references to reviews in MMY.
Extra Help:
APA testing and assessment: Finding information about psychological tests, a guide for locating and using published and unpublished tests . Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, no date. [Dated 2005, cited 23 May 2005]. http://www.apa.org/science/faq-findtests.html
Some Useful Websites:
Hartman, Karen. Finding tests and measures. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Libraries. [Dated 24 January 2005, cited 23 May 2005].
http://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/rul/rr_gateway/f_aids/findtests.shtml
Hough, Helen. Hough's website at University of Texas Arlington links to two useful resources for tests: Tests and measures in the social sciences and Compilation volumes of tests and measures .
http://libraries.uta.edu/helen/Test&meas/testmainframe.htm [Dated May 2005, cited 23 May 2005].
Lynn, Patty. Tests and measurements research guide. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Library. [Dated 29 April 2005, cited 23 May 2005].
http://gethelp.library.upenn.edu/guides/educ/tests.html
McMillen, Paula. Finding psychological tests and related information. Corvallis, OR: Oregon State University, Libraries. [Dated 18 November 2004, cited 23 May 2005]
http://osulibrary.oregonstate.edu/research/guides/tests.html
The process of selecting and obtaining measurement tools . Boston, MA: Boston College, Social Work Library. [Dated 26 January 2005, cited 23 May 2005].
http://www.bc.edu/libraries/centers/socialwork/resources/s-testsobtain/
Tests and measurements . Binghamton, NY: Binghamton University Libraries. [Dated 27 September 2004, cited 23 May 2005]. http://library.lib.binghamton.edu/subjects/nursing/testandmeasure.html
*A frequently used book of this type is Corcoran, Kevin and Joel Fischer. Measures for clinical practice. 3rd ed. New York: Free Press, 2000. This includes collections on "client problem areas commonly encountered in practice" for couples, families, children, adults. Some complete tests.
