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Finding Tests & Measurement Instruments

Resources, tips and tricks for finding tests or measurements in either the health or behavioral sciences.

Steps to find a known test

APA PsycTests

Alert:

ATTN: Temporary alternate access available at APA PsycNet due to data loss on EBSCO platform. PsycTests on EBSCO is currently working to remedy a data loss: many test profiles are missing complete descriptive information and source citations. On the PsycNet search page, use the "Select Databases" option to limit your search to the PsycTests database.

 

APA PsycTests® is a research database that provides access to psychological tests, measures, scales, surveys, and other assessments as well as descriptive information about the test and its development and administration. More information:

  • Focuses primarily on unpublished tests, those developed by researchers but not made commercially available
  • Most records link to a variety of materials describing the test in peer-reviewed literature, technical reports, or dissertations as well as links to related peer-reviewed literature describing test development, review, or use
  • All records include a summary that describes the test, with its purpose and some history of its development
  • Most records include the actual test instrument

ETS Test Link Collection

The Test Collection at ETS is a database of more than 25,000 tests and other measurement devices, most of which were created by authors outside ETS. With information about tests from the early 1900s to today, the collection is the largest compilation of such materials in the world. It contains tests from U.S. publishers, individual test authors and non-U.S. sources.

Searching for parts of a test

If you are searching for a manual or scoring information or some other part of a test, follow the steps listed to above but note any entries that look promising to see if there is any mention of the part of the test that interests you. Mental Measurements Yearbook, for instance, will include information in the price field on the price of the individual pieces of the test including the manual. ETS has a "materials notes field" that specifies what parts of the test are available.

There is a useful series of books put out by Wiley whose titles all begin with "Essentials of..." These books have much useful information on scoring, interpreting, and reporting of various tests. You can search for these books by doing a search in Library Catalog Search (or more widely in WorldCat) of Wiley as a publisher and "essentials of" in the title and assessment* OR test* in the subject field. You might also run a search in WorldCat of the title of the test and a relevant keyword such as manual to see if there are any potentially promising entries. Keep in mind, however, that if you find a library that has the test and/or the manual that most libraries will not send their tests to other libraries via interlibrary loan and the use of the their tests at their institution may be restricted. Contact the library ahead of time to see if you will be able to have access to the test or a piece of the test.

Google

Some tests are freely available on the Internet so it's worth a try to look for the test online. Google has a few pointers on how to run an advanced search. You can use those same pointers for a Google Books search. Google Books does a keyword search of all the books that Google has digitized. This collection includes many full text journals as well.

Last Updated: Oct 14, 2025 2:43 PM