Finding Tests and Measures: Databases

ERIC/AE Test Locator

ERIC includes three databases:

The Educational Testing Service Test Collection (ETS/ERIC Test File) database contains records on over 10,000 tests and research instruments. These records describe the instruments and provide availability information
Test Review Locator allows you to search for citations to reviews of educational and psychological tests and measures that The Buros Institute of Mental Measurements and ProEd (book publisher) have included in their directories
Buros/ERIC Test Publisher Directory allows you to search for the names and addresses of over 900 major commercial test publishers. This database was compiled by The Buros Institute of Mental Measurements.

The Test Locator is a joint project of the ERIC Clearinghouse on Assessment and Evaluation at the Catholic University of America, the Library and Reference Services Division of the Educational Testing Service, the Buros Institute of Mental Measurements at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, the Region III Comprehensive Center at GW University, and Pro-Ed test publishers.

MEDLINE

MEDLINE, produced by the National Library of Medicine, provides extensive coverage of the world's biomedical journal literature. MEDLINE covers more than 4000 journal titles and is international in scope. Broad coverage includes basic biomedical research and the clinical sciences since 1966 including nursing, dentistry, veterinary medicine, pharmacy, allied health, and pre-clinical sciences. MEDLINE also covers life sciences that are vital to biomedical practitioners, researchers, and educators, including some aspects of biology, environmental science, marine biology, plant and animal science as well as biophysics and chemistry. Increased coverage of life sciences began in 2000. MEDLINE is available from PubMed.

Databases for a Fee

Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL)
CINAHL is the major bibliographic database for the English-language journals in nursing and allied health fields. 1200 journals are selectively or comprehensively indexed. Publications of the American Nurses' Association and the National League for Nursing are included as well as books in nursing and allied health fields, which include physical therapy, respiratory therapy, cardiopulmonary technology, medical and laboratory technology, occupational therapy, radiologic technology, social services in health care, emergency services, medical records, health sciences librarianship, medical assisting, the physician's assistant, surgical technology, and health education.

Tips for Searching CINAHL

Research Instrument as publication type
Research instrument is assigned to documents created by CINAHL for a particular research instrument. Document records include such information as population studied, psychometrics, scoring, how to obtain, modifications. Full-text of the instrument is provided only when CINAHL has been given permission from the copyright owner.
Use research instrument when you are looking for a known instrument or you want to find specific information about research instruments on a particular topic.
For example, if you wanted to find research instruments on coping, you would first conduct a subject search on 'coping'. Then you would either limit the search to publication type by selecting the limit icon and choosing 'research instrument' as a publication type, or you could type the search string 'research instrument.pt.'
For example:
1. coping
2. 1 and research instrument.pt.
Instrumentation Field
The instrumentation field is a keyword searchable field. This field contains the names of instruments used in the research study (article) being indexed. You could use this field to find all studies that used a particular instrument in their research.

Health and Psychosocial Instruments (HaPI)
HaPI provides ready access to information on measurement instruments (i.e., questionnaires, interview schedules, checklists, index measures, coding schemes/ manuals, rating scales, projective techniques, vignettes/scenarios, tests) in the health fields, psychosocial sciences, organizational behavior, and library and information science. HAPI assists researchers, practitioners, educators, administrators, and evaluators, including students, to identify measures needed for research studies, grant proposals, client/patient assessment, class papers/projects, theses/dissertations, and program evaluation. By creating an organized resource of previously unavailable measurement information, HAPI: (a) provides a means of locating a variety of instruments, (b) helps to reduce inefficiency and cost, and (c) eliminates duplication and "reinvention of the wheel."

Tips for Searching HaPI
HaPI uses subject headings from both APAs Thesaurus of Psychological Terms and the National Library of Medicine's Medical Subject Headings. Another effective way to search HaPI is to do a textword search using unique words from the title of the particular instrument or the acronym of the test.
For example:
1. social readjustment.tw.
Another example:
1. srrs.tw.

PsycINFO/Psychological Abstracts (PA)
The PsycINFO database covers the professional and academic literature in psychology and related disciplines including medicine, psychiatry, nursing, sociology, education, pharmacology, physiology, linguistics, and other areas. Coverage is worldwide, and includes references and abstracts to over 1300 journals and dissertations in more than 30 languages, and to book chapters and books in the English language. Over 50,000 references are added annually. Popular literature is excluded.

Web of Science
The Web of Science (ISI Citation Databases) collectively index more than 8,000 high quality, peer-reviewed journals cover-to-cover, providing users with complete bibliographic data, full-length author abstracts, and cited references from the world's most influential research with online backfiles access now completely matching the print editions:

The Science Citation Index Expanded covers over 5,300 journals (2000 more titles than the print or CD-ROM version) and is updated with 16,000 new records every week. (1945 to present)
The Social Sciences Citation Index covers over 1,700 journals and is updated by 2,800 new records every week. (1956 to present)
The Arts & Humanities Citation Index covers over 1,100 journals and is updated by 2,200 new records every week.

Through the Web of Science, these multidisciplinary databases are available independently or in any combination.