"Published" measures are those which are available for purchase from publishers. "Unpublished" measures are not for sale and are often difficult to obtain. Tests, measures, and other research instruments are seldom available through InterLibrary Loan. If you do find the full text of an unpublished test or measure, remember that you need to ask for the author's permission before using it.
STEP ONE: Identify a test or measure of interest (full title of the instrument, author name, year created). The rest of the process will be much easier if you limit yourself to searching for tests and measures that you KNOW are freely available.
STEP TWO: Determine whether your test is "published" (sold commercially) or whether it is "unpublished" (free IF you can find it and get author's permission).
STEP THREE: Contact the company for copies of "published" tests. For other tests, follow references for more information about the test. If you find the test, contact the author for permission to use it.
ETS Test Locator. Guide to 14,000 research instruments. Some are commercially available, some are not. In each result, check the "availability" field :
Health and Psychosocial Instruments (1985 to present). Guide to published and unpublished tests and measures. The "Source" field shows where to go for more information about the instrument. One simultaneous user limit. More info.
Directory of unpublished experimental mental measures/Goldman, Bert A. Jackson Library Reference Room, BF431 .G625
Tests and measurements in child development : handbook II / Orval G. Johnson. Jackson Library Reference Room OR Tower 9, BF722 .J643
You can sometimes also find tests and measures appended to a journal article. Here are some suggested searches.
PsycInfo Guide to psychology literature 1872-present. Some results include description of whether the item has full text of a test or measure. Type your search topic in the top box (a broad search such as communication or language will get many more results than a narrow search such as aphasia). Then in the next search box, type appended and set the search field to TM Tests and Measures.
ERIC Guide to education literature 1967-present. Some results include description of whether the item has full text of a test or measure. Type your topic (a broad search such as communication or language will get many more results than a narrow search such as aphasia). Then, under the Refine Search tab, set Publication type to Tests. If you get plenty of results from this search, you may want to filter results even more. It is possible to set Education Level to Early Childhood Education, Preschool, etc. For each result, click on “Full Text From ERIC” to view. If there is no link with this label, note the entire citation (including the number beginning with ED or the number beginning with EJ) and contact the Reference department for help.
PubMed Guide to medical and health literature 1950s-present. Some articles indexed in this database will include the full text of tests and measures. Type your topic, then add a subject heading such as MeSH terms such as "Questionnaires"[Mesh] or "Reproducibility of Results"[Mesh]. Your search might look something like this: communication and "Questionnaires"[Mesh].
CINAHL Guide to nursing and allied health literature 1930s-present. To search for articles that discuss and sometimes include the text of tests and measures, type your topic. Then under Search Options, limit the Publication Type to Research Instrument.
Mental Measurements Yearbook (1985-present). Search to identify tests and measures which can be purchased. 4 concurrent user limit. More info.
Lea Leininger
Public Health Librarian
