Finding tests and measures is like going on a scavenger hunt. If you’re lucky, you’ll find the measure in the first place you search. Often, you may need to look in 4-5 places before you find the actual test. It’s all about following the clues until you reach the test itself. Use the links to find, evaluate, and use tests and measures ethically:
Choose the Best Tests and Measures
Ensure Permission to Use the Test or Measure
For assignments in psychology courses at Xavier, you will need to find tests or measures that have
The best place to start looking for a test or measure is the PsycTests database. This database includes many of the actual measures along with the ability to filter results by permissions and whether the full test is available. Searching the database works a little different depending on whether you have a test name already or not. Check out the tips for each scenario:
If you already have the test name, put the name into the search bar and click search. If the test items are available in PsycTests, the record will have a PDF or link in the upper left corner. The record will also say "Yes" under Test Items Available.
Sometimes the tests aren't in the PsycTests records, but they are included in a peer-reviewed journal article publishing a research study that used the measure or one that developed it. You will need to go to another database to get to the test. Look at the record under Source Citation. The citation may have a link to PsychInfo underneath. Click on it and read through the article to find the test items. They may be listed out in narrative format, especially if they use the Likert Scale or there aren't many items or questions. 
If there is no link to PsychInfo, you can also use the main library search to search for the article by its title.
Still can't get the full text? Try checking out the tips for getting the full text.
Then scroll down to the Permissions drop down menu. Limit to the Permission: “May use for Research/Teaching”. If you find a test in these results, you will not need to get permission to use it.
We don’t want to limit to full text at this time. If you find an article or test without full text, we may be able to find it using PsychInfo, the Main Library Search, or Google Scholar. Click Search
Still can't get the full text? Try checking out the tips for getting the full text.
If you're not finding the full text of an article or the test measure through PsycTests, there are a few other places you can look.
If you have a journal article name, such as the one listed under Source Citation in PsycTests, then try searching the Main Library Search with the title of the article.
If the library doesn't have access, try searching Google Scholar by the title of the article as well. If Google Scholar has the full text, a link will show on the right side of the article information in the search results. 
If you have a test or measure name, try searching PsychInfo using the Tests and Measures field in the advanced search. Sometimes research studies using the measure will include it in an appendix or within the article text. You'll need to open and sift through each article to see if the test items are included.
So you’ve found a measure(s). Bravo! Take a second to celebrate your achievement.
Now you need to evaluate whether that measure helps you answer your research question. The tests and measures you use are the foundation of your own research, so you want to take your time choosing the best ones. Here are some questions to consider when deciding whether to use a measure for your research.
Asking students at a university how many draught animals their parents have probably isn’t going to tell you much about their socioeconomic status, but it’s great for a more rural population. And a scale that uses rupees to determine which caste a family belongs to is not going to help you with students in America, which uses the US Dollar and has no caste system. The test you’re looking at may not come right out and say the population it’s designed for, but you can use context clues and critical thinking to determine if the test matches up with your population. If the questions or measures don’t sound familiar to you, it may be time to move on.
During this process, you may realize you need to choose a more specific measure to answer your research question. For example, if you’re looking for a measure for socioeconomic status, you’ll come across several ways to go about it. Are you wondering about how someone’s socioeconomic status growing up affects the lives of those in your research now or is someone’s socioeconomic status at the time of the study more important. Those are two different measures. For socioeconomic status, you could look at the amount of money a person makes in a year individually, their family income or resources, or the community/neighborhood resources. Some measure combine multiple concepts, such as income, housing stability, education, social capital, and cultural capital. Another thing to consider is whether you're interested in the objective measure of someone's socioeconomic status or their subjective perception of their socioeconomic status. Think through your research question in terms of these aspects. Each one may require a different set of keywords to get you the best measure.
All the possibilities may feel overwhelming to think about, but there is an advantage to having so many options. The more possible measures, the more likely you'll find one that is both available and gives permission for you use in your research.
A socioeconomic scale from the 1970s or even 2010 might not be current today if it breaks people up into status by income numbers. Inflation would have changed those numbers by now. However, a confidence scale from the 1970s may still be just as relevant today. Think about your research question and how environmental and social factors may have changed since the measure was first created.
If you’re looking at a mental health measure, be sure it reflects current thought, practice, and diagnosis criteria. For example, if you’re looking at gender identity, be sure the measure reflects the newer understanding of gender dysphoria verses the older understanding of gender identity disorder. If you don’t know the current terminology for your area of research, be sure to spend more time reviewing the literature before choosing a measure.
You may also want to look at the language in the test or measure to see if it reflects non-biased language. You do not want to ask your population offensive or belittling questions, which may skew your results.
Review the literature to see if anyone has updated the measure and what updates were necessary.
This is where you review the literature by searching using the name of the test you’ve found in PsycTests. Go to the advanced search in the Main Library Search.
Use the top line to put the name of the measure in quotations. This will search for the name of the measure as a phrase rather than as individual words. On the second line, put in the terms: reliability OR valid* OR assess*. OR looks for any of the words in the library records while the * finds forms of the word with any ending following the *. So, this search will look for valid, validity, validation, and assessment.
See how others have used the test in their research. Did they find the measure valid and/or reliable? Did they need to modify or update it? Why? Were their results conclusive, and if not, do they mention limitations in the measure. Many journal articles have a section for limitations or include them in the Discussion/Conclusion. If one or more of the researchers who used this measure express limitations or issues that may affect your research, consider finding another measure.
PsycTests also has a field you can consult in the record concerning reliability and validity.
Just because you find the full text doesn't mean you have permission to use it for research or to publish with it. The academic community values intellectual property. The tests and measures you choose took their authors a great deal of intellectual effort and time to create and validate. And it also takes work for the publishers to distribute. It is only fair (and legal) to respect how the authors and publishers want their work to be used.
Ethical use of tests and measures is of high importance for the field of psychology. Some tests or measures would become invalid if the information got out to the general public or became available through Google. Others require significant knowledge and training to administer and score in a way that maintains the integrity of the test. Although it may be disappointing not to gain access or permission for a measure, it's best for the field of psychology for some measures to remain administered by professionals in secure research facilities.
Therefore, you'll want to check the permission status of a test or measure in the record in PsycTests. If the record says the permission is May use for Research/Teaching, you can use the measure in this assignment and present your research at Festival of Scholars. However, if you want to include the test items in a published paper, you will need to ask permission of the corresponding author.
It is easier if you find a measure that permits use for Research/Teaching; however, you also have the option of using a test that requires asking author permission if you get permission from the author.
If you found the measure using a search engine, such as Google or Google Scholar, or in a journal article, and the test is not in PsycTests, check the full text of the measure or the journal article its published in for information about using it. You can also check the Mental Measurements Yearbook for the test permissions. If you can't find the permissions, you can always reach out to the corresponding author.
Many authors will be delighted that you're using their measure, while others may not allow it. It isn't personal if they don't. For some tests, the validity would be compromised if the items or scoring ever became public knowledge, and only qualified professionals trained in that specific test are allowed to use it. Look for the corresponding author's email address in the measure, the database record, or the full text of the journal article. Write a professional and courteous email that reads something like this:
Dear Dr. Author,
I hope this email finds you well. I am an undergraduate student at Xavier University of Louisiana, and I would like to ask permission to use _______insert test name___________ for a research project in my Advanced Research in Psychology class. My research question is _______, and I would be administering the test to ____insert population________ under the supervision of ___insert professor's name___________. I also have the option to present the paper in a student symposium at the end of the course. Please let me know your thoughts.
Thank you for your time and consideration,
Sign Your Name