Instruments and Assessment

Looking for scales, instruments and measures on the web can often be more time consuming than fruitful. The majority of sites that cover this topic will provide descriptive material, but will not give you direct access to the actual assessment tool. The sites listed here provide a good place to start when you are gathering information.

American Psychological Association
The APA responds to many testing questions each day. Responses are included on their website in the "Frequently Asked Questions" section. They also have an area that highlights ongoing activities of staff and APA members who are involved in facilitating good test use. "APA's testing office does not maintain, sell, or endorse any tests."--website.  They do direct the public to available resources. If you can't find what you need on APA's website, you can "contact the Testing Office of the APA Science Directorate at (202) 336-6000 or via e-mail at testing@apa.org . " --Website.  

The Buros Institute of Mental Measurements
Founded in 1939, the Buros Institute promotes appropriate test selection, utilization, and practice and works to encourage improved test development and research. The titles published by the Buros Institute are focused on providing consumers and other test users with accurate evaluations of the usefulness and effectiveness of commercially available tests. Their website includes information on how to effectively use their publications and provides links to other organizations involved in assessment issues. It also provides a link to their Test Locator, jointly developed with the Educational Testing Service. The Locator provides descriptions and availability information on over 10,000 tests.

Educational Testing Service
The ETS web site focuses almost exclusively on educational testing. The Tests & Services Directory offers information on test preparation, administration, and appropriate usage. ETS also houses the ETS Test Collection , a database that allows you to access information on more than 25,000 published and unpublished tests and measures.

Health and Psychosocial Instruments (HAPI)
Health and Psychosocial Instruments (HAPI) is an online resource for locating information on measurement instruments. It is available online thru the Case Research Databases option in the Library Catalog. This database allows you to search by author, title of the scale, and acronyms for the scale. You can also do a descriptor search by typing terms that relate to your research topic (self esteem, coping, locus of control, etc.). HAPI provides information on the author, year of publication, original source of the scale, number of questions, and an abstract describing the context in which the instrument is used. When available, the reliability measures are also provided. You will not get the actual scale or assessment tool when you use this database. You may, however, get references for journal articles or books where the instrument might appear in print form.

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