Finding Test and Survey Instruments @ WIU: Find the Whole Test

Finding a copy of the test is often the most frustrating part of the process, because a test may or may not have been formally published. Test Reviews Online and TestLink should give you some clues as to the availability of a test.  With that information in mind, here are four possible situations you may encounter and how to proceed:

1. The test has been published and is offered for sale. In this case, you usually have to buy it directly from the publisher due to copyright constraints.

Look at the MMY entry (example at right) to see the price data and purchase options.  Sometimes you have to buy the whole administration kit, whereas other publishers allow you to buy one copy of the questions and scoring sheet.

You might first want to contact the Curriculum Library in Horrabin Hall 80 to see if they have the test you want in their test collection: 309-298-1101. Click here for the most recent list of available tests.

2. The test has been published in a journal article.

You may find a reference to a journal article using the ETS's TestLink. If so, check our journal list to see if we have access to the journal.  If not, click on the link to Interlibrary Loan and request a copy through the ILLiad system.

3. The test is only available from the author.

In this case the TestLink entry (example at right) will list the name of a person under availability, and that name will match the name of one of the authors. If TestLink does not include contact information, or if the address and/or phone number is out-of-date, contact us to find current contact information.

4. You still haven't found a copy. Don't give up yet! Some tests have been published in book collections. The three indexes below MAY* help you find a copy.

Compendia Search

York University in Canada has developed this index to tests published in books. If you find your test in this database:

1. Identify the acronym for the book in which it is published.
2. Look that acronym up in the legend and find the full title. For instance, HMS stands for Handbook of Marketing Scales.
3. Once you know the full title of the compendium, look it up in WestCat, our library catalog.
4. If we don't have it, expand your search to all of I-Share to see you can borrow it through our state library system.
5. Not in the state system? Submit a request using the ILLiad system.

TMdb: Tests and Measures in the Social Sciences [NOTE: has not been updated since 2014; may no longer be working.]

Created by Helen Hough, Health Sciences Librarian at University of Texas at Arlington. Use the Google box to search her lists of tests in compendia.  When you click on a link in the results list, you will be seeing a list of tests that are included in a test compendia (book).  The title of the whole book should be at the top of that page. Now take that book title and follow steps 3-5 above.

SDSU Test Finder [moved to Cal State Northridge; temporarily unavailable]

San Diego State's index to tests and surveys in books. Again, this is a Google-type search with which you can search for your test's title. When you click on a link in the results list, you will be seeing a list of tests that are included in a test compendia (book).  The title of the whole book should be at the top of that page. Now take that book title and follow steps 3-5 above.

*Note: Sometimes the complete test does not appear in the compendium, in spite of what the database says. So you may have to try several possibilities.