This video introduces searching for tests & measures in PsycINFO, a key psychology database. Included are strategies such as finding tests appended to articles, using the Tests & Measures search field, and searching with Classification Codes.
Hi, welcome to our fourth video which will cover searching for and evaluating tests and measures in PsycInfo.
For more information about searching for psychology resources, see the UBC Library Psychology research guide.
This tutorial contains a number of searching strategies to find both tests and information about tests.
For a simple way to access the PsycInfo database, we do this from the UBC Library home page.
Click on Indexes & Databases, type in PsycInfo, and then click Search.
We will click the first result and be taken to the database. It is possible to search for tests that are
appended to articles. To do this we can search for our chosen topic and combine with a search for Appended tests.
These screenshots illustrate two searches that we can use.
The first searches for our topic anywhere, and appended in the Tests & Measures Field.
The second searches for both in the Tests & Measures field. We will get a better look at this method with a
trial search.
We will input our topic into the first field, and append it into the second field, and using the drop down menu we will select Tests & Measures.
Let's take a look at an example. This article evaluates the consistency of a cross cultural measurement
Scrolling down to the Tests & Measures field we can see the test used appended to the article. By accessing the full text of the article, this is where the Tests & Measures should be located.
Our second strategy involves using the Tests & Measures field as a discovery tool to see which tests are commonly used for a particular topic. We can also search for the name to see what articles have used or administered the test.
Let's take another example, searching for sleep quality. Again, choosing Tests & Measures from the drop down field.
We can either scan these results, or to get an idea of the most commonly used tests for this topic we can look along the left hand side, under the Test & Measures drop down, These two tests will be popular choice for this topic.
We can also search for a test name to see any results that have administered the test.
Taking a look at an example, we can see under the Tests & Measures field that this particular test was one of many administered by the research.
Our final strategy is to use Classification Codes. These codes filter out content to results that
discuss a particular topic.
In this case we will select all the codes in the 2200 range as they all deal with psychometric aspects. You can select a smaller subrange but early on in your searching it is good to maximize your results.
In this example, searching for quality of life in order to access the classification codes, you must be in the advanced search feature. Also we will leave the drop down menu at the
selected field.
Inputting your topic scroll down to classification codes and select ALL, or then the 2200 range. Once that is done, scroll down to the bottom and click Search.
Our results will discuss aspects such as validation, validity, reliability and other important aspects critically assessing the tests.
This video covered searching for an evaluating Tests & Measures in PsycInfo.
Thank you for watching! For further questions feel free to free to contact us at Woodward Library Information Desk.