Library Guides: Survey Instruments and Methodology: A Guide: Databases

Specialty Databases

Databases & Indexes are a good source of test information. Search for the title of a particular test in almost any online database, although this will often locate articles that refer or cite a measure without providing the instrument itself. However, research studies that use a specific instrument, scale or inventorie often appended the tool to the published article. Descriptive or critical comments along with reliability and validity information may also be available. Some tests may be available for purchase only. Mental Measurements Yearbook (Buros Institute) is useful for locating a appropriate instrument that is commercially available. Sometimes an author must be contacted for permission to use a specific instrument that is unpublished.

PsycINFO This link opens in a new window
American Psychological Association - To locate articles with measures included, add the keyword "appended" to your search. Also search the names of tests or by keyword in the "Tests & Measures" field.
PsycArticles This link opens in a new window
American Psychological Association (APA), is a source of full-text, peer-reviewed scholarly and scientific articles in psychology. See limits available under "Methodology".
PsycTESTS (American Psychological Association PsycNET) This link opens in a new window
Full content of psychological tests and measures, as available full bibliographic records and descriptive summaries of tests in each record descriptive summaries of commercially available tests with links to the publisher
Mental Measurements Yearbook This link opens in a new window
Produced by the Buros Institute at the University of Nebraska. A guide to testing instruments. Entries contain description, author, cost, reliability & validity and purchase information.
All MMY entries contain descriptive information (e.g., test purpose, publisher, pricing) and edited review(s) written by leading content area experts.
CINAHL Complete This link opens in a new window
Nursing & allied health journals, providing full text for many journals indexed in CINAHL. Select "Research Instrument" from the "Publication Type" box in the "limit" section and put in appropriate subject or keywords
ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global This link opens in a new window
Full-text of many dissertations after 1997, citations and/or abstracts prior to 1997. Research instruments are generally available in an appendix of a dissertation.
Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection This link opens in a new window
Database covers topics such as emotional and behavioral characteristics, psychiatry, psychology, mental processes, anthropology, and observational and experimental methods.

HSRR (Health Services and Sciences Research Resources)

Information about research datasets and instruments/indices employed in Health Services Research, Behavioral and Social Sciences and Public Health with links to PubMed.

NICHSR: National Information Center on Health Services Research and Health Care Technology Information about research datasets and instruments/indices employed in Health Services Research, Behavioral and Social Sciences and Public Health with links to PubMed.

Clinical and Health Research Databases

Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR) This link opens in a new window
The Cochrane Reviews in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews are prepared by authors who register titles with one of 52 Cochrane Review Groups. Each Cochrane Review Group focuses on a specific topic area and is led by a Coordinating Editor(s) and an editorial team including a Managing Editor and an Information Specialist. The Cochrane Review Groups provide authors with methodological and editorial support to prepare Cochrane Reviews, and manage the editorial process, including peer review. These systematic reviews differ from other types of review in that they adhere to a strict design in order to make them more comprehensive, minimizing the chance of bias, and ensuring reliability. Rather than reflecting the views of the authors, or being based on a partial selection of the literature, (as is the case with many articles and reviews that are not explicitly systematic), they contain all known references to trials on a particular intervention and a comprehensive summary of the available evidence.
EMBASE This link opens in a new window
Biomedical and pharmaceutical research including Medline + 5 million records not covered in Medline. Indexes 7500+ current, mostly peer-reviewed journals. Includes proceedings and conference abstracts.
MEDLINE (OVID) This link opens in a new window
Searches MEDLINE – (Ovid SP): MeSH headings and limits with subheading topic categories, 1946 - present. Ovid MEDLINE(R), Ovid MEDLINE(R) In-Process & Other Non-Indexed Citations, Ovid MEDLINE(R) Daily and Ovid OLDMEDLINE(R) 1946 to Present
OVID This link opens in a new window
Select Ovid Resources- Includes MEDLINE(Ovid); Global Health and Health Star (public health databases), plus full text books and journals.
PubMed This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
Millions of citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and eBooks. Click on TU LINK within a record to explore full text options.
Scopus This link opens in a new window
Scopus is a comprehensive, expertly curated abstract and citation database with enriched data and linked scholarly literature across a wide variety of disciplines. The resource quickly finds relevant and authoritative research, identifies experts, and provides access to reliable data, metrics, and analytical tools.

Sociology and Social Welfare Databases

Criminal Justice Abstracts with Full Text This link opens in a new window EBSCOhost. Coverage of the major journals in criminology and related disciplines, extensive coverage of books, and unparalleled access to reports from government and nongovernmental agencies. Criminal Justice Abstracts, formerly produced by Sage Publications, includes bibliographic records covering essential areas related to criminal justice and criminology. The increasing globalization of criminology is reflected in Criminal Justice Abstracts' coverage of hundreds of journals from around the world.
PAIS Index This link opens in a new window ProQuest. Public affairs, public and social policies, international relations
Social Science Premium Collection This link opens in a new window This collection provides access to databases covering international literature in social sciences, including politics, public policy, sociology, social work, anthropology, criminology, linguistics, library science, and education. Databases include International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS), Sociological Abstracts, PAIS Index, Worldwide Political Science Abstracts, Proquest's Education and Criminology collections, and more. Together, they provide abstracts, indexing and full-text coverage of journal articles, books, book chapters, dissertations, working papers, and more.
Sociological Abstracts This link opens in a new window ProQuest. Contains bibliographic citations with abstracts for journal articles and dissertations in all branches of the field of Sociology.

Scholarly Multidisciplinary Databases

Web of Science Core This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
Interdisciplinary database includes: Arts and Humanities Citation Index, Science Citation Index Expanded, and Social Sciences Citation Index, Journal Citation Reports. Includes citation searching (see how many times a paper has been cited). Coverage: 1976 - present. NOTE: Use your Web of Science/Endnote username and password or create a new username and password to access InCites, Journal Citation Reports, and/or EndNotes from Web of Science.
Scopus This link opens in a new window
Scopus is a comprehensive, expertly curated abstract and citation database with enriched data and linked scholarly literature across a wide variety of disciplines. The resource quickly finds relevant and authoritative research, identifies experts, and provides access to reliable data, metrics, and analytical tools.
Google Scholar This link opens in a new window
Google Scholar searches academic publishers, professional societies and preprint archives. NOTE: off-campus users need to sign-in and authenticate with your Tulane user name and password to activate TU Links and check for holdings accessible via Tulane.