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Tests & Measures

Reference Sources - Overview

The books listed in this section are primarily reference sources, i.e., books that are intended to be consulted for specific information rather than read from cover to cover.  They are included in this guide because they provide brief but very useful information about individual tests and measures.  Where applicable, the type of information included in each of these books is identified by the "Key to Content" box on the left side of the page.  

  • D = Test Development is essentially a description of how a measure came to be, it's origin.
  • R = References are the sources cited.
  • P = Publisher/Distributor information identifies the source from which the measure was available at the time the reference book was published.
  • R =Reliability refers to a measure's consistency., i.e., does it give the same result when the same conditions are repeated.
  • S =Test Subjects are the population(s) on which the measure was normed.
  • T =Test Items are the exact items from the measure, reproduced in the reference book as sample questions, sometimes with the full measure, or as part of an item analysis. 
  • V = Validity refers to a measure's accuracy, i.e., does it measure what it claims to measure and how well.

When researching tests and measures, it is very important to keep in mind that information published about a a measure may be updated in subsequent years.  Therefore, it is critical that your research doesn't start and end with a single source.  A reference book often is a great starting place for information about a measure, but additional research should be conducted in a variety of sources to obtain a fuller and more current perspective about it.

View the sub-tabs under "Reference Sources" on this guide's navigation bar for titles in these subject areas:

  • Business
  • Communication
  • Counseling
  • Criminal Justice
  • Gender
  • General/Multidisciplinary
  • Health
  • Nursing
  • Psychology
  • Religion

Tests and Measures in the Social Sciences (TMSS)

A website called Tests and Measures in the Social Sciences (TMSS) was developed some years ago by health sciences librarian Helen Hough of the University of Texas at Arlington.  It consisted of a database that featured the searchable tables of contents of tests and measures-related books in her library's collection, i.e., Tests Available in Compilation Volumes.  Researchers could search for both a particular measure to find information about it in a reference source or simply view the tables of contents of each book included in Hough's compilation. 

The reference books listed in this guide that are represented in TMSS are indicated by the appearance of the notation TMSS following the book citation. The link goes to the TMSS compilation pages currently stored in the Internet Archive.  While TMSS is no longer being updated, it remains a useful research tool.