Finding Research Instruments:

Finding health care or nursing research instruments (or measurement tools) can be labor intensive.   After you find reference to an instrument you may not be able to find a free copy of the actual instrument, but will need to purchase a copy from the publisher.  If you do find an instrument appended to an article you should still contact the author to received permission to use the instrument.

Below are some resources to start you on your way to finding research instruments.

Resources that include citations for, reviews of, and possibly the full text of research instruments:

• PsycTESTS, Psychological tests, measures, scales, surveys and other assessments(SPU Only)
• MEDLINE, Medicine, Nursing, Dentistry, and Hospital Adminstration Database(SPU Only)
• CINAHL Plus, Nursing and Allied Health Database(SPU Only)
• PsycINFO, Psychology Database(SPU Only)
• ERIC, Education Database, covers nursing education topics(SPU Only)
• Sociological Abstracts, Sociology Database(SPU Only)
• Medical Outcomes Trust
• ProQolid, Patient-Reported Outcome and Quality of Life Instruments Database
• Substance Use Screening & Assessment Instruments Database
• SPU Test Collection, need instructor permission to access

Resources with citations for and reviews of research instruments:

• Mental Measurements Yearbook (SPU Only)
• Test Reviews Online
• ETS Text Collection
• Health Services and Sciences Research Resources

The above links are provided as a starting point, you may also search for research instruments using web search engines such as Google or Bing.

Basic Information and Tutorials about Research Instruments:

• Finding Measurement Tools - University of Washington HealthLinks
• Test and Measures for Nursing Research Instruments - Rutgers University Library