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- Grand Canyon University Library
- Research Guides
- Secondary
- Quantitative Doctoral Research
- Data Collection/Analysis (Tests & Instruments)
Quantitative Doctoral Research
This guide will help direct you on how to use the library during your doctoral journey.
InterLibrary Loan (ILL)
If you have the citation information for an article or book but can't find the full text, you can submit an InterLibrary Loan (ILL) request.
Interlibrary loan service is for current students, faculty, and staff. For alumni resources, visit: Alumni Resources
Books For Understanding Statistics and SPSS
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Analysing Quantitative Data for Business and Management Students
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ISBN: 9781446273531Publication Date: 2015-03-26 -
Using and Interpreting Statistics in the Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences
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ISBN: 9781526402493Publication Date: 2018-04-05 -
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Help With Choosing Statistical Tests & Stats Software
For help in using these tools, there are many excellent video tutorials available online that will walk you through them.
- GCU Technical Support SPSS Tutorials This link opens in a new windowHow to download and install SPSS.
- Which Stats Test? This link opens in a new windowSage Research Method's guide to choosing a statistical test based on your variables.
- G*Power for Statistical Tests This link opens in a new windowThe official site for G*Power, where you can obtain it for free.
- G*Power Video Tutorials on YouTube This link opens in a new windowA video series on using G*Power.
- An Introduction to SPSS YouTube Videos This link opens in a new windowA video series on using SPSS.
- Sage Research Methods Datasets This link opens in a new windowSage Research Methods Datasets provide users with sample data taken from government sources and academic research to demonstrate both qualitative and quantitative methods, including step-by-step guides and sample data to best demonstrate how the method is applied. Datasets cover a wide range of topics, from the social sciences to data management.
Key Resources on Sample Size & Sampling
How to Locate Tests, Measurements, or Instruments
There are many ways to locate possible tests or instruments to use for your research.
- Searching across empirical studies during your literature review.
- Recommended keywords in LopeSearch: survey or scale or instrument of test or measure or assessment or inventory
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- Searching dissertations in the same subject area and using the same methodology as your planned study.
- Using the test databases, Health and Psychosocial Instruments (HaPI) or Mental Measurements Yearbook with Tests in Print (MMY).
- Searching in Google Scholar.
- Searching an open access archive of instruments.
You will also need to locate articles that support the validity of the instrument.
Library resources will generally include information about an instrument or test and how it has been used, but will generally not include the instrument or test itself. Most test or instruments require a fee or permission to be used. Doctoral learners are responsible for obtaining permission and obtaining legal copies of a test themselves.
- The Library cannot contact test authors on behalf of learners.
- Test manuals are generally not available through interlibrary loan.
Obtaining Instruments and Permission to Use Them:
- To search for how to obtain an instrument, or who to contact for permission to use an instrument, we recommend searching the name of the instrument, enclosed in quotes, in Google's main search, rather than Google Scholar.
- You may also need to search for the names of the instrument's authors.
- ResearchGate , a social media site for researchers, is also a good place to search for the authors. You can sign up for an account, and often contact authors directly through the site.
Searching Using Published Dissertations
- Dissertations & Theses Global This link opens in a new windowFull Text
ProQuest Dissertation & Theses Global (PQDT Global) simplifies searching for dissertations and theses via a single access point to explore an extensive, trusted collection of 4 million graduate works, with 2 million in full text. Designated as an official offsite repository for the U.S. Library of Congress, PQDT Global offers comprehensive historic and ongoing coverage for North American works and significant and growing international coverage from a multiyear program of expanding partnerships with international universities and national associations.
Searching Full Text in ProQuest Dissertations & Theses
- To look for a possible instrument, look for a dissertation that uses the same research method and or the same framework as your proposed study.
- Specifics of the research method and the framework may not appear in the abstract, so you may need to search the full text of the dissertations.
- To search full text, change the menu after "in" from "Anywhere except full text" to "Document text - FT."
- Enclose exact phrases in "quotes" to keep terms together.
Searching in Library Test Databases
- Mental Measurements Yearbook with Tests in Print This link opens in a new windowMental Measurements Yearbook™ (MMY) provides users with a comprehensive guide to over 2,700 contemporary testing instruments. Contains information essential for a complete evaluation of test products within such diverse areas as psychology, education, business, and leadership. All entries contain descriptive information reviews written by leading content area experts. Also includes Tests in Print (TIP) which provides vital information to users including test purpose, test publisher, in-print status, price, test acronym, intended test population, administration times, publication dated, and test authors.
Searching in Mental Measurements Yearbook
- Mental Measurements contains reviews of instruments, which includes information about publishers, costs, administration, and population.
- MMY does not contain the instruments themselves.
- Searches in MMY should use general keywords related to the attribute you wish to test.
- For example: "Self-efficacy" or "Job OR Career AND Satisfaction."
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- Contact the listed publisher to obtain permission and the instrument itself.
- Health and Psychosocial Instruments (HaPI) This link opens in a new windowProduced by Behavioral Measurement Database Services, this comprehensive bibliographic database is abstracted from hundreds of leading journals covering health sciences and psychosocial sciences. It also provides information about behavioral measurement instruments, including those from Industrial Organizational Behavior and Education. Encompassing nearly 190,000 records, HaPI is comprised of bibliographic information for peer-reviewed scholarly journals, books, technical reports, and test publishers' catalogs. The essential resource for researchers, students, clinicians and more, HaPI features coverage of more than 80 unique behavioral measurement tools and instruments which are used across professions and disciplines, including nursing, public health, psychology, social work, communication, sociology, and organizational behavior or human resources.
Searching in HaPI
- Health and Psychosocial Instruments contains records of instruments used and the articles they are used in.
- HaPI includes articles for which GCU does not have access to the full text, these can be requested through interlibrary loan.
- While HaPI may include a record for the original article for an instrument, it will not include the instrument itself.
- Searches in HaPI should be general keywords related to the attribute you wish to test.
- For example: "Self-efficacy" or "Job OR Career AND Satisfaction"
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- For records of articles that used an instrument, the record will include the information for both the secondary source--the article that used the instrument, as well as the primary source--the original article for the instrument. The secondary source is labeled as "Source" in the record, the original article is labeled as "References."
- Examine the articles that used a given instrument for more about it, including supporting articles such as validity research. For example the above article includes three references related to this instrument:
- PsycTests This link opens in a new windowFull Text
PsycTests provides users with the ability to find and download thousands of research instruments and tests across a variety of fields. Produced by the American Psychological Association, it provides access to actual test instruments, most of which are available for immediate download and use in teaching and research. PsycTests indexes a wide variety of test types and instruments including aptitude tests, personality scales, and cognitive functioning measures. Research instruments are available as PDF downloads or multimedia files. Tests include supplemental information such as datasets, answer keys, scoring sheets, and test manuals.
Searching Using Google Scholar
- Google Scholar This link opens in a new windowUsing this link to Google Scholar will include the ability to link to full text articles available in GCU library databases. Click “Full Text @ GCU” to access over 46,000 full-text journal titles or click “Find it @ GCU” to view additional options, including requesting via InterLibrary Loan.
Advanced Searches in Google Scholar
- To find the Advanced Scholar Search, click the Menu option located in the upper left corner.
- Click on Advanced Search.
- Searching for a phrase.
- Click the menu in the upper left (the three bars) and choose " Advanced Search".
- Enter the name of the instrument or the title of an article in the box for "with the exact phrase."
- This will search for the instrument across the full text of articles, which is useful for locating articles using the instrument of validating it.
- Search for the original article for an instrument or and instrument's manual, and use "Cited By" to see articles that list it in their references.
- Searching for Authors
- Enter an author's last name in "Return articles authored by" to search for an author's articles.
Open Access Databases of Instruments
- Substance Use Screening & Assessment Instruments Database This link opens in a new windowFrom the Alcohol & Drug Abuse Institute at the University of Washington.
- Atlas of Integrated Behavioral Health Care Quality Measures This link opens in a new windowInformation on established measures for integrated behavioral health.
- HSRR (Health Services and Sciences Research Resources) This link opens in a new windowInformation about research datasets and instruments/indices employed in Health Services Research, Behavioral and Social Sciences and Public Health with links to PubMed.
- Healthcare Tests This link opens in a new windowFrom Rand Healthcare, freely available instruments and surveys.
- TestLink This link opens in a new windowThis is a database of assessments and tests, including information on where and how they are available.
- Online Evaluation Resource Library This link opens in a new windowThis library was developed for professionals seeking to design, conduct, document, or review project evaluations. The purpose of this system is to collect and make available evaluation plans, instruments, and reports for NSF projects that can be used as examples by Principal Investigators, project evaluators, and others outside the NSF community as they design proposals and projects.
- PTSDpubs This link opens in a new windowPTSDpubs, formerly known as PILOTS, is a freely available, bibliographic database providing access to the worldwide literature on PTSD and other mental health consequences of traumatic events. It also includes a detailed listing of tests and measures. Each record in PTSDpubs lists all instruments used within the publication, and you can search for publications that use a specific test or measure.
