Social Work: Finding Tests and Measures

BC subscribes to Dissertations & Theses Global database, which allows you to download dissertations free of charge. Dissertations can be a rich resource for finding tests because doctoral students often use, adapt, and create instruments for their own research. Here are some hints for searching the database:

• When you enter the database, type any combination of keywords with the words test, measure, or instrument. For example, if you are looking for tests that measure ADHD in children, you might try the following set of keywords: 
  children AND ADHD AND (test OR measure).
• Once you have a set of citations, check the abstracts to see if the author mentions administering or designing a measurement tool. If a measurement is mentioned, it is likely that a reprint of the measure will appear in the appendix of the dissertation.
• If the dissertation is free, you will see a link that says Full Text - PDF. Simply click on that link, and you will be able to download the dissertation.

Please note: Dissertations are very long, often 150 pages or more. In order to avoid printing the entire dissertation, use the table of contents of the document to locate the instrument in the appendices. Notice the page number of the instrument and use the page navigation tools in the Adobe Acrobat viewer to advance to the instrument. You can print out or save just the pages with the instrument.