In these pages you'll find several different kinds of examples of ways and places to search for instruments - the examples include the short written process, screenshots, and an overview of the process. Remember, there's no one perfect way to search, but these are some strategies that work well when searching for instruments. Also, you'll probably have to closely read the methods section of an article to get a full understanding of the instrument.
Sometimes authors of a journal article will describe a scale, test, or measure that they either used or created for their research. The authors will occasionally include the scale in the appendix of their article. Adding the word append* will help you find articles that have an appended test. The * tells the database to look for append, appended, or appendix.
As you look through the abstracts of the articles, look for keywords like "Appended" as highlighted below. This means that you will find the full-text of the instrument in the appendix of the article.
Try these steps for finding tests and measures:
American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association. (7th ed.).
| Broad topic in CINAHL, limited to instrumentation | Intimate partner violence |
|---|---|
| Article title | Nursing Students and Intimate Partner Violence Education: Improving and Integrating Knowledge into Health Care Curricula |
| Instrument | Physician Readiness to Manage Intimate Partner Violence Survey |
| Found in | APA PsycTESTS |
| Broad topic in CINAHL, limited to instrumentation | Intimate partner violence |
|---|---|
| Article title | Risk Assessment in Intimate Partner Violence: A Systematic Review of Contemporary Approaches |
| Instrument | Domestic Violence Risk Appraisal Guide (DVRAG) (Hilton et al.) |
| Found in | Google Scholar - An in depth actuarial assessment for wife assault recidivism: The Domestic Violence Risk Appraisal Guide |
