Guides: PSYC 310: Research Methods: Home

Welcome to the library guide for PSYC 310! On this guide, you will find information to help you complete and understand research in psychology. If you ever have any questions, need help using a library or online resource, or want personalized assistance researching a topic, please reach out to me directly through email (nicholas.dandrea@pepperdine.edu) or by scheduling an appointment.

Research Starting Points

The following link is to a key review journal in psychology. All the articles are reviews of existing research, not the original studies themselves, and they can be great places to easily look through big topics in the field.

Annual Review of Psychology
Published since 1950, this journal reviews significant developments in the field of psychology.

This article, written by three medical researchers, is a great overview of formulating a research question. Nailing down your question will be tough and is integral to a good research project, so take your time with it!

Formulation of Research Question – Stepwise Approach
"The present paper aims to discuss the process of formulation of RQ with stepwise approach."

Below you'll be able to search for books at Pepperdine Libraries and beyond, many of which can be useful in helping figure out what you want to study. Here are some useful tips for searching our library:

Use the filters to improve your results. I recommend using the library filter (shows you what we have) and the format filter (choose between ebooks, print books, articles, etc).
Use quotation marks around phrases to enhance your results. For example "Pepperdine University" will produce only results that contain those two words together and in that order
Use TI: before your search words to search just the titles of things and use AU: before an author's name to see their works

Academic Articles

PsycINFO

The American Psychological Association’s (APA) resource of peer-reviewed articles in psychology, behavioral science and mental health.
PubMed

Access to biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books from the National Library of Medicine.

Need a book or article we don't own? Use our interlibrary loan service!

Tests & Measurements

This first resource is for understanding tests and measurements. It is a collection of reviews of thousands of tests, the results will help you understand how tests were designed, quality checked, and how they can be used.

Mental Measurements Yearbook with Tests in Print
Comprehensive guide to contemporary testing instruments in areas of psychology, education, business, and leadership.

First published by Oscar K. Buros, the MMY series allows users to make knowledgeable judgments and informed selection decisions about the increasingly complex world of testing. MMY provides coverage from Volume 1 to the present. Produced by the Buros Institute of Mental Measurements at the University of Nebraska, Tests in Print (TIP) serves as a comprehensive bibliography to all known commercially available tests that are currently in print in the English language. TIP provides vital information to users including test purpose, test publisher, in-print status, price, test acronym, intended test population, administration times, publication date(s), and test author(s).

All the resources below are for finding tests. Many psychological tests are privately owned, so I encourage you to explore multiple options and talk with me if you need help finding suitable options.

PsycTests
Descriptive summaries, articles and citations on the development and assessment of psychological tests, scales, instruments and measures used in psychology research and teaching. Make sure to filter to "Test Available" in the search menu to see what can be accessed.
ERIC (Education Resources Information Center)
In the Advanced Search screen enter relevant keywords and choose tests/questionnaires from the Document Type limit list.
Dissertations & Theses Global (ProQuest)
Enter the name of the test/measure into the search box and limit to the Abstract field. Many times authors will list the test and measures used; then look within the dissertation's Table of Contents to see if the instrument was included in the appendix.
Sage Research Methods
Has many videos, books, and other tools to help you understand quantitative and qualitative research methods in the social sciences.

Directory of Unpublished Experimental Mental Measures
The last volume of an excellent collection of freely available psychological tests. Available at Payson for borrowing.