PSY494P122
Online and Offline Resources In
Psychological Assessment
Responsible of the course:
Name: Mgr. Carlos A. Almenara, PhD
Address: (MU FSS) Joštova, 10 – Office 2.53, Brno.
E - mail: carlos.almenara@mail.muni.cz
1. PERSONAL GOALS:
My major goal as a teacher is to inspire students to learn and think critically.
2. PURPOSE OF THE COURSE:
Internet provides us a huge amount of information. However, the process of
search, select and retrieve information on an efficient way, requires online search
skills and background.
Almost anyone knows how to do a search on internet, despite that not all the
people knows the basic principles behind a search. Thus, the online search
experience could be based on trial and error.
With the constant increase of information, professionals need to use their time
online more efficiently, productively and less frustrating. To do that, it’s required an
intensive training on search syntax and an understanding of the scope and variety
of databases.
Psychologists need to know what information is available online, how this
information is generated, what type of information is the most relevant, and how
this information can be retrieved and used.
Accordingly, this course has been created to give students the skills and
knowledge to efficiently search, critically select and organize scientific information.
With a focus on psychological assessment, this course has been also designed
to provide students the abilities necessary to efficiently use offline resources like
textbooks, handbooks, and other materials about psychological testing.
3. COURSE GOALS AND OBJECTIVES:
The overall goal of this course is that students acquire the knowledge and skills
to efficiently find information and resources for psychological assessment.
At the end of the course, students will be able to:
1. Identify the general aspects of an article and a scientific journal.
- Identifies and uses a Digital Object Identifier (DOI).
- Identifies and differentiates between ISSN and e-ISSN.
- Differentiates between online and offline access to a journal, and
between browsing a journal’s current issue, journal’s archives, and
journal’s online first articles (ahead-of-print).
- Identifies and uses the article’s structure: title, author, abstract,
keywords, highlights, introduction, method, results, and discussion.
2. Execute advanced searches through search engines and databases.
- Identifies and creatively uses free available search engines (Google
Scholar, Microsoft Academic Search, OAISTER, Pubget, WorldCat,
CUFTS, JournalSeeker, etc.), to find information.
- Knows and uses major databases for psychological assessment (APA
Databases, PubMed, Scopus, Questia, EBSCO Psychology and Behavioral
Sciences Collection, Proquest Psychology Journals, Gale Psychology
Collection, Proquest Dissertations & Theses Full Text, OVID, CSA, ISI
Web of Knowledge, SerialsSolutions, ISI Journal Citation Reports, etc.).
- Differentiates between keyword and subject.
- Knows how to use the Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms.
- Knows how to use Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) terms.
- Knows how to use descriptors (e.g. ERIC descriptors).
- Thinks critically and properly before selecting the information.
- Identifies the different ways to search and get access to a psychological
test.
3. Know and use online and offline psychological tests databases.
- Uses the Mental Measurements Yearbook by BUROS Institute (Online
and/or Offline).
- Uses the Educational Testing Service (ETS) Test Collection.
- Knows and uses major books, handbooks, encyclopaedias and websites
containing psychological tests in his research field.
- Knows and applies the Standards for Educational and Psychological
Testing.
4. Be up-to-date on his research field.
- Uses email alerts.
- Uses matching criteria search alerts.
- Uses RSS.
- Uses other online resources (listserv, forums, blogspots, twitter,
linkedin, facebook, etc.)
5. Organize the information using a reference manager.
- Knows and uses the APA Citation Style.
- Knows and uses a reference manager (Mendeley, EndNote, RefWorks,
etc.)
4. COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
Classes are once every week. Classes are two academic hours long (100
minutes) and they are divided as follows: first hour of lecture (50
minutes), being the teacher the most active, presenting the content;
second hour of training (class exercises), being the students the more
active, applying the knowledge acquired during the lecture and solving
problems with the assistance of the teacher.
To access the final exam, it’s needed to attend at least 80% of the
seminars (i.e. 10 if 13 seminars in total).
I encourage students to participate in classroom: asking questions,
answering, or making a comment or observation. For those who feel shy
speaking in public, I encourage them to participate. And those who feel
confident speaking in public, I encourage them to shape the classroom
atmosphere as warm and inviting as possible.
Read the assigned papers before the seminar session, they are very
useful. The assigned papers have been carefully selected to give you a
background of information for the topic covered in the session.
I will monitor the participation during each seminar. Your opinion is
important.
5. EVALUATION:
Students are evaluated using the fulfilled or not fulfilled criteria (Type of completion: Z
–credit-). To evaluate the student I use the following criteria:
40% mandatory assignments.
25% participates in class.
35% Final exam (Multichoice answer quiz with 20 questions)
6. OFFLINE RESOURCES (TEXTBOOKS):
American Educational Research Association, American Psychological Association, &
National Council on Measurement in Education. (1999). Standards for educational
and psychological testing. Washington DC: American Educational Research
Association.
American Psychological Association. (2010). Publication Manual of the American
Psychological Association (6th ed.). Washington DC: American Psychological
Association.
Cohen, R. J., & Swerdlik, M. (Eds.). (2009). Psychological testing and assessment: An
introduction to tests and measurement (7th ed.). Washington DC: McGraw-Hill.
Evans, J. (2007). Your psychology project: The essential guide. Los Angeles, CA: Sage.
Goh, D., & Foo, S. (Eds.). (2008). Social information retrieval systems: Emerging
technologies and applications for searching the web effectively. New York, NY:
Information Science Reference.
Hambleton, R. K., Merenda, P. F., & Spielberger, C. D. (Eds.). (2005). Adapting
educational and psychological tests for cross-cultural assessment. New Jersey:
Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Hersh, W. (2009). Information retrieval: A health and biomedical perspective. New
York, NY: Springer.
Koocher, G. P., Norcross, J. C., & Hill III, S. S. (Eds.). (2005). Psychologists’ desk
reference (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Leach, M. M., Stevens, M. J., Lindsay, G., Ferrero, A., & Korkut, Y. (Eds.). (2012). The
Oxford Handbook of International Psychological Ethics. New York, NY: Oxford
University Press.
Lenburg, J. (2010). The facts on file guide to research (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Facts
on File.
Norcross, J. C., Hogan, T. P., & Koocher, & G. P. (Eds.). (2008). Clinician’s guide to
evidence-based practices: Mental health and the addictions. New York, NY: Oxford
University Press.
7. ONLINE RESOURCES:
Tests and Measures in the Social Sciences (Compiled by Helen Hough, Health Sciences
Librarian, University of Texas at Arlington). This database contains information on
about 12,000 measures available in 128 compilation volumes. There is a database
version in RefShare and is also available on this website:
http://libraries.uta.edu/helen/test&meas/testmainframe.htm
Educational Testing Service (ETS) - Test Collection. The ETS Test Collection is a
database of more than 25,000 tests and other measurement devices. Contains
information about tests from the early 1900s to the present, and is considered the
largest compilation of such materials in the world.
http://www.ets.org/test_link/about/
PsycTESTS. Is a research database that provides access to psychological tests,
measures, scales, surveys, and other assessments as well as descriptive information
about the test and its development and administration.
http://www.apa.org/pubs/databases/psyctests/index.aspx
Health and Psychosocial Instruments (HaPI). Is a database that provides access to
information on approximately 15,000 measurement instruments (i.e. questionnaires,
interview schedules, checklists, coding schemes, rating scales, etc.) in the fields of
health and psychosocial sciences.
http://www.ovid.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=13051&catal
ogId=13151&langId=-1&partNumber=Prod-866
Directory of Special Libraries and Information Centers. This directory is published by
Gale in two volumes (available separately): Volume 1 (in three parts) provides detailed
contact and descriptive information on subject-specific resource collections maintained
by various government agencies, businesses, publishers, educational and nonprofit
organizations, and libraries around the world. In addition, Vol. 1 features seven
appendixes and a comprehensive subject index and is available with or without an
inter-edition supplement. Volume 2, Geographic and Personnel Indexes, provides
access to profiled libraries by geographic region, as well as by the professional staff
that are cited in each listing.
http://www.libraries-update.com/
PSYNDEXplus with TestFinder. PSYNDEX is the most comprehensive abstract database
(not full-text) of psychological literature, audiovisual media, intervention programs, and
tests from the German-speaking countries. Publisher: Zentrum fur Psychologische
Information und Dokumentation (ZPID) at the University of Trier.
http://site.ovid.com/site/products/fieldguide/pskm/About_PSYNDEXplus_with_Test.jsp
Mental Measurements Yearbook Test Review Online. The most widely acclaimed
reference series in education and psychology, the Mental Measurements Yearbooks are
designed to assist professionals in selecting and using standardized tests. The series,
initiated in 1938, provides factual information, critical reviews, and comprehensive
bibliographic references on the construction, use, and validity of all tests published in
English. Mental Measurements Yearbook, from the Buros Institute, contains the most
recent descriptive information and critical reviews of new and revised tests from the
Buros Institute's Yearbooks. The database covers more than 4,000 commerciallyavailable
tests in categories such as personality, developmental, behavioral
assessment, neuropsychological, achievement, intelligence and aptitude, educational,
speech & hearing, and sensory motor.
http://buros.unl.edu/buros/jsp/search.jsp
Mental Measurements Yearbook with Tests in Print (TIP). This unique package includes
the Mental Measurements Yearbook database PLUS the Tests in Print database, which
provides the most current descriptive test data, including test descriptions, publishers,
pricing, in-print status, etc. 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). A score index permits
users to identify what is being measured by each test. Tests in Print also guides
readers to critical, candid test reviews published in the Mental Measurements Yearbook
series. Tests in Print is an indispensable reference for professionals (including such
areas as education, psychology, business) and anyone interested in the critical issues
of tests and testing.
http://buros.org/tests-print
World Guide to Special Libraries. Published by Walter de Gruyter, is the most
comprehensive directory of special libraries worldwide. The completely revised and
updated 8th edition lists over 34,200 libraries under 821 subject headings. As a
number of the libraries are listed under more than one subject, the work contains
46,264 entries in total. The term special libraries, is understood to refer to all libraries
specializing in specific subjects. Amongst others, these include major central libraries
such as the National Library of Medicine at Bethesda, USA, departmental and institute
libraries, corporate and administrative libraries, ‘classic’ special libraries such as the
Bibliothèque artistique de la ville de Bruxelles and general libraries with major
specialized holdings.
http://www.degruyter.com/view/product/161786
Course Calendar (12-week lectures; 1-week exam; 1 holiday: April 1st
):
Date Topics and activities Readings (due on this date) Assignments (due on this date)
THEME ONE: GENERAL INTRODUCTION
1st Course information and general
introduction: online and offline
information, indexed information,
visible and invisible information,
structure of an article, browsing
journals, finding a journal
2nd Free search engines, syntax, Health and biomedical information, Bring and present a research question
basic search, advanced search, Indexing, Research directions (Hersh, 2009)
expert search, special search tools
3rd Databases, selecting databases, Finding sources of information: Electronic According to your research question,
Gale Directory of Databases, databases (Lenburg, 2010); Locating the make a list of databases that you
common aspects of databases, best available research will use to find information.
multiple databases search (Norcross, Hogan, & Koocher, 2008)
4th APA Databases: PsycInfo, PsycTests, Make a list of keywords for
PsycArticles, PsyCritiques, PsycBooks, Tutorials on APA Databases your research.
PsycExtra, PsycTherapy http://www.apa.org/pubs/databases/training/tutorials.aspx
5th Other databases in psychology: Finding sources by subject: Psychology Select the most important journals in
EBSCO Psychology and Behavioral Sciences (Lenburg, 2010) your topic.
Collection, PROQUEST Psychology Journals,
GALE Psychology Collection
6th Other resources: Proquest Dissertations & Publication and citation analysis as a tool Find a dissertation/theses which is the
Theses, CUFTS, JournalSeeker, PubMed for information retrieval (Goh & Foo, 2008) most similar to your research.
SerialsSolutions, ISI Web of Knowledge
Course Calendar (12-week lectures; 1-week exam; 1 holiday: April 1st
) (CONTINUED)
Date Topics and activities Readings (due on this date) Assignments (due on this date)
THEME TWO: USING ONLINE AND OFFLINE RESOURCES IN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT
7th Specific databases on psychological Publishers of psychological and Find all possible instruments which
tests, free resources: Tests and Measures psychoeducational tests measures the constructs you are
in the Social Sciences (University of Texas (Koocher, Norcross, & Hill III, 2005), using in your research, and according
at Arlington), Educational Testing Service Where to go for authoritative to the aimed population.
(ETS) - Test Collection, Mental Measurements information: Reference sources
Yearbook Test Review Online (free search) (Cohen & Swerdlik, 2009)
8th Specific databases on psychological tests, Psychological testing: Publishers of Find critical reviews of the
not free resources: Educational Testing Service psychological and psychoeducational instruments you are using in your
(ETS) - Test Collection, PsycTESTS, Health tests (Koocher et al., 2005); research.
and Psychosocial Instruments (HaPI), Sourcing materials and measures for
Mental Measurements Yearbook Test Review psychological research (Evans, 2007)
Online, Mental Measurements Yearbook with
Tests in Print (TIP), PSYNDEXplus with
TestFinder (German database)
9th Offline access to psychological tests: Finding sources of information: Find special volumes,
Mental Measurements Yearbook, Directory Finding archives and archival collections, handbooks, collections in the
of Special Libraries and Information Centers, Finding associations, societies, and topics covered by your
compilation volumes, books, handbooks, and organizations, Finding CD-ROM collections, research.
other ways to get access to psychological tests. Finding general references, Finding
search engines (Lenburg, 2010)
10th Using search engines and databases to get Finding sources of information: Find and subscribe to a
a test: summary and practice session; being Finding e-mail discussion groups and listserv, forum, or group in
up-to-date using email alerts, RSS, listservs, etc. newsgroups (Lenburg, 2010); your area. Select and use 5
Organizing the information: Mendeley, RefWorks, APA Citation Style RSS related to your research.
EndNote; using APA Citation Style (American Psychological Association, 2010) Use a Reference Manager.
11th Considerations before using and selecting a test: International Journal of Testing Summarize how much are
Standards for Educational and Psychological Special Issue: International you following the Standards
Testing Approaches to Test Reviewing; for Educational and
Principles, standards, and guidelines Psychological Testing.
that impact test development and
use and sources of information
(Leach, Stevens, Lindsay, Ferrero, & Korkut, 2012)
(American Educational Research Association,
American Psychological Association, & National
Council on Measurement in Education, 1999)
12th
Adaptation of a test and Cross-Cultural considerations: Issues, designs, and technical Propose a research aimed
back translation, scoring, measurement equivalence guidelines for adapting tests into to adapt a test (title,
multiple languages and cultures objectives, method).
(Hambleton, Merenda, & Spielberger, 2005)
13th EXAM