Finding Research Instruments, Surveys, and Tests: MMY

Mental Measurements Yearbook, from the Buros Institute, contains current descriptive information and critical reviews of new and revised tests from the Buros Institute's Yearbooks. MMY is a useful tool for educators, counselors, psychologists, personnel directors, lawyers, and medical professionals to locate and evaluate research instruments, tests, surveys, and other measurement tools.

Initially a published print series begun in 1938, Mental Measurements Yearbook (MMY) provides factual information, critical reviews, and comprehensive bibliographic references on the construction, use, and validity of tests published in English. MMY includes more than 4,000 commercially-available tests on topics such as personality, developmental, behavioral assessment, neuropsychological, achievement, intelligence and aptitude, educational, speech & hearing, and sensory motor. The MMY database includes records from 1985 to the present and is updated every six months to add new test information and to delete out-dated descriptions and reviews when new ones are available.

Each record includes

• test name and classification
• author(s)
• publisher
• publication date
• price
• time requirements
• score descriptions
• levels
• intended populations

You may search Buros through their website to find out if it contains a review of your test. But you will need to use Interlibrary Loan to request the review. The review of the test will not include the actual test. The Buros review is only a tool to help you decide if a specific test is appropriate for YOUR project.

Search for a Test by

• the name of the test (e.g., Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory)
• a test acronym (e.g., MMPI)
• an author of the test (e.g., James N. Butcher)
• the publisher (e.g., University of Minnesota)

Limit your search

• by test category
• by type of administration (e.g., group or individual)
• by publication date
• by which yearbook it appeared in (online coverage begins with the 9th edition of the yearbook (1985))
• by number of reviews

Other Ways to Search

• Purpose field—keyword search for the purpose described in the record.
• Population field—keyword search for the population for whom the test is intended, such things as age, grade level, gender, functioning level, behavioral characteristics, etc.
• Levels field— Performs a keyword search for a records description of various levels available for the test. For example, a test with five different levels would be designated: 5: grades K-3, 4-8, 7-10, 9-14, adults.

Use the table below to look up abbreviations in Mental Measurements Yearbook.

Example:
References: For a review of ACER Advanced Test B40 by Harriet C. Cobb, see 9:4; see also T2:323 (6 references) and 7:328 (4 references); for a review of ACER Advanced Test B40 by C. Sanders, see 5:296 (3 references).

Abbreviation       Volume

The 1938 Mental Measurements Yearbook, 1938

2 or MMY2          The 1940 Mental Measurements Yearbook, 1940
3 or MMY3          The Third Mental Measurements Yearbook, 1949
4 or MMY4          The Fourth Mental Measurements Yearbook, 1953
5 or MMY5          The Fifth Mental Measurements Yearbook, 1959
6 or MMY6          The Sixth Mental Measurements Yearbook, 1965
7 or MMY7          The Seventh Mental Measurements Yearbook,1974
8 or MMY8          The Eighth Mental Measurements Yearbook, 1978
9 or MMY9          The Ninth Mental Measurements Yearbook, 1985
10 or MMY10       The Tenth Mental Measurements Yearbook, 1989
11 or MMY11       The Eleventh Mental Measurements Yearbook, 1992
12 or MMY12       The Twelfth Mental Measurements Yearbook, 1995
13 or MMY13       The Thirteenth Mental Measurements Yearbook, 1997
14 or MMY14       The Fourteenth Mental Measurements Yearbook, 2001
15 or MMY15       The Fifteenth Mental Measurements Yearbook, 2003
16 or MMY16       The Sixteenth Mental Measurements Yearbook, 2005
17 or MMY17       The Seventeenth Mental Measurements Yearbook, 2007
P or PTR             Personality Tests and Reviews, 1968
R or RTR             Reading Tests and Reviews, 1968
T1                      Tests in Print I, 1961
T2                      Tests in Print II, 1974
T3                      Tests in Print III, 1983)
T4                      Tests in Print IV, 1994, 2 vols.
T5                      Tests in Print V, 1999, 2 vols.
T6                      Tests in Print VI, 2002

The APA Manual (6th ed.) describes how to cite tests and instruments on pages 210-211.