What is SocINDEX?
SocINDEX is a database that searches across the literature of sociology, including social work.
- SocINDEX with Full Text
Scholarly journal articles about sociology and other social and behavioral sciences. Includes culture & social structure; economic development; evaluation research; family & social welfare; management and complex organizations; policy planning.
Searching By Topic
To find instruments about your research topic, use keywords about it in one or more of the search boxes. In the final box, try using this string of words: test* OR measure* OR survey* OR questionnaire* OR scale* OR batter* OR inventor* OR checklist* OR instrument* OR pretest* OR posttest* OR interview*. In the drop-down menu next to that search box, choose AB Abstract to search only the Abstract field.
There is no field in SocINDEX records specifically for research instruments, so those would likely appear only in the abstract.
Searching By Title
Search for the name of your instrument (if you know it exactly) in quotation marks.
The acronym for the test is also an option. Limiting to the AB Abstract field is a good idea. You may also want to incorporate some of the ideas from the Searching By Topic box to limit your search in case you get a lot of irrelevant results.
Searching For Evaluations
Follow the advice for searching by topic or title, then in your final search box, use the string of words validity OR reliability, limited to the AB Abstract field to narrow your search to articles that are likely to include some kind of evaluation of the instruments used. This isn't foolproof, but can be a helpful strategy.
