Frequently Asked Questions

EdInstruments is a curated collection of measurement tools spanning domains relevant for education policy and practice questions.

The project aims to:

1. Providing an expansive collection of measurement tools that will help facilitate the work of researchers, practitioners, and the general public. The project’s aim is to take the guesswork out of tracking down instruments - especially those that may live in empirical studies or across several smaller repositories.
2. Pushing the field toward the use of common measures. To date, the field of education research has demonstrated little agreement or consistency on how to define, measure, and organize the full range of outcomes related to student success and well-being. This often results in researchers or practitioners creating their own measures, subsequently resulting in studies and programs that are not easily comparable. The extensive background work spent ensuring our collection process results in the inclusion of instruments that are valid, reliable, fair - and appeal to a broad range of potential users - is how  we address this issue.  
3. Highlighting gaps in available measurement instruments. By conducting extensive searches for instruments in a given research area and consulting with leading researchers and practitioners, we work to ensure an accurate overview of measurement tools that are currently available. As a direct result of these efforts, EdInstruments also illuminates gaps in measurement, which we believe will spur the development of novel measurement tools.

Before any research is done at the instrument level, we make sure to take time to understand the broader context within which an instrument (or group of instruments) fits. Once this background work has been completed, and a comprehensive framework has been established, members of our team research existing repositories, literature reviews, and empirical studies collecting data to complete the 24 unique information fields required per instrument. After rigorously confirming the most accurate and appropriate data has been collected, instruments are published to the project website for immediate access by our end users.

If you are interested in submitting an instrument you believe would add value to our collection, you can use the Suggest an Instrument feature here, which can also be found on the home page or at the bottom of any instrument list’s page. 

We are eager to collaborate with instrument publishers and creators. Similar to the Suggest an Instrument feature, there is an additional form to complete to ensure accurate information is displayed for the instrument(s). Please reach out to Aizat Nurshatayeva (aizat@brown.edu) to acquire this form. 

We take several steps to assess the validity and reliability of the measurement tools included on the website, reviewing available psychometric materials. However, we do not provide a rating for each instrument because users' needs vary. An instrument that is good for one application, may not be good for another. With this variability in mind, we have included the “Use in Research” and “Psychometric Resources” information fields for each instrument. These fields provide sources for users to review against their own goals and priorities to determine which instruments best fit their particular needs of their work.

EdInstruments differs from similar repositories in the following ways:

1. EdInstruments covers a broader range of educational domains than other repositories. It collects information in four broad categories: Academic Knowledge & Skills, Student Well-Being, Schooling, and Home & Community.
2. We want to hear from you. While we strive to be meticulous in our instrument research and collection, we recognize the need for external expertise from the field. Therefore, we offer the Suggest an Instrument feature that allows individuals who see the utility of an instrument not displayed on our website, the opportunity to submit an instrument to be included on our site.

Each of EdInstruments’ four categories contain several “layers” that help to organize the collection of measurement tools housed within each category. The first layer users can explore are the subcategories. An initial period of background research is conducted to understand the landscape of a category, in order to determine which subcategories are essential to include. The next layer within each subcategory are “domains.” Each subcategory has its own respective domains that serve as an additional level of organization within the collection of measurement tools. As users navigate through the instrument list(s), they can narrow and/or expand search parameters using these layers of organization; thus, allowing the personalization of their search for tools based on specified needs.