Guides: PSYC 3650: Experimental Methods: Databases

Psychology Databases

The following databases are reliable sources of information specific to psychology.

PsycARTICLES
PsycARTICLES via Ebscohost indexes journals from the American Psychological Association, the APA Educational Publishing Foundation, the Canadian Psychological Association and Hogrege Publishing Group. Full Text coverage is from 1987 to present. Nearly all APA journals go back to Volume 1, Issue 1. Dates of Coverage: 1984 – current.
PsycInfo
PsycInfo via Ebscohost peer-reviewed literature in behavioral science and mental health. Includes information about the psychological aspects of related fields such as medicine, psychiatry, nursing, sociology, education, pharmacology, technology, linguistics, anthropology, business, law, and others.Contains citations and summaries dating as far back as the 1600s. Dates of Coverage: Journal coverage is 1872 to current. Chapter and book coverage is 1987 to current
Psychology & behavioral sciences collection
Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection a comprehensive database covering information concerning topics in emotional and behavioral characteristics, psychiatry & psychology, mental processes, anthropology, and observational & experimental methods. Dates of Coverage: Varies by publication.
Family & society studies worldwide
Family & Society Studies Worldwide- coverage of research, policy, and practice literature in the fields of Family Science, Human Ecology, Human Development, and Social Welfare Dates of Coverage: 1970 to present,
Health Research Premium Collection
Health Research Premium Collection provides journals, dissertations as well as health and medical databases.
Sage Journals online
Sage Journals Online indexes journals from ten different Full-Text Collections including Communication Studies, Criminology, Education, Management & Organization Studies, Materials Science, Health Sciences, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology, and Urban Studies & Planning. Dates of Coverage: varies by title.
Sage Research Methods
SAGE Research Methods is a research methods tool created to help researchers, faculty and students with their research projects. SAGE Research Methods links over 175,000 pages of SAGE’s renowned book, journal and reference content. Researchers can explore methods concepts to help them design research projects, understand particular methods or identify a new method, conduct their research, and write up their findings. Since SAGE Research Methods focuses on methodology rather than disciplines, it can be used across the social sciences, health sciences, and more. Subject coverage includes sociology, health, criminology, education, anthropology, psychology, business, political science, history, economics, among others.

Best Practices for Searching

Most databases get good results from a natural language search. Try searching words that make sense to describe the topic. Then consider the following suggestions as ways to refine the search.

Find Subject Terms. Once you have the results of a search, note how the database assigns subjects to the entries. For example, after searching multicultural competence the subject headings that fit the topic best appear to be CULTURAL COMPETENCE and MULTICULTURALISM. Search the database again using the subject terms to get results that are exactly on target.

Filter Results. Databases frequently provide an easy way to filter results on characteristics like type of publication, date range, full text availability, peer review status, and others. Apply filters to reduce the number of search results.

Use Boolean Operators. Boolean operators determine how the search engine gathers results. AND is usually the default operator between words in a database search; this command requires that all the terms be in the record and reduces the number of results. OR is an operator that allows any of the search terms to be in the record and expands the number of results. NOT is an operator that excludes records containing the following word. Examples:

Gone AND Wind finds the book Gone with the Wind, the book The Wind Done Gone, and any other resources that have both terms in the record.
Gone OR Wind finds the book Gone with the Wind, the movie Gone Girl, the score Symphony no. 4, for wind orchestra, op.165, and many more titles that have either gone or wind in the record.
Gone NOT Wind finds any resources that have the word gone but not the word wind in the record.

Other Options. Some databases provide additional options like an advanced search screen with a variety of settings, or proximity operators that require words in the results to be within a specified number of words of each other in the record. These strategies are best to use when the search results are either too large or too small to be useful.

Search Multiple Databases at Once

Some of the databases provided by UNT Libraries are from the same publisher, and there is a way to search all the relevant databases from the same platform.

Go to EBSCOhost to select PsycARTICLES, PsycINFO, Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection, and Family & Society Studies Worldwide.

For ProQuest products, start by entering one database, such as Social Science Premium Collection, then click Change databases to see the list of available resources. For psychology the best options are the Psychology Database and Social Science Premium Collection.

PSYC 3650: Experimental Methods

Psychology Databases

Best Practices for Searching

Search Multiple Databases at Once

Additional Links