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Psychology: More Resources

Repositories and Other Selected Resources

See the Finding tab in our Thesis Information Guide for a list of New Zealand and international research repositories.

Some learners might appreciate these playlists of introductory videos about Psychology:

​Others might appreciate the  The Psych Files​ podcast.

Thanks to Humboldt State University Library for the tips, you can search for more multimedia Psychology resources on their website.

Psychology Associations, Societies & Research Centres

The New Zealand Psychological Society is the largest professional association for psychologists in Aotearoa. Includes useful links to community resources.

The New Zealand Psychologists Board is the regulatory authority appointed under the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003 in respect of the profession of psychology.

Multidisciplinary and cross-organisational science-led initiative to progress the wellbeing of tamariki (children) in Aotearoa.

Based in Otago University’s Psychology department, the Research Unit undertakes detailed study of human health, development and behaviour.

Uses evidence based practice to improve the workforce performance of mental health, addiction and disability services. Website includes a resource centre.

APS is the largest professional body representing psychologists in Australia.

AIPA is the national body representing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander psychologists in Australia

APA is the largest scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States.

BPS is the representative body for psychology and psychologists in the UK.

CPA is the primary organisation representing psychologists in Canada.

For those interested in the philosophy, science, application, and teaching of behavior analysis.

Dedicated to advancing scientific psychology across disciplinary and geographic borders. (Previously the American Psychological Society.)

HFES is the world’s largest scientific association for human factors/ergonomics professionals.

The world’s largest organisation of scientists and physicians devoted to understanding the brain and the nervous system.

SRCD is an international professional society that promotes multidisciplinary research in the field of human development.

Grey literature

The term 'grey literature' (GL) is used to describe materials not published commercially or indexed by major databases. While GL may be of questionable quality, it has been shown to have an impact in research, teaching and learning. Sometimes, GL is the only source of information for specific research questions. While some GL may be published eventually, and may be easier to find, sometimes it never is.

GL may not go through a peer-review process, and its authority must be scrutinised. For more information on how to evaluate resources, check out the Journals & Databases page on this Subject Guide, and in particular the box ‘Assess your findings’.

Traditional sources of grey literature include, but are not limited to:

  • Theses and dissertations
  • Census, economic and other “grey” data sources
  • Databases of on-going research
  • Statistics and other data sources
  • Conference proceedings and abstracts
  • Newsletters
  • Research reports (completed and uncompleted)
  • Technical specifications, standards, and annual reports
  • Informal communication (i.e. telephone conversations, meetings, etc.)
  • Translations

In essence, grey literature is:

  1. Not formally part of ‘traditional publishing cycles’ – producers include research groups, universities and government.
  2. Not widely disseminated – dissemination of published materials is the goal in traditional publishing.

'New' forms of grey literature include:

  • E-prints, preprints
  • Electronic networked communication
  • Blogs, podcasts (audio or video)
  • Repositories
  • Listserv archives
  • Digital libraries
  • Spatial data (e.g. Google Earth)
  • Meta-searching, federated searching, portals
  • Wikis, Twitter, other social media

Advice on ways to find grey literature:

  • Traditional databases. Many databases allow you to search not only published journal articles, but also other resources, like conference papers & theses.
  • Specialised databases. For example, theses databases (see our Thesis Guide for resources).
  • Directories and organisations. Check out some of the links in the 'Psychology Associations, Societies & Research Centres' box on this page to get started searching organisation's websites. Check out the 'Selected Web Resources' box, to access a few key Psychology directories.
  • Library catalogues. Many catalogues (including Library Search | Ketu) now index more than traditional sources of information, including things like; technical reports, research datasets, and sometimes even websites & blogs.
  • Repositories. To get you started, check out the list in the 'Research Repositories' box on this page.
  • Personal communications. For example; phonecalls, emails, blogs, Twitter and other types of social networks.
  • Hand-searching of relevant publications. Sometimes resources may not be available online, or even have any information about them online. In these cases, you have to search the old fashioned way!
  • Internet searches. If you are not getting results on Google Scholar, try regular Google. There are other search engines available that are alternatives to using Google, e.g. Bing & DuckDuckGo.

This box has used information adapted from the 'Grey literature in health: Home page' of a library guide that was put together by my Health Sciences Librarian colleagues, who in turn referred to the University of Pennsylvania Libraries' grey literature information page as a source for content.

Science Daily: 'Mind & Brain' News Feed

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