Subjective Well-Being Measuring Happiness, Suffering, and Other Dimensions of Experience (2013) / Chapter Skim
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1 Introduction
1 Introduction
Pages 15-28
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From page 15... ...
Over the past decade, interest in information about SWB (also called "self-reported wellbeing") has increased markedly among researchers, politicians, national statistical offices, the media, and the public.1 The value of this information lies in its potential contribution to monitoring the economic, social, and health conditions of populations and in potentially informing policy decisions across these domains (Krueger et al., 2009; Layard, 2006)
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From page 16... ...
, the French national statistics 2 Consumer confidence, for example, can display this kind of pattern, which may be a reason that the survey on which the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index is based is designed as it is -- with fairly small samples but ongoing data collection.
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From page 17... ...
Longitudinal studies indicate moderate stability of life satisfaction over time; the variation that has been observed suggests there are potentially modifiable contextual factors that influence judgments about some aspects of evaluative well-being. 1.1.2 Experienced Well-Being Experienced well-being (ExWB)
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From page 18... ...
Along with the life-evaluation questions, the OECD Guidelines recommend a global-yesterday question for use in a module designed to include a minimal set of measures for use in government household surveys. Derived from the Gallup World Poll and European Social Survey, the recommended questions are phrased as follows (OECD, 2013, p.
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From page 19... ...
However, concepts of "worthwhileness" or purpose appear crucial for understanding (or predicting) why and when people engage in various activities during the day or choose various life courses.
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From page 20... ...
Much of this research has relied on nongovernment data collections, such as those conducted by the Gallup Organization. A central task of this study is to assess and provide guidance about the optimal role that statistical agencies might play in collecting, coordinating, and publishing data needed to advance the field further and potentially to inform policy discussions.
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From page 21... ...
government surveys, the panel will also consider inclusion of SWB measures in surveys in the United Kingdom and European Union, in order to facilitate cross-national comparisons in addition to comparisons over time and for population groups within the United States. The panel will prepare an interim report on the usefulness of the American Time Use Survey SWB module and a final report identifying potential indicators and offering recommendations for their measurement.
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From page 22... ...
Beyond cases where SWB data may allow for fuller cost-benefit analyses of policy options, there may also be reverse cases, where measures of people's SWB are indicative of a factor driving outcomes; the impact of positive affect on resistance to or ability to recover from illness is an actively researched example. As is true for most measures, even those viewed as "objective," the goal is not to have a perfect measure of SWB but to generate data that can be usefully combined with other information and incorporated in a range of policy applications.
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From page 23... ...
Among efforts currently under way that are attempting to advance measurement of SWB among national statistical offices, perhaps the most prominent is the recently developed and published OECD Guidelines on Measuring Subjective Well-being (2013)
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From page 24... ...
ONS now includes a set of four questions on the core of its Integrated Household Survey covering three aspects of SWB: life evaluation, momentary emotional state, and worthwhileness. Beginning in April 2011, ONS included the following questions on its Annual Population Survey and Opinions and Lifestyle Survey: • verall, how satisfied are you with your life nowadays?
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From page 25... ...
datasets on SWB are the Gallup Organization's World Poll -- begun in 2005 and covering 160 countries -- and Gallup World Values Survey. The Gallup World Poll is a repeated annual cross-sectional survey that includes life evaluation and ExWB questions, as well as many factors beyond self-reported well-being, such as perceptions of work, social, financial, physical, and community well-being; perception of leadership; basic access to food, shelter, safety; and others.
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From page 26... ...
Additionally, the panel hopes that the report will prove useful to researchers and others interested in the multidimensional nature of moment-to-moment and reflected well-being -- something that is much more nuanced and difficult to measure than can be understood simply by asking people if they are happy. The remainder of the report is structured as follows: Chapter 2 sketches a brief history of measurements of self-reported well-being and their inclusion in survey development; it also defines more technically the evaluative, experienced, and eudaimonic approaches introduced above.
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From page 27... ...
Appendixes to the report provide details on some of the key ExWB questions and modules currently in place, such as those in the ONS Annual Population Survey, the HWB-12 Survey, and the Gallup World Survey. Also included as Appendix B is a separate report produced in mid-project by the panel, which was written to assess and provide guidance specifically on the ATUS.
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