OECD guidelines on measuring subjective well-being.

Motivation Recent initiatives The need for guidelines The guidelines Scope and objectives The structure of the guidelines Notes Concept and validity Conceptual framework Elements of subjective well-being Life evaluation Affect Eudaimonia The relationship between life evaluation, affect and eudaimonia The quality of subjective well-being measures The relevance of measures of subjective well-being: Why are they important?Complement other outcome measures Better understand the drivers of subjective well-being Policy evaluation and cost-benefit analysis Identifying potential policy problems The accuracy of subjective well-being measures Reliability Summary: Reliability Validity Face validity Convergent validity Construct validity Summary: Validity Limits of validity Summary: Limits of validity Coherence and the measurement of subjective well-being Conclusion Notes Bibliography Methodological considerations in the measurement of subjective well-being Introduction The question-answering process and measurement error Patterns of error - response biases and heuristics Patterns of error - contextual cueing Patterns of error - individual differences Summary - factors influencing patterns of error Summary of issues investigated in this chapter Question construction Introduction Question wording The issue The evidence on question comprehension The evidence on question wording The evidence on translatability Key messages on question wording Length of the reference period The issue The evidence - evaluative measures The evidence - affect measures The evidence - eudaimonic measures Key messages on the length of the reference period Response formats Introduction The number of response options to offer The issue The evidence - general research on the number of response options The evidence - evaluative measures The evidence - affect and eudaimonia measures Key messages on scale length Scale labelling The issue The evidence - labelling scale anchors The evidence - labelling scale intervals or response options Key messages on scale labelling Unipolar versus bipolar measures The issue The evidence Key messages on unipolar and bipolar scales Order and presentation of response categories The issue The evidence Key messages on the order and presentation of response categories Cross-cutting issues and overall messages on response formats Question context, placement and order effects Introduction Question context and the impact of question order The issue The evidence Key messages on question context and the impact of question order Question order within a subjective well-being module The issue The evidence Key messages on question order within a subjective well-being question module Survey source and introductory text The issue The evidence Key messages on survey source and introductory text Mode effects and survey context Introduction Survey mode The issue The evidence Key messages on survey mode Wider survey context effects The issue Key messages on wider survey context effects Response styles and the cultural context Introduction Response styles and shared method variance The issue The evidence Key messages on response styles Cultural differences in response styles and scale use The issue The evidence - wider literature The evidence - subjective well-being Key messages on cultural response styles and differences in scale use Overall messages on response styles and scale use Overall conclusions and priorities for future work Question wording and response formats Recommendations Priorities for future work Question order and context effects Recommendations Priorities for future work Survey mode and timing Recommendations Priorities for future work Response styles and international comparability Recommendations Priorities for future work Notes Bibliography Measuring subjective well-being Introduction Core measures of subjective well-being What to measure? Planning the measurement of subjective well-being User needs Analysis Output Questionnaire design What other information should be collected:Co-variates and analytical variables Demographics Material conditions Psychological measures Time-use diaries Survey and sample design Target population Children People not living in private households Frequency and duration of enumeration Duration of enumeration Sample size Mode Survey vehicles Integrated household surveys General social surveys Time-use surveys Victimisation surveys Health surveys Special topic surveys Panel surveys Questionnaire design Question placement Question order within and between subjective well-being modules Translation Choice of questions A. Core measures B. Life evaluation C. Affect D. Eudaimonic well-being E. Domain evaluations F. Experienced well-being Question templates Objectives Origin Completion time Output Guidelines Survey implementation Interviewer training Ethical issues Coding and data processing Notes Bibliography Output and analysis of subjective well-being measures Introduction Using subjective well-being to complement other outcome measures Introduction What does "measuring well-being?" mean, and why do it?Approaches to measuring well-being The role of subjective well-being in measuring well-being Reporting subjective well-being data Reporting central tendency and level Aggregation of multi-item measures Aggregating several subjective well-being indicators into an overall index Reporting change over time and differences between groups Methods for reporting change over time and differences between groups Analysing and interpreting descriptive subjective well-being data What size differences can be expected?What influences effect sizes?What alternative explanations should be considered for observed differences in subjective well-being?What is the role of culture in international comparisons, and can data be "corrected" for "cultural bias"?Methods for examining and "correcting" cultural bias Better understanding the drivers of subjective well-being Introduction What does "better understanding the drivers" mean, and why does it matter?Life events and life circumstances as drivers of subjective well-being Using subjective well-being data to inform the options appraisal, design and evaluation of policies Using subjective well-being data to inform policy trade-offs Methods: How can drivers of subjective well-being be analysed?Data requirements, survey design principles and causality Methods for analysis: Tests of association What constitutes a significant association?Interpreting drivers of subjective well-being What size of impact can be expected?How can the impacts of different drivers be compared?Subjective well-being as an input to cost-benefit analysis Introduction What is cost-benefit analysis, and how can subjective well-being data help?Approaches to valuation The role of subjective well-being data in valuation Methods: How can subjective well-being data be used to value non-market factors?Direction of change: Loss aversion Using subjective well-being to adjust preference data Challenges in the interpretation of subjective well-being valuations Sensitivity of life evaluations Measurement error in estimating regression coefficients Co-variates to include in the regression model Time horizons Combining non-market and market prices in cost-benefit analysis Conclusions Notes Bibliography