Metrics of Subjective Well-Being: Limits and Improvements

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-x

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2. Towards More Complexity in Subjective Well-Being Studies

   • Gaël Brulé, Filomena Maggino

   Pages 1-17

3. Conceptual Issues

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 19-19

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   2. Can Good Life Be Measured? The Dimensions and Measurability of a Life Worth Living

      • Frank Martela

      Pages 21-42

   3. The Subjective Object of Well-Being Studies: Well-Being as the Experience of Being Well

      • Mariano Rojas

      Pages 43-62

4. Measurement Issues

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 63-63

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   2. Measures of Happiness: Which to Choose?

      • Ruut Veenhoven

      Pages 65-84

   3. Explaining the Decline in Subjective Well-Being Over Time in Panel Data

      • Katia Iglesias, Pascale Gazareth, Christian Suter

      Pages 85-105

   4. Reducing Current Limitations in Order to Enhance the Quality of Subjective Well-Being Research: The Example of Mindfulness

      • Rebecca Shankland, Ilios Kotsou, Caroline Cuny, Lionel Strub, Nicholas J. L. Brown

      Pages 107-132

   5. Measuring Indecision in Happiness Studies

      • Stefania Capecchi

      Pages 133-153

5. Comparability Issues

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 155-155

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   2. Evaluating Comparability of Survey Data on Subjective Well-being

      • Ingebjørg Kristoffersen

      Pages 157-184

   3. Label Scale and Rating Scale in Subjective Well-Being Measurement

      • Ester Macri

      Pages 185-200

6. Possible Improvements of the Measurability of Subjective Well-Being

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 201-201

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   2. Culture and Well-Being: A Research Agenda Designed to Improve Cross-Cultural Research Involving the Life Satisfaction Construct

      • Dong-Jin Lee, Grace B. Yu, Joseph Sirgy

      Pages 203-221

   3. Objective and Subjective Indices of Well-Being: Resolving the Easterlin Happiness–Income Paradox

      • Kenneth C. Land, Vicki L. Lamb, Emma Zang

      Pages 223-235

   4. Methods to Increase the Comparability in Cross-National Surveys, Highlight on the Scale Interval Method and the Reference Distribution Method

      • Tineke de Jonge

      Pages 237-262

7. Back Matter

   Pages 263-264

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This volume analyses the quantification of the effect of factors measuring subjective well-being, and in particular on the metrics applied. With happiness studies flourishing over the last decades, both in number of publications as well as in their exposure, researchers working in this field are aware of potential weaknesses and pitfalls of these metrics. Contributors to this volume reflect on different factors influencing quantification, such as scale size, wording, language, biases, and cultural comparability in order to raise awareness on the tools and on their conditions of use. 

• Quality of Life and Happiness
• Measuring Good Life
• Exploration of Human Subjectivity
• Measures of Happiness
• Life Satisfaction in France
• Explanation of Subjective Well-Being
• Social Desirability and Happiness
• Culture and Well-Being
• Measure of Life Satisfaction across Countries
• Measuring Subjective Well-Being

• Happiness Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam Happiness Studies, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

  Gaël Brulé

• Dipartimento di Scienze Statistiche, Università di Roma "La Sapienza" , Roma, Italy

  Filomena Maggino

Gaël Brulé(PhD) is a post-doc researcher in happiness studies at Erasmus University of Rotterdam. His areas of expertise are cross-national and cross-cultural comparison and comparability of happiness. 

Filomena Maggino is professor of Social Statistics at the University of Florence (Italy) and chief of the Laboratory of Statistics for Research in Social and Educational field. In the field of statistics applied to social research, her twenty-year research covers mainly data (i) production (with particular reference to subjective data assessment), (ii) analysis (with particular reference to multivariate analysis, scaling models and composite indicator construction), and presentation and dissemination (with particular reference to defining a model aimed at assessing the quality of communication in statistics). Her research interests aim at seeing these topics in the perspective of quality of life assessment. 

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