OECD guidelines on measuring subjective well-being.

270 Pages·2013·2.312 MB·English

by  OECD

OECD Guidelines on Measuring Subjective Well-being
Being able to measure people’s quality of life is fundamental when assessing the progress of societies. There is now
widespread acknowledgement that measuring subjective well-being is an essential part of measuring quality of life
alongside other social and economic dimensions. As a fi rst step to improving the measures of quality of life, the
OECD has produced Guidelines which provide advice on the collection and use of measures of subjective
well-being. These Guidelines have been produced as part of the OECD Better Life Initiative, a pioneering project
launched in 2011, with the objective to measure society’s progress across eleven domains of well-being, ranging
from jobs, health and housing, through to civic engagement and the environment.
These Guidelines represent the fi rst attempt to provide international recommendations on collecting, publishing,
and analysing subjective well-being data. They provide guidance on collecting information on people’s evaluations
and experiences of life, as well as on collecting “eudaimonic” measures of psychological well-being. The Guidelines
also outline why measures of subjective well-being are relevant for monitoring and policy making, and why national
statistical agencies have a critical role to play in enhancing the usefulness of existing measures. They identify the
best approaches for measuring, in a reliable and consistent way, the various dimensions of subjective well-being,
and provide guidance for reporting on such measures. The Guidelines also include a number of prototype survey
modules on subjective well-being that national and international agencies can use in their surveys.
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30 2013 03 1 P

OECD Guidelines
on Measuring Subjective
Well-being
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FOREWORD
Foreword
U
nderstanding and improving well-being requires a sound evidence base that can inform policy-
makersandcitizensalikewhere,when,andforwhomlifeisgettingbetter.TheseGuidelineshavebeen
producedundertheOECD’sBetterLifeInitiative–apioneeringprojectlaunchedin2011,whichaims
tomeasuresociety’sprogressacrosselevendomainsofwell-being,rangingfromincome,jobs,health,
skillsandhousing,throughtocivicengagementandtheenvironment.Subjectivewell-being–i.e.how
peoplethinkaboutandexperiencetheirlives–isanimportantcomponentofthisoverallframework.To
bemostusefultogovernmentsandotherdecision-makers,however,subjectivewell-beingdataneedto
becollectedwithlargeandrepresentativesamplesandinaconsistentwayacrossdifferentpopulation
groupsandovertime.
These Guidelines mark an important turning point in our knowledge of how subjective well-
being can, and should, be measured. Not long ago, the received wisdom was that“we don’t know
enough”aboutsubjectivewell-beingtobuilditintomeasuresofsocietalprogress.However,asthe
evidence documented in these Guidelines shows, we in fact know a lot – perhaps more than we
realiseduntilwegatheredalltherelevantmaterialforthisreport–andinparticularthatmeasures
ofsubjectivewell-beingarecapableofcapturingvalidandmeaningfulinformation.
However,likeallself-reportedmeasures,survey-basedmeasuresofsubjectivewell-being,are
sensitivetomeasurementmethodology.Alargepartofthisreportisthereforedevotedtoexplaining
some of the key measurement issues that both data producers and users need to know about.
Comparabledatarequirecomparablemethods,andadegreeofstandardisationthatwillrequireboth
determinationandco-operationtoachieve.
Subjectivewell-beingdatacanprovideanimportantcomplementtootherindicatorsalreadyused
for monitoring and benchmarking countries performance, for guiding people’s choices, and for
designing and delivering policies. Measures of subjective well-being show meaningful associations
witharangeoflifecircumstances,includingtheotherdimensionsofwell-beingexploredintheBetter
LifeInitiative.However,becauseavarietyoffactorsaffecthowpeopleexperienceandreportontheir
lives,includingfactorssuchaspsychologicalresilienceinthefaceofadversity,andpotentialcultural
andlinguisticinfluencesthatarenotcurrentlywell-understood,subjectivewell-beingcanonlytellpart
ofaperson’sstory.Thesedatamustthereforebeexaminedalongsideinformationaboutmoreobjective
aspectsofwell-being,toprovideafullandroundedpictureofhowlifeis.
Asforanynewareaofstatistics,thereisstillmuchtobelearned.Theseguidelinessetoutwhat
wecurrentlyknowaboutgoodpractice.Researchonboththemeasurementandthedeterminantsof
subjective well-being is rapidly advancing.As our knowledge grows, good practice will need to be
updated.Nonetheless,itisimportanttorecognisejusthowfarwehavecomeinrecentyears.These
OECDGUIDELINESONMEASURINGSUBJECTIVEWELL-BEING©OECD2013 3
FOREWORD
Guidelines represent the first attempt to provide international recommendations on data collection,
includingsomeprototypequestionmodules.Althoughthisreportismoreofabeginningthananend,
Ibelieveitrepresentsanimportantstepforward.
MartineDurand
OECDChiefStatistician
DirectoroftheOECDStatisticsDirectorate
4 OECDGUIDELINESONMEASURINGSUBJECTIVEWELL-BEING©OECD2013
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Acknowledgments
T
his report is published under the responsibility of the Secretary-General of the OECD.
The opinions expressed and arguments employed herein do not necessarily reflect the
officialviewsoftheOrganisationorofthegovernmentsofitsmembercountries.
TheseguidelineswereproducedaspartoftheworkprogrammeoftheOECDStatistics
Committee, whose delegates have reviewed the report. The report was prepared by
Conal Smith and Carrie Exton. An expert advisory group (Tracey Chester, Ed Diener,
DavidHalpern,JohnHelliwell,AlanKrueger,BartekLessaer,ChrisMackie,RobertManchin,
KenPrewitt,SueTaylor,andTakahashiYoshiaki)providedvaluablecommentsandadvice
onthedraftingofthereport.Additionalcommentandadvicewasreceivedfromarangeof
other experts in the field, including Saamah Abdullah, Bob Cummins, Angus Deaton,
Paul Dolan, Stephen Hicks, Felicia Huppert, Susumu Kuwahara, Richard Layard,
Filomena Maggino, Martin Ravallion, Layla Richroch,Arthur Stone, Richard Suzman, and
Ruut Veenhoven.The report has benefited from the contributions and comments from
MarcoMirad’ErcoleandMartineDurand(OECDStatisticsDirectorate)aswellasstafffrom
otherOECDdirectorates,andthenationalstatisticalagenciesofOECDmembercountries.
Generous support from the National Institute of Ageing was instrumental in the
productionofthisreport.
OECDGUIDELINESONMEASURINGSUBJECTIVEWELL-BEING©OECD2013 5

TABLEOFCONTENTS
Table of contents
Overviewandrecommendations ............................................. 9
Introduction ............................................................... 21
Chapter1. Conceptandvalidity............................................... 27
1. Conceptualframework ................................................ 28
2. Thequalityofsubjectivewell-beingmeasures ............................ 34
3. Therelevanceofmeasuresofsubjectivewell-being:Whyaretheyimportant?... 35
4. Theaccuracyofsubjectivewell-beingmeasures........................... 44
Conclusion............................................................. 53
Notes.................................................................. 54
Bibliography............................................................ 55
Chapter2. Methodologicalconsiderationsinthemeasurementofsubjective
well-being ............................................................. 61
Introduction............................................................ 62
1. Questionconstruction................................................. 66
2. Responseformats..................................................... 76
3. Questioncontext,placementandordereffects............................ 93
4. Modeeffectsandsurveycontext........................................ 102
5. Responsestylesandtheculturalcontext................................. 115
Overallconclusionsandprioritiesforfuturework ........................... 125
Notes.................................................................. 128
Bibliography............................................................ 130
Chapter3. Measuringsubjectivewell-being.................................... 139
Introduction............................................................ 140
1. Whattomeasure?Planningthemeasurementofsubjectivewell-being....... 141
2. Surveyandsampledesign ............................................. 151
3. Questionnairedesign.................................................. 159
4. Surveyimplementation................................................ 172
Notes.................................................................. 174
Bibliography............................................................ 175
OECDGUIDELINESONMEASURINGSUBJECTIVEWELL-BEING©OECD2013 7
TABLEOFCONTENTS
Chapter4. Outputandanalysisofsubjectivewell-beingmeasures................ 179
Introduction............................................................ 180
1. Usingsubjectivewell-beingtocomplementotheroutcomemeasures........ 181
2. Betterunderstandingthedriversofsubjectivewell-being .................. 213
3. Subjectivewell-beingasaninputtocost-benefitanalysis .................. 225
Notes.................................................................. 236
Bibliography............................................................ 239
AnnexA. Illustrativeexamplesofsubjectivewell-beingmeasures ............... 249
AnnexB. Questionmodules................................................. 253
Tables
1.1. Correlationcoefficientsamongpurpose,lifesatisfaction,positiveaffect
andnegativeaffectattheindividuallevel,2006-10........................... 34
1.2. Evidenceonthevalidityofmeasuresofsubjectivewell-being................. 51
2.1. Possibleresponsebiasesandheuristicsdescribedintheself-report
surveyliterature ........................................................ 64
2.2. Guidetotheissuescoveredinthischapter ................................. 68
2.3. Illustrativeexamplesofresponsebiasesandtheirpossibleeffects............. 115
3.1. Acomparisonoflifedomains............................................. 169
4.1. Summarisingpossibleusesofsubjectivewell-beingdata..................... 181
4.2. Gallupdataonthriving,strugglingandsufferingintheEU
(sortedbypercentagesuffering)........................................... 187
4.3. Meannetaffectbalancebyactivity,fromKahnemanetal.(2004) .............. 192
4.4. Differencesincountryrankingsofjobsatisfaction,2008...................... 209
Figures
1.1. Asimplemodelofsubjectivewell-being.................................... 33
1.2. Trendsinsubjectivewell-beingandGDPinEgypt:2005-10.................... 37
3.1. Theplanningprocess:Fromuserneedstosurveyquestions................... 142
3.2. LifesatisfactionintheNetherlands1977-97:Eurobarometer .................. 154
3.3. Thecircumplexmodelofaffect ........................................... 165
4.1. Reportingtheproportionofrespondentsselectingeachresponsecategory...... 186
4.2. ShareoftheFrenchpopulationclassifiedas“thriving”,“struggling”
and“suffering” ......................................................... 188
4.3. InequalityinlifesatisfactioninOECDandemergingeconomies,2010.......... 191
4.4. Australianlongitudinalstudy:Lifesatisfactionandincome(Oishietal.,2007)... 196
4.5. GapinlifesatisfactionbylevelofeducationforOECDandselected
countries,2010 ......................................................... 198
4.6. Easterlinetal.2012:China’slifesatisfaction,estimatedfromsixtimeseries
datasets,1990-2010..................................................... 200
4.7. Subjectivewell-being(SWB)andpercapitagrossdomesticproduct(GDP)......... 205
8 OECDGUIDELINESONMEASURINGSUBJECTIVEWELL-BEING©OECD2013