Bringing Life to Mind: A Qualitative and Quantitative Approach to Identifying the Information Used in Life Satisfaction Judgements

Charlie Lea () and Andrew K. MacLeod
Additional contact information
Charlie Lea: University of Brighton
Andrew K. MacLeod: Royal Holloway, University of London

Journal of Happiness Studies, 2019, vol. 20, issue 5, No 14, 1587-1608

Abstract: Abstract Despite a prevalence of well-being research there has been general lack of interest in the information that respondents actually bring to mind whilst they consider their well-being. The aim of the present studies was two-fold: (1) to use a unique methodology to provide an “in progress” account of the life satisfaction judgement process; (2) to use an inductive, qualitative analysis to ground the findings in the data, rather than using an a priori coding scheme based on existing literature. Participants (N = 54, aged 24–68 years) thought-aloud their responses to each item of the satisfaction with life scale (Diener et al. in J Personal Assess 49(1):71–75. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327752jpa4901_13 , 1985) and their consideration of a better and worse life. Thirteen code categories were identified with Relationships with Others, Job, and Feelings being the most prevalent and Material Possessions and Contribution-to-the-World the least common. The validity of the code categories was verified in a larger, second study. The present studies identified a broader array of categories compared to previous, similar research and provided support for the consistent use of certain information. Importantly these studies contribute a coding scheme that will enable future research to more consistently examine the information used in well-being judgements.

Keywords: Life satisfaction judgements; Life domains; Satisfaction with life; Thinking aloud; Inductive analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10902-018-0013-0 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:jhappi:v:20:y:2019:i:5:d:10.1007_s10902-018-0013-0

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer. ... fe/journal/10902/PS2

DOI: 10.1007/s10902-018-0013-0

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Happiness Studies is currently edited by Antonella Delle Fave

More articles in Journal of Happiness Studies from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().