Optimal mapping of differing life satisfaction scales

Amelia Blamey () and Arthur Grimes
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Amelia Blamey: Motu Economic and Public Policy Research

No 25_02, Working Papers from Motu Economic and Public Policy Research

Abstract: We present a distributional matching approach to harmonise life satisfaction scores collected on different scales. We apply the method to two concurrent official New Zealand surveys, one with an 11-point scale and one with a 5-point scale. The optimal mapping from the 11-point to the 5-point scale, which minimises the residuals, is: 0-2 (1), 3-4 (2), 5-6 (3), 7-8 (4), and 9-10 (5). This mapping holds for most subsample populations, with exceptions observed among more marginalised groups.

Keywords: Life satisfaction scales; mapping; ordinal data (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 11 pages
Date: 2025-04
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