MICS4 Survey Design Workshop Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys Survey Design Workshop Questionnaires For Individual Women and Men: Life Satisfaction

MICS4 Survey Design Workshop Background Subjective perceptions of well-being play an important role, autonomously from objective conditions, such as income, health Can help create a fuller picture of well-being Life satisfaction: summation of evaluation regarding a persons life as a whole Happiness – a fleeting, transient condition that can be affected by numerous current factors (weather, recent incident) Perceptions of a better life is also an important correlate of both life satisfaction and happiness

Background Life satisfaction and happiness are sometimes used interchangeably All of these (life satisfaction, happiness and perceptions of a better life) complete a large portion of subjective well-being Life satisfaction included in Human Development Report in 2010 –Reports on a scale out of 10, on job, health, standard of living, purposeful life, treatment with respect, social support network MICS4 Survey Design Workshop

Subjective well-being: Life satisfaction Questions used to assess feelings of satisfaction, happiness and sense of belonging Individual items reported Responses on a scale out of 5, ranging from 'very satisfied to 'very dissatisfied.

MICS4 Survey Design Workshop MICS Indicators # SW1 - Life satisfaction Percentage of women/men age years who are very or somewhat satisfied with their family life, friendships, school, current job, health, where they live, how they are treated by others, and how they look

MICS4 Survey Design Workshop MICS Indicators # SW2 - Happiness Percentage of women/men age years who are very or somewhat happy # SW3 - Perception of a better life Percentage of women/men age years whose life improved during the last one year, and who expect that their life will be better after one year

Life satisfaction and happiness Source: MICS4 Serbia preliminary findings

MICS4 Survey Design Workshop Methodological issues Vulnerability to the: –Item order –Current mood –Other contextual factors Careful interpretation of cultural comparisons: –Different scale use across cultural groups –Different item functioning –Cultural differences in self presentation, reference group and standard of comparison; or memory or positivity bias when making life satisfaction judgments The life satisfaction indicator has been found to be highly associated with the economic well-being; however, economic growth alone is necessary but insufficient factor for growing life satisfaction