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Happy Talk: Mode of Administration Effects on Subjective Well-Being

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Abstract

There is increasing interest in subjective well-being (SWB) both in academic and policy circles. As a result, considerable research efforts are now being directed at the validity and reliability of SWB measures. This study examines how SWB reports differ by survey mode. Using data from the April 2011 to March 2012 Annual Population Survey in the UK we find that individuals consistently report higher SWB over the phone compared to face-to-face interviews. We also show that the determinants of SWB differ significantly by mode, with life circumstances tending to matter more in face-to-face interviews. These results have substantial implications for research and policy purposes.

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Notes

  1. Although it is worth noting that omitting calendar controls has only a marginal impact on the remaining coefficients.

  2. Further ordered probit estimations by mode support the evidence based on OLS, presented in Table 6. These results can be made available upon request.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Femke De Keulenaer, Daniel Fujiwara, Stephen Hicks, Danny Kahneman, Laura Kudrna, Kate Laffan, Robert Metcalfe, Michael Norton, Tessa Peasgood and participants at the “New scholarship on happiness” conference held at Duke University, two anonymous referees and the editor for useful comments and suggestions that improved this paper considerably. Further thanks go to the UK Data Archive for provision of the APS data, and Necla Acik-Toprak of the ESDS Government, and Simon Woodsford and Dawn Snape of the ONS Social Survey Division for providing clarifications on the APS survey design.

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  1. London School of Economics and Political Science, Houghton Street, London, WC2A 2AE, UK

    Paul Dolan & Georgios Kavetsos

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  1. Paul Dolan
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Correspondence to Georgios Kavetsos.

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Dolan, P., Kavetsos, G. Happy Talk: Mode of Administration Effects on Subjective Well-Being. J Happiness Stud 17, 1273–1291 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-015-9642-8

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