Abstract
Research has shown that keywords make a difference, for instance that questions using the keyword ‘happiness’ elicit somewhat more positive responses than otherwise similar questions on ‘life satisfaction’. This difference is typically attributed to the topic addressed in the lead question, but there could also be a difference in the interpretation of the response options of the rating scale, for instance when ‘very happy’ denotes a lower degree of well-being than ‘very satisfied’. We present a method to explore the extent to which this difference in interpretation of response options occurs. We illustrate this method by applying it to equivalent response scales for happiness and life satisfaction with response options labeled in Dutch, Spanish and English. We conclude that the interpretation of the scales by respondents has to be examined and discussed carefully in advance before mutually comparing survey results across populations and nations for happiness and life satisfaction.
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We are aware that if the means for happiness and life satisfaction are equal, it does not necessarily imply that the constructs for both topics measure the same and that the correlation between the two topics can still be low.
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de Jonge, T., Veenhoven, R., Kalmijn, W. (2017). Equivalence of Rating Scales Using Different Keywords. In: Diversity in Survey Questions on the Same Topic. Social Indicators Research Series, vol 68. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-53261-5_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-53261-5_4
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