Abstract
Studies of life satisfaction among the elderly are based almost entirely on quantitative data, yet we have little knowledge of whether such data are consistent and valid representations of satisfaction. The present paper addresses this issue through a comparison of quantitative and qualitative data on satisfaction with housing, family, spouse, self-esteem, health, friends and life as a whole. The data were obtained from 15 elderly men and women living in rural Ontario who had participated in both a survey study of life satisfaction and an intensive qualitative study of loneliness, social activities and social relationships. The values selected by participants from scales of satisfaction were found to be fairly similar overall to judgements made by the investigators on the basis of qualitative data from interviews and diaries. But there were also a number of discrepancies across both participants and domains, and these discrepancies were not systematic. The scale values appear to be at best a superficial representation of participants' satisfaction. It is concluded that quantitative approaches are of limited utility in studies of the quality of life, and that they are most appropriately viewed as supplementary to approaches employing qualitative data and analysis.
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The research described in this article was supported by a grant to the first author from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
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Wood, L.A., Johnson, J. Life satisfaction among the rural elderly: What do the numbers mean?. Soc Indic Res 21, 379–408 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00303953
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00303953