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Priming and the reliability of subjective well-being measures

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Sgroi, Daniel, Proto, Eugenio, Oswald, Andrew J. and Dobson, Alexander (2010) Priming and the reliability of subjective well-being measures. Working Paper. Coventry: University of Warwick. Dept. of Economics. Warwick economics research paper series (TWERPS), Vol.2010 (No.935).

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Abstract

Economists and behavioural scientists are beginning to make extensive use of measures of subjective well-being, and such data are potentially of value to policy-makers. A particularly famous difficulty is that of “priming”: if the order or nature of survey questions changes people’s likely replies then we have grounds to be concerned about the reliability of well- being data and inferences from them. This study tests for priming effects from important life events. It presents evidence from a laboratory experiment which indicates that subjective well-being measures are in general robust to such concerns.

Item Type:

Working or Discussion Paper (Working Paper)

Subjects:

B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology
H Social Sciences > HA Statistics

Divisions:

Faculty of Social Sciences > Economics

Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):

Well-being -- Testing, Priming (Psychology), Surveys -- Methodology

Series Name:

Warwick economics research paper series (TWERPS)

Publisher:

University of Warwick. Dept. of Economics

Place of Publication:

Coventry

Official Date:

2010

Dates:

Date	Event
2010	Published

Volume:

Vol.2010

Number:

No.935

Status:

Not Peer Reviewed

Access rights to Published version:

Open Access

Funder:

Economic and Social Research Council (Great Britain) (ESRC), Leverhulme Trust (LT)

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