Re: [xmca] established fact: x per cent of people are happy

[David Preiss <ddpreiss@me.com>]

Dear Andy,

This paper by Daniel Kahneman and Alan Krueger addresses your  
question, I think:

Developments in the Measurement
of Subjective Well-Being
Daniel Kahneman and Alan B. Krueger
Journal of Economic Perspectives—Volume 20, Number 1—Winter 2006 — 
Pages 3–24

http://www.krueger.princeton.edu/PDF%20of%20Kahneman%20Krueger%20paper.pdf

According to these authors, self reported measures may be not that  
bad, after all.

David


On Nov 10, 2009, at 11:44 PM, Andy Blunden wrote:

> I heard another one of those silly reports on the radio just now.  
> Never mind what it was about, but it reported that x% of people who  
> did y are happy, whilst of who didn't, only z% are happy, and the  
> reporter went on to refer to it as an "established fact" that x made  
> people happy. This "established fact" was gained from people filling  
> out survey forms, "checking all the boxes" and returning them in the  
> mail.
>
> It is over 100 years, isn't it, since mainstream, positivist science  
> (let alone real science) rejected self-reporting of mental states as  
> a legitimate way of doing psychology. How come it's still going on?  
> Is this taught at universities, or is it just marketing firms moving  
> in on the territory?
>
> Andy
>
> --
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Andy Blunden http://www.erythrospress.com/
> Classics in Activity Theory: Hegel, Leontyev, Meshcheryakov,  
> Ilyenkov $20 ea
>
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David Preiss
ddpreiss@me.com
http://web.mac.com/ddpreiss/

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