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Studies

Andrews & Withey (1976): study US 1973

Publication

Author(s):
Andrews, F.M.; Withey, S.B.
Title:
Social Indicators of Well-Being. Americans Perceptions of Life Quality.
Source:
Plenum Press, 1976, New York, USA

Investigation

Public
18+ aged, general public, USA, 1973/3
Survey name
Unnamed study
Sample
Probability area sample
Respondents
N = 1433
Non Response
26%
Assessment
Interview: face-to-face
using highly structured questionnaires

Happiness Measure(s) and Distributional Findings

Full text:
Self report on single question:

How do you feel about your life as a whole.....?
7  delighted
6  pleased
5  mostly satisfied
4  mixed
3  mostly dissatisfied
2  unhappy
1  terrible

Name: Andrews & Withey's `Delighted-Terrible Scale'  (original version)
Classification:
O-DT-u-sq-v-7-a
Author's label:
Life1 (and Life2) (G1-G2)
Page in publication:
209
Error estimates:
Reliability: repeat-reliability (correlation between scores on the same questions asked twice during the interview): r=+.68 Validity:
Observed distribution
Frequencies
1: 1%,   2: 2%,   3: 2%,   4: 12%,   5: 39%,   6: 34%,   7: 10%   (total 100%)
Summary Statistics
On original range 1 - 7 On range 0-10
Mean:
5.30 7.17
SD:
1.05 1.75
Full text:
Self report on single question, asked twice in interview:

How do you feel about your life as a whole......?
7  delighted
6  pleased
5  mostly satisfied
4  mixed
3  mostly dissatisfied
2  unhappy
1  terrible

Summation: arithmetic mean

Name: Andrews & Withey's "Delighted-Terrible Scale" (original version)
Also known as Lehman's 'Global life satisfaction'
Classification:
O-DT-u-sqt-v-7-a
Author's label:
Life3 (G3)
Remarks:
Combination of two ratings on 7-step scale results in 14 steps, with the following frequencies
7.0   6.5   6.0   5.5   5.0   4.5   4.0   3.5   3.0   2.5   2.0   1.5   1.0
   %     %     %     %     %     %     %     %     %     %     %     %     %
6.8   8.7  23.9  19.2  22.4   8.0   6.4   1.4   1.1   0.6   0.7   0.4   0.4
Page in publication:
311
Observed distribution
Summary Statistics
On original range 1 - 7 On range 0-10
Mean:
5.40 7.33
SD:
- -
Full text:
Self report on single question:

"Here is a picture of a ladder. At the bottom of the ladder is the worst life you might reasonably expect to have. At the top is the best life you might expect to have. Of course, life from week to week falls somewhere in between. Where was your life most of the time during the past year?"
[ 9 ] best life you might expect to have
[ 8 ]
[ 7 ]
[ 6 ]
[ 5 ]
[ 4 ]
[ 3 ]
[ 2 ]   
[ 1 ]  worst life you might expect to have


  Name: Cantril's self anchoring ladder rating (modified version)
Classification:
C-BW-cy-sq-l-9-a
Author's label:
Ladder (G6)
Page in publication:
209
Observed distribution
Frequencies
1: 1%,   2: 2%,   3: 3%,   4: 7%,   5: 23%,   6: 23%,   7: 23%,   8: 11%,   9: 7%   (total 100%)
Summary Statistics
On original range 1 - 9 On range 0-10
Mean:
6.07 6.34
SD:
1.63 2.03
Full text:
Self report on single question:

"Here are some circles that we can imagine represent the lives of different people. Circle eight has all pluses in it, to represent a person who has all the good things in his life. Circle zero has all minuses in it, to represent a person who has all the bad things in his life. Other circles are in between. Which circle do you think comes closest to matching your life?"
(circles not reproduced here )
8  + + + + + + + +
7  + + + + + + + -
6  + + + + + +  - -
5  + + + + +  -  - -
4 + + + +  -  -  - -
3  + + +  -  -  -  - -
2  + +  -  -  -  -  - -
2  +  -  -  -  -  -  - -
0   -  -  -  -  -  -  - -

Name: Andrews & Withey's 'Circles Scale'
Classification:
O-GBB-u-sq-c-9-a
Author's label:
Circles (G7)
Page in publication:
209
Observed distribution
Frequencies
1: 11%,   2: 15%,   3: 27%,   4: 20%,   5: 22%,   6: 3%,   7: 1%,   8: 0%,   9: 1%   (total 100%)
Summary Statistics
On original range 0 - 8 On range 0-10
Mean:
6.53 8.16
SD:
1.51 1.89

Correlational Findings

Author's label Subject Description Finding Satisfaction with amount of fun