Journeys in Survey Research

  • Home page
  • Blog
  • Dedication
  • My personal pantheon (of the great and the good in survey research)
    • Mark Abrams >
      • Abrams publications
      • An interview with Mark Abrams (transcripts)
      • An interview with Mark Abrams (audio files)
      • Mark Abrams Prize
    • Angus Campbell >
      • SRU garden reception for Angus Campbell
    • Cathie Marsh
    • Tony Coxon
    • Roger Jowell
    • James A Davis
    • Norman Nie
  • Acknowledgements
    • Unsung heroes in support services
  • About the author
    • John F Hall: Career profile
    • John F Hall: Extra-curricular professional and political activities
  • About this site
    • What people have said about this site
    • Latest additions and modifications
    • How to use this site
  • Recent and planned activities
  • Textbooks
    • Textbooks for SPSS >
      • Highly recommended SPSS textbooks >
        • McInnes (2017) >
          • MacInnes, Chapter 4:​ Getting Started with SPSS
          • MacInnes, Chapter 5 Dealing with Data Documentation
          • MacInness 2017 (Web links)
        • Marsh and Elliott (2008)
        • Sweet and Grace-Martin 2010
        • Babbie, Halley, Wagner and Zaino 2013
        • Julie Pallant, SPSS Survival Manual
        • Andy Field
        • Boslaugh 2005
        • McCormick & Salcedo (2015)
        • McCormick & Salcedo (2017)
      • SPSS textbooks worth a look >
        • Hy (1977)
      • On-line SPSS textbooks
      • Textbooks requested or awaiting review
    • Textbooks: Statistics for Social Research >
      • de Vries 2018
      • Bergin (2018)
    • Textbooks: Survey Methods >
      • Crouch & Housden (2003)
      • Andres (2012)
      • Blair, Czala and Blair (2014)
      • de Vaus (2014)
      • Hoinville, Jowell et al (1977)
      • Marsden & Wright [Eds] (2010) >
        • Contributors to Handbook of Survey Research
      • Marsh (1982)
      • Moser & Kalton (1971)
      • Oppenheim (1992)
      • Pallant 2016
    • Textbooks: Data curation and sharing >
      • Corti et el (2014)
  • 1: Survey Analysis Workshop (SPSS)
    • What is SPSS?
    • SPSS Without Tears >
      • My first time: in at the SPSS deep end (1972)
    • Introduction to Survey Analysis Workshop (SPSS) >
      • IBM® SPSS® Statistics (Overview)
      • Note on SPSS tutorials on this site
      • Background to current project >
        • Author's note
      • SPSS versions used
      • Stata and SPSS
    • Summary guide to SPSS tutorials >
      • Block 1: From questionnaire to SPSS saved file
      • Block 2: Analysing one variable >
        • 2.1: Nominal and ordinal variables
        • 2.2: Interval scale variables
        • 2.3: Data transformations
      • Block 3: Analysing two variables (and sometimes three) >
        • 3.1 Two variables (CROSSTABS)
        • 3.2 Three (or more) variables
        • 3.3 Multiple response (MULT RESPONSE)
        • 3.4 Conditional data transformations (IF and DO IF)
        • 3.5 Derived variables (COUNT and COMPUTE) >
          • 3.5.1 Introduction to COUNT and COMPUTE
          • 3.5.2 Teenage Attitudes (Tutorials)
      • Block 4: Hypothesis testing
      • SPSS files and documentation used for tutorials and exercises >
        • Data sets used in Survey Analysis Workshop >
          • British Social Attitudes
          • Pre-course questionnaire on interests and experience
          • Quality of Life in Britain
    • Useful links for SPSS >
      • On-line SPSS Intros and tutorials
      • SPSS courses
  • 1a: Statistical concepts and methods
  • 1b: Teaching with Survey Data
    • SN 28: Relative Deprivation and Social Justice 1962-63
  • 1c: Developing research projects using survey data
  • 1d: Workshop and presentations for ASSESS (SPSS users in Europe)
    • Old Dog, Old Tricks: Using SPSS syntax to beat the mouse-trap
    • The Beginners' Guide to Survey Analysis Using SPSS
    • Close Encounters of the Fourth Kind: working with alien SPSS files
    • ASSESS 2014 Links to Contents
  • 2: Survey Research Practice
    • SR 502: Survey Research Practice (1976 - 1992)
    • Courses in Survey Methods >
      • (United Kingdom) Degrees, diplomas and certificates
      • (USA & Canada) Degrees, diplomas and certificates in survey research
      • Summer schools for survey methods
      • Short courses for survey research
    • Opinion polls >
      • Election poll débâcles
    • Web-based resources for survey research >
      • Survey Resources Network
      • On-line surveys
      • Question Banks
      • Survey methods guides and tutorials
      • Clips, tips and blogs
    • Useful links for Survey Research
  • 2a: Survey Research Methodology, Practice and Training
    • The place of survey research in the social sciences
    • Survey Research and Social Action
    • Academic centres specialising in survey research >
      • United Kingdom
      • USA and Canada
      • Europe
    • Professional and Voluntary Associations
    • Survey research organisations
    • Journals for survey research
    • Articles on survey research
  • 2b: Major survey series
    • United Kingdom (Major survey series: academic and other) >
      • British Social Attitudes >
        • British Social Attitudes: ​Exploring the SPSS files >
          • British Social Attitudes 1983 onwards: Cumulative SPSS file
          • British Social Attitudes: Making files from different years compatible
    • United Kingdom (Major survey series: government) >
      • ONS National Well-being >
        • ONS files
    • Europe (Major survey series)
    • USA (Major survey series)
  • 3: Subjective Social Indicators (Quality of Life)
    • Quality of Life: Measurement and methodology
    • Measures of psychological well-being
    • Values and Quality of Life
    • SSRC Survey Unit Quality of Life in Britain surveys 1971-1975 >
      • Abstracts, data and documentation
      • Publications based on the SSRC Quality of Life in Britain surveys >
        • Bibliography for Quality of Life in Britain and related surveys
        • Quality of Life of the Elderly in Residential Care
      • Surveys in schools >
        • "Trinians" survey
        • Playground to Politics
  • 4: Survey Unit, Social Science Research Council (UK)
    • Surveys by SSRC Survey Unit
    • Publications: SSRC Survey Unit
    • Courses, Conferences and Seminars
  • 5: Survey Research Unit, Polytechnic of North London
    • Survey Research Unit >
      • Training courses in survey methods
      • The place of SRU within PNL
    • Director's Working Group on the Survey Research Unit
  • Village life in Normandy
    • Notre Dame de Cenilly >
      • War and Peace in N D de Cenilly >
        • Armistice Day
        • German Occupation (1940 - 1944)
        • D-Day (6th June 1944) >
          • D-Day ceremony 9 June 2013
          • D-Day 70th Anniversary 2014
          • Lancaster bomber crew (Memorial Ceremony 8 June 2011)
          • Lancaster bomber crew (Memorial Ceremony 8 June 2014)
          • Lancaster bomber crew (Memorial Ceremony 7 June 2015)
          • Lancaster bomber crew ​(Memorial ceremony 5 June 2016)
        • Liberation July 1944 >
          • Field hospital in N D de Cenilly
          • Liberation celebrations (July 2006)
          • Visit of US 2nd Armored Division veterans (2 Sep 2009)
          • Liberation celebrations 2014
          • Unveiling of new monument (13 June 2015)
          • Re-enactment camp (Gavray, 11 July 2015)
      • Fête St Clair 2007
      • Fête St Clair 2010
      • Fête St Clair 2012 National pedal-car championships
      • La Noslière de Bas
    • Midsummer music
    • Paris trip (post Brexit)
  • Contact

3:  Subjective Social Indicators (Quality of life)

 [Page last updated 23 September 2016]

I have recently been making extensive revisions in the area of Subjective Social Indicators and it now makes more sense to split the page into three sections.  Previous contents of his page have now been spread across several new pages.

Quality of Life: Measurement and methodology
There has been intense  (often polemical) debate over the years on methodology and measurement of  the concept "Quality of Life" and there is a variety of working definitions deriving from diverse academic disciplines and political perspectives.  This page lists sources of philosophical and disciplinary arguments for and against quantitative research on subjective social indicators.  


Measures of psychological well-being
This page will list scales to measure psychological well-being, tried and tested in the field on general populations.  Scales tested on students will not be listed, unless they have also been used on general populations.  See also:

SSRC Survey Unit Quality of Life in Britain surveys 1971 - 1975
Summary information and detailed abstracts on all 
"Quality of Life in Britain" surveys conducted at the SSRC Survey Unit between 1971 and 1975 by Mark Abrams and John Hall.  
(Variables, fieldwork, sampling, facsimile questionnaires, user-manuals, data sets, publications.)

Surveys related to and/or based on the SSRC Survey Unit work were:


Quality of Life of the Elderly in Residential Care
European Value Systems Study Group 
Values and Social Problem Indicators in Contemporary Europe
Surveys in schools (replicating items from QoL surveys)

Other Quality of Life surveys

See especially the 2013 article Looking back at thirty years of British Social Attitudes by Jenny Church.  See also Major Survey Series, especially European Quality of Life Surveys (EQLS)  European Social Survey and European Values Study.  

The.British Social Attitudes and NORC General Social Survey series carry questions on social and political attitudes and values (including a happiness question) and also satisfaction ratings for a range of general and specific domains of interest for social policy.  

​
 European Social Survey now has a new interactive website Well-being matters .  A summary report Measuring and Reporting on Europeans’ Wellbeing: Findings from the European Social Survey.
"showcases the scope that ESS data provide for exploring the definition, distribution and drivers of subjective well-being across Europe.  Academics, policymakers and students are encouraged to explore the new website and use the resource for their own research and informing policy."

Also of interest is the  UK Office of National Statistics programme Measuring National well-being.which includes measures of subjective well-being (SWB) to be used in government surveys and for which there is a discussion forum National Well-being - StatsUserNet.   I’ve been giving them my two penn’orth directly and indirectly, and also been doing some analysis on their recently released data, which is how I came across the public health sites North West Public Health Authority and the Centre for Public Health based at Liverpool John Moores University.

Since 1974 there has been a specialist journal Social Indicators Research [Editor: Alex Michalos]  The  focus of SIR is mostly conceptualization and measurement issues of QOL in  various life domains, situational conditions, settings, groups, communities,  etc. The journal is very well-established and is regarded as a premier journal  in QOL research. 

The International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies (ISQOLS) is an international society whose purpose is to promote and encourage research in the field of quality-of-life (QOL) studies.  The site has links to other activities and resources.

The World Database of Happiness was set up by Prof. Ruut Veenhoven (Erasmus University, Rotterdam)  It is an ongoing register of scientific research on the subjective enjoyment of life.  It brings together findings that are scattered throughout many studies and provides a basis for synthetic work.

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  • Home page
  • Blog
  • Dedication
  • My personal pantheon (of the great and the good in survey research)
    • Mark Abrams >
      • Abrams publications
      • An interview with Mark Abrams (transcripts)
      • An interview with Mark Abrams (audio files)
      • Mark Abrams Prize
    • Angus Campbell >
      • SRU garden reception for Angus Campbell
    • Cathie Marsh
    • Tony Coxon
    • Roger Jowell
    • James A Davis
    • Norman Nie
  • Acknowledgements
    • Unsung heroes in support services
  • About the author
    • John F Hall: Career profile
    • John F Hall: Extra-curricular professional and political activities
  • About this site
    • What people have said about this site
    • Latest additions and modifications
    • How to use this site
  • Recent and planned activities
  • Textbooks
    • Textbooks for SPSS >
      • Highly recommended SPSS textbooks >
        • McInnes (2017) >
          • MacInnes, Chapter 4:​ Getting Started with SPSS
          • MacInnes, Chapter 5 Dealing with Data Documentation
          • MacInness 2017 (Web links)
        • Marsh and Elliott (2008)
        • Sweet and Grace-Martin 2010
        • Babbie, Halley, Wagner and Zaino 2013
        • Julie Pallant, SPSS Survival Manual
        • Andy Field
        • Boslaugh 2005
        • McCormick & Salcedo (2015)
        • McCormick & Salcedo (2017)
      • SPSS textbooks worth a look >
        • Hy (1977)
      • On-line SPSS textbooks
      • Textbooks requested or awaiting review
    • Textbooks: Statistics for Social Research >
      • de Vries 2018
      • Bergin (2018)
    • Textbooks: Survey Methods >
      • Crouch & Housden (2003)
      • Andres (2012)
      • Blair, Czala and Blair (2014)
      • de Vaus (2014)
      • Hoinville, Jowell et al (1977)
      • Marsden & Wright [Eds] (2010) >
        • Contributors to Handbook of Survey Research
      • Marsh (1982)
      • Moser & Kalton (1971)
      • Oppenheim (1992)
      • Pallant 2016
    • Textbooks: Data curation and sharing >
      • Corti et el (2014)
  • 1: Survey Analysis Workshop (SPSS)
    • What is SPSS?
    • SPSS Without Tears >
      • My first time: in at the SPSS deep end (1972)
    • Introduction to Survey Analysis Workshop (SPSS) >
      • IBM® SPSS® Statistics (Overview)
      • Note on SPSS tutorials on this site
      • Background to current project >
        • Author's note
      • SPSS versions used
      • Stata and SPSS
    • Summary guide to SPSS tutorials >
      • Block 1: From questionnaire to SPSS saved file
      • Block 2: Analysing one variable >
        • 2.1: Nominal and ordinal variables
        • 2.2: Interval scale variables
        • 2.3: Data transformations
      • Block 3: Analysing two variables (and sometimes three) >
        • 3.1 Two variables (CROSSTABS)
        • 3.2 Three (or more) variables
        • 3.3 Multiple response (MULT RESPONSE)
        • 3.4 Conditional data transformations (IF and DO IF)
        • 3.5 Derived variables (COUNT and COMPUTE) >
          • 3.5.1 Introduction to COUNT and COMPUTE
          • 3.5.2 Teenage Attitudes (Tutorials)
      • Block 4: Hypothesis testing
      • SPSS files and documentation used for tutorials and exercises >
        • Data sets used in Survey Analysis Workshop >
          • British Social Attitudes
          • Pre-course questionnaire on interests and experience
          • Quality of Life in Britain
    • Useful links for SPSS >
      • On-line SPSS Intros and tutorials
      • SPSS courses
  • 1a: Statistical concepts and methods
  • 1b: Teaching with Survey Data
    • SN 28: Relative Deprivation and Social Justice 1962-63
  • 1c: Developing research projects using survey data
  • 1d: Workshop and presentations for ASSESS (SPSS users in Europe)
    • Old Dog, Old Tricks: Using SPSS syntax to beat the mouse-trap
    • The Beginners' Guide to Survey Analysis Using SPSS
    • Close Encounters of the Fourth Kind: working with alien SPSS files
    • ASSESS 2014 Links to Contents
  • 2: Survey Research Practice
    • SR 502: Survey Research Practice (1976 - 1992)
    • Courses in Survey Methods >
      • (United Kingdom) Degrees, diplomas and certificates
      • (USA & Canada) Degrees, diplomas and certificates in survey research
      • Summer schools for survey methods
      • Short courses for survey research
    • Opinion polls >
      • Election poll débâcles
    • Web-based resources for survey research >
      • Survey Resources Network
      • On-line surveys
      • Question Banks
      • Survey methods guides and tutorials
      • Clips, tips and blogs
    • Useful links for Survey Research
  • 2a: Survey Research Methodology, Practice and Training
    • The place of survey research in the social sciences
    • Survey Research and Social Action
    • Academic centres specialising in survey research >
      • United Kingdom
      • USA and Canada
      • Europe
    • Professional and Voluntary Associations
    • Survey research organisations
    • Journals for survey research
    • Articles on survey research
  • 2b: Major survey series
    • United Kingdom (Major survey series: academic and other) >
      • British Social Attitudes >
        • British Social Attitudes: ​Exploring the SPSS files >
          • British Social Attitudes 1983 onwards: Cumulative SPSS file
          • British Social Attitudes: Making files from different years compatible
    • United Kingdom (Major survey series: government) >
      • ONS National Well-being >
        • ONS files
    • Europe (Major survey series)
    • USA (Major survey series)
  • 3: Subjective Social Indicators (Quality of Life)
    • Quality of Life: Measurement and methodology
    • Measures of psychological well-being
    • Values and Quality of Life
    • SSRC Survey Unit Quality of Life in Britain surveys 1971-1975 >
      • Abstracts, data and documentation
      • Publications based on the SSRC Quality of Life in Britain surveys >
        • Bibliography for Quality of Life in Britain and related surveys
        • Quality of Life of the Elderly in Residential Care
      • Surveys in schools >
        • "Trinians" survey
        • Playground to Politics
  • 4: Survey Unit, Social Science Research Council (UK)
    • Surveys by SSRC Survey Unit
    • Publications: SSRC Survey Unit
    • Courses, Conferences and Seminars
  • 5: Survey Research Unit, Polytechnic of North London
    • Survey Research Unit >
      • Training courses in survey methods
      • The place of SRU within PNL
    • Director's Working Group on the Survey Research Unit
  • Village life in Normandy
    • Notre Dame de Cenilly >
      • War and Peace in N D de Cenilly >
        • Armistice Day
        • German Occupation (1940 - 1944)
        • D-Day (6th June 1944) >
          • D-Day ceremony 9 June 2013
          • D-Day 70th Anniversary 2014
          • Lancaster bomber crew (Memorial Ceremony 8 June 2011)
          • Lancaster bomber crew (Memorial Ceremony 8 June 2014)
          • Lancaster bomber crew (Memorial Ceremony 7 June 2015)
          • Lancaster bomber crew ​(Memorial ceremony 5 June 2016)
        • Liberation July 1944 >
          • Field hospital in N D de Cenilly
          • Liberation celebrations (July 2006)
          • Visit of US 2nd Armored Division veterans (2 Sep 2009)
          • Liberation celebrations 2014
          • Unveiling of new monument (13 June 2015)
          • Re-enactment camp (Gavray, 11 July 2015)
      • Fête St Clair 2007
      • Fête St Clair 2010
      • Fête St Clair 2012 National pedal-car championships
      • La Noslière de Bas
    • Midsummer music
    • Paris trip (post Brexit)
  • Contact