Happiness Underestimated

Abstract

In this paper, an exploratory study was conducted to investigate a potential measurement bias in happiness studies using 0-10 Likert scales. A total of 121 college students from a public university in California participated in the study by completing a hypothetical subjective well-being survey. The survey consisted of 23 scenarios with varying levels of happiness or unhappiness, and the students were asked to rate their level of happiness/unhappiness on the 11-point Likert Scales. The results showed that there was an inconsistent understanding of the scale when the expected value was between 7 and 8 on the 0 to 10 Likert scale, which leads to a higher variance and lower observation values. Based on these findings, it is suggested that an alternative scale length or a -5 to 5 scale should be considered to improve data quality.