Review article
https://doi.org/10.5559/di.20.2.02
What Do We Measure When We Measure Happiness? Methodological Challenges in Happiness Research
Maja TADIĆ
orcid.org/0000-0002-6934-726X
; Institute of Social Sciences Ivo Pilar, Zagreb
Abstract
In the contemporary psychological literature, the importance
of happiness has been recognized for most aspects of life,
and, as a consequence, the topic has attracted interest from
many fields of psychology, so there is an increasing number
of papers devoted to examining what makes a good life, as
well as examining the characteristics of happy people and
the determinants of life satisfaction and quality of life. Papers
typically consider various issues related to the conceptual
definition of happiness, the relationship between happiness
and various psychological processes and the effects of
happiness in different areas of functioning of the individual.
Given that happiness is a complex construct, it is often
defined, measured and interpreted in different ways, so
sometimes we can find vague terminology, and various
methodological difficulties in the literature on happiness. In
this paper first we give a clear definition of the concept of
happiness, and then take on a detailed critical look at the
different methodological approaches to happiness, in which
we consider global, direct and alternative measures of
happiness.
Keywords
happiness; life satisfaction; happiness
Hrčak ID:
69559
URI
Publication date:
15.6.2011.
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