Happy Citizens: Reality or a mere statistic?

Happiness studies paint an incomplete picture

(firmenpresse) - Happiness and satisfaction surveys generally tend to produce positive results, as it is difficult to document individual problems. This is the conclusion of a comprehensive study by MODUL University Vienna. By means of hundreds of interviews, group discussions, diary evaluations and special questionnaires the study identified those aspects of life that have a positive or negative influence on the satisfaction of Austrians. These are aspects that are not (or cannot be) considered in official analyses due to the limited response choices available. The high degree of scope for variation in responses allowed by the MODUL University study thus led to a few surprises: for example househusbands are significantly happier than housewives, and smokers are not only less healthy, but also less happy. These results and more gleaned from the study will be presented at MODUL University in the autumn at an event open to all.

Eighty percent of Austrians report that they are satisfied or very satisfied. That’s good news – and a statistic. In reality, however, many Austrian citizens are less unburdened by life than this figure suggests, a fact that most surveys to date have not recognized. This is not necessary due to bad intentions or political motivation, but to the logistical requirements of such surveys, as Professor Ivo Ponocny, Head of the Department of Applied Statistics and Economics at MODUL University Vienna, explains. "Surveys on the well-being of citizens use closed questions which are answered by selecting from a range of predetermined responses. With other methods of data collection, evaluating the responses is very time-consuming. However, under the survey conditions I have just described respondents tend to avoid making negative generalizations about their lives. This can be seen in a large number of cases. Therefore, positive figures must not be falsely interpreted as proof of unburdened happiness."

Other circumstances
This is why Professor Ponocny and his team carried out a study that explores in detail how satisfied Austrians really are with life. A key part of the study was to identify what types of circumstances Austrian citizens perceive as a burden, and how often these occur. Although the data collected during this project funded by the Jubiläumsfonds der Österreichischen Nationalbank is still being evaluated, initial results are already emerging. For example, in in-depth interviews only around 20 percent of respondents in Austria proved to be free of ongoing problems that affect their enjoyment of life. This figure reveals a far more negative picture than the usual assertion that "80 percent of citizens are satisfied with life". In addition to persistent financial worries, pain, loneliness and stress, frustration with work and with one''s own self are the most common burdens cited.

Despite the fact that detailed evaluation of the data is still underway, there are also other interesting early results. There were significant and surprising regional differences in what impacts on people''s lives and to what extent. For example, in larger towns and cities - in contrast to smaller towns and villages - the quality of childcare and elderly care were ranked alongside more obvious aspects such as the increased urbanization and overdevelopment as having a particularly negative impact on satisfaction levels. Also surprising was that in both types of environments medical care was judged as having the same impact on contentment: based on the survey in 10 localities, there were no regional differences in satisfaction with medical care.

Professor Ponocny and Dr. Christian Weismayer and their team also collected comprehensive information on the personal circumstances of respondents. "In general, non-smokers, married people and people with a higher level of education are the least dissatisfied, although ‘happiness’ increases less markedly than ‘satisfaction’ as education and income increase. Very few of the respondents classed themselves as househusbands, but of all the groups in the survey this group had the highest satisfaction levels. This is just a very brief overview of many of our individual results regarding smoking, family status, work situation and educational level", says Dr. Weismayer, deputy project leader and Assistant Professor at the Department for Applied Statistics and Economics. Concerning gender-specific differences, two factors stood out among many: women are significantly more likely to cite feeling unattractive as a burden than men; on the other hand, older men in particular suffer from unfulfilled sex lives.

Limitations to happiness
During the two-year study a total of 550 interviews were conducted at 10 locations, 335 specially compiled diaries were evaluated, and 1,432 sophisticated questionnaires distributed. "An important initial conclusion from our ongoing evaluations is that particular circumstances in key areas of life significantly limit life satisfaction for at least half of our respondents – yet when conventional survey methods were used their assessment of how happy and satisfied they were was extremely positive", says Professor Ponocny.

Thus, this recent study by MODUL University Vienna provides the basis for a critical discussion about the design of studies to determine how satisfied a particular population is with life. Since the 2009 OECD Stiglitz Report, such surveys have increased in popularity. The basic message of the report was that economic growth is an insufficient measure of how satisfied a population is, and that additional measurement tools are required. The study by Professor Ponocny and his team, which was carried out in collaboration with the University of Vienna, now provides sufficient reason to critically evaluate and further develop the attempts that have been made so far to find such measurement tools. It is hoped that this process will be driven forward by a public event held this fall at MODUL University Vienna at which the study results will be presented in detail and extensively discussed.

Further Information:
http://www.modul.ac.at/about/departments/applied-statistics-and-economics/projects/

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Datum: 02.09.2014 - 08:28 Uhr
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