Workshop 1

The How of Happiness

Dr Ilona Boniwell

We don’t know enough about wellbeing
 
Tools –two important characteristics – reliability and validity. Are they consistent? Did they do what they intended?
 
There are two definitions of well-being – feeling good/subjective wellbeing (more of a state) and flourishing (more of a process). What should a tool focus on? Different outcome variables.
 
Two ways of measuring subjective well-being – thinking (life satisfaction) and feeling (affecting)
 
Detailed the following standard tools
 
•	SWLS – satisfaction with life scale 
•	Subjective Happiness scale – language barriers? 
•	British Happiness Scale 
•	PANAS
 
The pros and cons of the tools were discussed, including:
•	The language used 
•	The detail of questions 
•	Accessibility 
•	Directness of questions
 
The audience some tools asked irrelevant questions. Ilona responded that there are predictors, correlates and consequences of happiness and good tools utilise all these to measure it well - combining cognitive and affective.
 
Questions were asked about culturally/age sensitive variatiosnof which Ilona replied there were many. Ie. Graphic response scales for children.
 
The topics of waiting time for follow up questionnaires was raised, as was that of ethics and consent.
 
The British Psychological society has many resources.
 
Contacting Ilona and working with academics is the best way to ensure a rigorous measurement.