Bringing Life to Mind: A Qualitative and Quantitative Approach to Identifying the Information Used in Life Satisfaction Judgements

Despite a prevalence of well-being research there has been general lack of interest in the information that respondents actually bring to mind whilst they consider their well-being. The aim of the present studies was two-fold: (1) to use a unique methodology to provide an “in progress” account of the life satisfaction judgement process; (2) to use an inductive, qualitative analysis to ground the findings in the data, rather than using an a priori coding scheme based on existing literature. Participants (N = 54, aged 24–68 years) thought-aloud their responses to each item of the satisfaction with life scale (Diener et al. in J Personal Assess 49(1):71–75. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327752jpa4901_13, 1985) and their consideration of a better and worse life. Thirteen code categories were identified with Relationships with Others, Job, and Feelings being the most prevalent and Material Possessions and Contribution-to-the-World the least common. The validity of the code categories was verified in a larger, second study. The present studies identified a broader array of categories compared to previous, similar research and provided support for the consistent use of certain information. Importantly these studies contribute a coding scheme that will enable future research to more consistently examine the information used in well-being judgements.