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Third person effects in interview responses on life satisfaction

Third person effects in interview responses on life satisfaction
Third person effects in interview responses on life satisfaction
This paper investigates the finding that reported life satisfaction scores are significantly higher in the German SocioEconomic Panel when a third person is present during the interview. Even after controlling a variety of relevant factors, third person presence makes up a significant difference in satisfaction levels. A plausible explanation is that interviewees distort their responses in a favourable way. The evidence suggests that this apparently minor aspect could even affect empirical outcomes in happiness research. This study contributes to the literature in this field, especially with respect to the recently revived debate on survey methodology in the reporting of satisfaction. JEL-Classification: C8, D6, I3
323-333
Chadi,, Adrian
9b86c34e-9340-465f-a4c0-492202a0958a
Chadi,, Adrian
9b86c34e-9340-465f-a4c0-492202a0958a

Chadi,, Adrian (2013) Third person effects in interview responses on life satisfaction. Schmollers Jahrbuch, 133 (2), 323-333. (doi:10.3790/schm.133.2.323).

Record type: Article

Abstract

This paper investigates the finding that reported life satisfaction scores are significantly higher in the German SocioEconomic Panel when a third person is present during the interview. Even after controlling a variety of relevant factors, third person presence makes up a significant difference in satisfaction levels. A plausible explanation is that interviewees distort their responses in a favourable way. The evidence suggests that this apparently minor aspect could even affect empirical outcomes in happiness research. This study contributes to the literature in this field, especially with respect to the recently revived debate on survey methodology in the reporting of satisfaction. JEL-Classification: C8, D6, I3

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Published date: January 2013

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 496061
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/496061
PURE UUID: 789dae36-6534-49d7-91ea-af5cb018ebc5
ORCID for Adrian Chadi,: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-2008-0653

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Date deposited: 02 Dec 2024 17:47
Last modified: 17 Dec 2024 03:11

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Contributors

Author: Adrian Chadi, ORCID iD

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