Measuring Happiness—A Practical Review

Abstract

In times of increasing depression rates, happiness has gained interest as a goal for individuals and society instead of merely increasing gross domestic product. Unfortunately, happiness research remains a young discipline; thus, the definition of the term happiness is unclear across various disciplines, and many different measurement techniques have been developed and used thus far. This book chapter reviews different happiness definitions and ultimately selects the one used by the World Database of Happiness to then review which measurements are used and how frequently and to then evaluate their psychometric quality by reviewing published research thus far. In the end, the chapter presents a practical guideline of what a researcher should be aware of when measuring happiness.