Journal Article

Survey design and the analysis of satisfaction

By Gabriella Conti and Stephen Pudney

Publication details

Publication date
Published in
Review of Economics and Statistics
Volume
93
Pages
p. 1
Publisher
MIT Press
DOI
http://dx.doi.org/10.1162/REST_a_00202
ISSN
346535

Summary

We analyze the effect of survey design on reported job satisfaction by exploiting two quasi-experiments in the British Household Panel Survey: a change in question design and parallel use of different interview modes. We show that apparently minor differences in survey design lead to substantial biases in econometric results, particularly on gender differences. The common empirical finding that women care less about wages and prefer to work fewer hours than men appears largely an artifact of survey design rather than a true behavioral difference.

Notes

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Is referenced by OECD (2013) ‘Methodological considerations in the measurement of subjective well-being’ in OECD ’OECD Guidelines on Measuring Subjective Well-being’. Paris: OECD Publishing. Ch.2: 61-138

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