Working Paper: NBER ID: w31728
Authors: Daniel J. Benjamin; Kristen Cooper; Ori Heffetz; Miles S. Kimball; Jiannan Zhou
Abstract: Analyses of self-reported-well-being (SWB) survey data may be confounded if people use response scales differently. We use calibration questions, designed to have the same objective answer across respondents, to measure dimensional (i.e., specific to an SWB dimension) and general (i.e., common across questions) scale-use heterogeneity. In a sample of ~3,350 MTurkers, we find substantial such heterogeneity that is correlated with demographics. We develop a theoretical framework and econometric approaches to quantify and adjust for this heterogeneity. We apply our new estimators in several standard SWB applications. Adjusting for general-scale-use heterogeneity changes results in some cases.
Keywords: self-reported well-being; scale-use heterogeneity; calibration questions; econometric methods
JEL Codes: C83; D60; D63; D90; D91; I14; I31
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| scale-use heterogeneity (R14) | self-reported well-being (SWB) (I31) |
| adjusting for scale-use heterogeneity (C21) | conclusions drawn from SWB analyses (I31) |
| scale-use heterogeneity (R14) | variance in SWB responses (I31) |
| response error (C83) | cross-sectional variance in SWB (C21) |
| demographics (J11) | life satisfaction (I31) |
| demographics (J11) | anxiety (D80) |