The Response Scale Transformation Project

In this project we have reviewed existing methods used to homogenize data and developed several new methods for dealing with this diversity in survey questions on the same subject. The project is a spin-off from the World Database of Happiness, the main aim of which is to collate and make available research findings on the subjective enjoyment of life and to prepare these data for research synthesis. The first methods we discuss were proposed in the book ‘Happiness in Nations’ and which were used at the inception of the World Database of Happiness. Some 10 years later a new method was introduced: the International Happiness Scale Interval Study (HSIS). Taking the HSIS as a basis the Continuum Approach was developed. Then, building on this approach, we developed the Reference Distribution Method.