Research

This Happiness Indicator is part of a large-scale long-term international research program, more information on which you can find here. Your participation will help to advance knowledge on the following topics.

Effectiveness of this tool
The aim of this Happiness Indicator is to help you find a more satisfying way of life. We want to know whether it works that way. A first study showed a positive effect. A summary of the report is available here.
We want to know more about how much it adds to happiness in the long run and what kind of people profit most from using this tool. You can help by answering these questions, by continuing your participation and by doing the Happiness Indicator at least once a year. The technique can also be used to assess the effects on happiness of other interventions, such as medical treatments or reorganisations in the work place. If not involved yourself, your data can be selected for comparison.

Consequences of life choice
Sometimes we face big choices, such as raising a family, accepting a job abroad or early retirement. We then wonder how that would affect our happiness. In such cases it would be helpful to know what happened to the happiness of similar people who have made that choice. The Happiness Indicator will be used to gather such information; e.g. how many early retirees have become happier and how many unhappier. This will provide us with real data to support happiness education, in the same way as follow-up research feeds health education. If you keep using the Happiness Indicator over the years, other people will profit from your life experience and you from theirs.