I need some advice on how to deal with widely differing individual response patterns to (mostly) 0-10 scales used to measure satisfaction with life and life domains, happiness, anxiety and other constructs in the SPSS files for the following surveys:
SSRC Survey Unit Quality of Life in Britain surveys (1971-1975)
ONS Well-being survey, Unrestricted Access Teaching Data Set (April 2011)
ONS Well-being survey (merged data set April – August 2011)
British Social Attitudes (2008 and 2013)
European Social Survey (Wave 6, 2012)
My problem is how to treat responses when some are spread out across the whole scale and others are clustered. (See sample data below). Can I assume everyone is using the scales in the same way and that the ratings are valid, or do I need to build in some statistical controls to take account of the variations in individual response patterns?
There’s a full account in my draft working paper (32pp):
All comments and suggestions gratefully received.
John F Hall (Mr)
[Retired academic survey researcher]
Email: [hidden email]
Website: www.surveyresearch.weebly.com
SPSS start page: www.surveyresearch.weebly.com/1-survey-analysis-workshop
In the data extracts below, cases highlighted in red have used few points spread across the whole scale: cases highlighted in blue have also used few points, but they are clustered (usually towards the top of the scale).
R uses three points only
zeros ones twos threes fours fives sixes sevens eights nines tens
3 0 0 0 0 7 0 0 0 0 52
2 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 36
7 0 0 0 0 18 0 0 0 0 13
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 57
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 5 0 34
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 7 0 33
R uses four points only
zeros ones twos threes fours fives sixes sevens eights nines tens
3 0 0 0 0 12 0 0 11 0 36
3 0 0 0 0 5 0 0 0 1 30
6 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 1 0 31
5 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 1 0 29
1 0 0 0 0 5 0 0 9 0 46
9 0 1 0 0 16 0 0 0 0 15
1 0 0 0 0 8 0 0 8 0 24
0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 5 1 33
0 0 0 0 0 7 0 1 1 0 31
0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 4 14 22
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 7 6 27
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 12 27
0 0 0 0 0 9 0 1 0 1 51
0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 2 56
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 6 4 29
0 0 0 0 0 6 2 0 23 0 5
R uses five points only
zeroes ones twos threes fours fives sixes sevens eights nines tens
4 0 0 0 0 2 0 5 3 0 48
8 0 0 0 0 7 0 0 1 1 45
2 0 0 4 0 0 3 0 7 0 24
14 1 0 0 0 13 0 3 0 0 10
16 0 0 0 0 8 0 1 1 0 15
16 0 1 0 0 13 0 0 2 0 8
2 0 0 0 0 15 0 3 2 0 40
0 0 0 0 0 0 2 4 6 8 21
0 0 0 0 0 7 0 3 10 5 16
0 0 0 0 0 0 9 12 11 14 10
0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 2 1 35
0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 12 12 35
0 0 0 0 0 10 3 11 13 0 4
0 0 0 0 0 5 0 1 11 4 41
0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 2 1 36
0 0 0 0 0 0 8 10 18 12 14
0 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 4 14 20
0 0 0 0 0 0 5 14 36 5 2
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