A Controversy about Measuring Happiness: Comparative Evaluation of Oxford and Islamic Happiness Questionnaires Based on a Survey Among College Students

Mousavi, Seyed Mohsen; Morshedi, Abolfazl; Vatankhah, Somayeh

doi:10.30465/scs.2024.45543.2734

A Controversy about Measuring Happiness: Comparative Evaluation of Oxford and Islamic Happiness Questionnaires Based on a Survey Among College Students

Document Type : .

Authors

Seyed Mohsen Mousavi ¹

Abolfazl Morshedi ¹

somayeh vatankhah ²

¹ Assistant Professor, Faculty of Social Sciences, Yazd University, Yazd, Iran

² M.A. in Shia studies, faculty of Theology, Yazd University, Yazd, Iran;

10.30465/scs.2024.45543.2734

Abstract

The aim of this article is evaluating and comparing the data of two questionnaires; Oxford and Islamic, on a single statistical population. this research has tried to make assumptions about the measurement of happiness and ideas for future researches. The conceptual framework of the research is based on the analytical dualities of the ontology of happiness, which include "biological-psychological"/"cultural-historical" dimensions (in the Positive dimension) and "hedonistic"/" virtuous" dimensions (in the normative dimension). The statistical population of the research includes the students of Yazd University, from whom a sample of 384 people was extracted. The results of the research showed that firstly, the Pearson correlation coefficient between the average scores of two questionnaires is equal to 0.68, and secondly, the average scores of the students are greater than the Islamic questionnaire and significantly different from their average scores in the Oxford Happiness. In the following, comparisons were made regarding the degree of arousal and emotionality, as well as the degree of individualism and collectivism of the items of the two questionnaires and their results, and finally suggestions for future researches were presented.

Keywords

Happiness

Oxford happiness questionnaire

Islamic happiness questionnaire

cultural approach

measuring happiness

Subjects