The Sad Truth about Happiness Scales
检验了幸福排序数据能否可靠比较两组人的平均幸福感，发现非参数方法条件苛刻、参数方法在方差不等时结论可能完全相反，对九个主流幸福研究领域的检验均否定了可比性。
Happiness is reported in ordered intervals (e.g. very, pretty, not too happy). We review and apply standard statistical results to determine when such data permit identification of two groups' relative average happiness. The necessary conditions for nonparametric identification are strong and unlikely to be ever satisfied. Standard parametric approaches cannot identify this ranking unless the variances are exactly equal. If not, ordered probit findings can be reversed by lognormal transformations. For nine prominent happiness research areas, conditions for nonparametric identification are rejected and standard parametric results are reversed using plausible transformations. Tests for a common reporting function consistently reject.