Another Methodological Confounder: Comment on Witt, Lowe, Peek, and Curry
David D. Witt et al (see SA 29:2/81L3438) have reported a "weakly positive" association between happiness & old age. Although they used more representative sample populations & more control variables than did previous research, their conclusions are still suspect since they did not...
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| Published in: | Social forces 1981-09, Vol.60 (1), p.224-226 |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | eng |
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| Online Access: | Get full text |
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| Summary: | David D. Witt et al (see SA 29:2/81L3438) have reported a "weakly positive" association between happiness & old age. Although they used more representative sample populations & more control variables than did previous research, their conclusions are still suspect since they did not take into account the question of whether the Rs had help in completing the questionnaires. A survey given to Sioux City, Iowa, handicapped elderly (N = 129) revealed that the majority of persons aged 70+, & about 33.34% of Ss aged 50-70, had others register questionnaire responses for them; the possibility of a falsified response to create an impression of well-being is considered. In Presence of Significant Others and the Avowal of Happiness among the Elderly: Reply to Bobys, David D. Witt, George D. Lowe, Charles W. Peek, & Evans W. Curry (Texas Tech U, Lubbock) deny the possibility of questionnaire responses being falsified by a third party, since their experiment used interview techniques. However, the chance that the presence of friends, relatives, staff (ie, "significant others") might influence the interview responses of elderly is admitted in theory, but found unsupported in a regression analysis of General Social Survey data for 1974, 1975, & 1977, in which Rs lived in single person households. 1 Table. D. Dunseath. |
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| ISSN: | 0037-7732 1534-7605 |