All of the methods we are currently thinking of require that for all respondents i,j the top response threshold for person i must be at least as large as the bottom response threshold for person j. `
However, with the vignettes, I believe that this is in part testable. Suppose that for a given vignette no person selected the top response category, and no person selected the bottom response category. Additionally suppose that the assumptions in section 4.1.1 of the report hold (i.e. that people perceive vignettes similarly, and use the same scale for their own wellbeing as for the vignettes). In that case all respondents’ scales must have at least some overlap with each other.
We have not checked this though I imagine that it would show overlap of scales. Would this kind of test convince you?
As an aside, in section 4.6.1 we show that almost all respondents choose either “The most/least satisfied that any human could possibly be” or “The most/least satisfied that you personally think you could become” as the endpoints of the scale. Since the latter set of endpoints is contained by the former set of endpoints, this evidence also seems to suggest that scales overlap.
Thanks for the response. On second thought, my objection might be different than what I initially suggested. I do think the test of overlap of scales as you mentioned would be an interesting test to run, but it doesn’t seem to be capturing the overlap I ultimately care about.
Maybe this comment can captures my complaint better. We don’t have any access to what “the most/least satisfied that any human could possibly be”. We don’t even have access to “the most/least satisfied you personally think you could become”.
As a personal example, I would take most of my worst post-therapy days over most of my best pre-therapy days. Younger me has no access to realizing how much satisfied I could be with life, or even how broadly people are in general.
I might be using the language wrong, but I think I’m hinting at differences in the latent scale of well-being or satisfaction… which doesn’t feel like it’s knowable.
Hi geoffrey!
Yes, you are right.
All of the methods we are currently thinking of require that for all respondents i,j the top response threshold for person i must be at least as large as the bottom response threshold for person j. `
However, with the vignettes, I believe that this is in part testable.
Suppose that for a given vignette no person selected the top response category, and no person selected the bottom response category. Additionally suppose that the assumptions in section 4.1.1 of the report hold (i.e. that people perceive vignettes similarly, and use the same scale for their own wellbeing as for the vignettes). In that case all respondents’ scales must have at least some overlap with each other.
We have not checked this though I imagine that it would show overlap of scales. Would this kind of test convince you?
As an aside, in section 4.6.1 we show that almost all respondents choose either “The most/least satisfied that any human could possibly be” or “The most/least satisfied that you personally think you could become” as the endpoints of the scale. Since the latter set of endpoints is contained by the former set of endpoints, this evidence also seems to suggest that scales overlap.
Hi Caspar,
Thanks for the response. On second thought, my objection might be different than what I initially suggested. I do think the test of overlap of scales as you mentioned would be an interesting test to run, but it doesn’t seem to be capturing the overlap I ultimately care about.
Maybe this comment can captures my complaint better. We don’t have any access to what “the most/least satisfied that any human could possibly be”. We don’t even have access to “the most/least satisfied you personally think you could become”.
As a personal example, I would take most of my worst post-therapy days over most of my best pre-therapy days. Younger me has no access to realizing how much satisfied I could be with life, or even how broadly people are in general.
I might be using the language wrong, but I think I’m hinting at differences in the latent scale of well-being or satisfaction… which doesn’t feel like it’s knowable.