"Does this tell us anything useful, or is it just a "news-bite" to divert us from something that's really going on in Utah?"

This is simply an example of how the general public, and unfortunately the news media, do not understand how to judge surveys and their results.


There is an association of professional scientific survey organizations called CASRO. It represents 350 research companies in the US and abroad who have to abide by a code of standards that help ensure ethical and scientific survey standards.

Getting the Whole Story about a survey also means finding out if the survey was done using standards of practice that make the results reliable. CASRO tries to educate the public and media on how to judge whether a survey is conducted properly. CASRO members must abide by standards, others do not. The media, in this story, looks to me like it is mis-interpreting the survey as a happiness survey.

The survey reported was supposed to measure "well being". The headline then renamed that as "happiness". The reporting of the survey is misleading because it should have reported on a survey of "people who answer questions about their well being" rather than judging a population's "happiness".

Alice