article · Quality & Quantity
Cognitive interviewing across multiple nations helps evaluate whether large-scale global survey questions are understood consistently in different cultural contexts. An assessment of five personal wellbeing items from the Global Flourishing Study analysed responses from 116 participants across 22 countries. Interviewer observations showed that at least 90 percent of participants found the items straightforward to answer without substantial difficulty. A comparative analysis of participant explanations established an overarching core meaning for each question. Even so, there was notable variability, both within and between countries, in how individuals interpreted and related to these core themes. Because the Global Flourishing Study is an open-access dataset designed to represent a broad global population, these findings provide essential context for interpreting cross-national data on human flourishing and personal wellbeing accurately across varied cultural settings.
Measuring human wellbeing globally requires survey questions that carry the same meaning across diverse languages and cultures. When people understand questions differently, comparisons between countries risk becoming inaccurate. Demonstrating how people in 22 countries interpret these specific wellbeing measures helps researchers reliably assess and compare quality of life across distinct cultural environments using open-access global data.
The abstract does not indicate an application pathway.
AI-generated from the published abstract. Always read the original work before citing.
Abstract Prior research suggests that cross-national cognitive interviewing can provide preliminarily insights into the extent to which survey items that will be employed in large-scale global research might be understood similarly or differently across countries. Against the backdrop of the recently launched Global Flourishing Study, we used multinational cognitive interview data from 116 individuals ( M = 41.4 years, SD = 14.9, female = 50.9%) in 22 countries to explore similarities and differences in item difficulty and comprehension of five of the Global Flourishing Study survey items that are related to personal wellbeing. Interviewer observations indicated that most participants (≥ 90%) did not experience a lot of difficulty responding to each of the items. Focusing on a specific comprehension probe that was common across the five items (i.e., “In your own words, what is this question asking?”), we applied the constant comparative analytic method to generate an overarching theme for each item that captured the common core or essence of how participants across the countries interpreted the items. However, there was some variability—both between and within countries—in how responses to the probe in the different countries related to the overarching theme for each item. Given the richness of the Global Flourishing Study as a possible data resource, including its broad representativeness of the global population and availability as an open access dataset, these findings will be useful to researchers who are interested in using data from the Global Flourishing Study to study human wellbeing in different parts of the world.
This page summarises published work. The authoritative version sits with the publisher.
DOI: 10.1007/s11135-024-01947-1
Is something wrong with this record? Report it or request removal.
Discussion
Have you built on this work, tried to replicate it, or seen it applied in practice? Share what you know. Verified researchers and MARATTO™ domain experts can open a discussion, and any member can reply. Contributions are reviewed before they appear.
No discussion yet. Open the first thread.
New to MARATTO™? Create a free account.
