
Ask HN: How happy are you? - adamzerner
People on HN seem to be ambitious do-gooders in tech related fields. I&#x27;m curious how happy these types of people generally are.<p>Let&#x27;s use the 2-8 scale:
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DonGateley
Happy is too fragile and illusory a state. Content works much, much better and
I find myself remarkably content considering the heights I reached and the
bottom I barely pulled myself out of. I don't miss the bling at all and am
very pleased with how little it takes to make me content.

On the content scale I'd call it a 7.5. Happy I no longer understand and am
very wary of.

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klaut
"happy" is not something constant so it is difficult for me to evaluate it as
a whole. For example, right now, as I am about to go to work, my happiness
level is at around 4. But When weekend comes and I am doing my thing, then it
can go up to 7.

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27182818284
FYI, You can submit a new poll, unless maybe you're under a karma threshold of
some level:
[http://news.ycombinator.com/newpoll](http://news.ycombinator.com/newpoll)

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tylerpachal
As a student with the summer semester on the horizon, being able to pick new
classes and things to learn about makes me happy and gives me something to
look forward to... But its snowing out right now.

8.5

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taigeair
It's 8. This isn't that accurate because I just finished a 3 hour bike ride.

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bowerbird
which is the happy end, and which is the unhappy end?

didn't say, did you? so how do you interpret the data?

you don't. because you don't know how each person might have interpreted the
scale. research demands precision.

-bowerbird

~~~
ponyous
Isn't it clear that most of the ratings use higher number for "better" vote,
and can't you assume happy equals better in this case? Were you really unsure
about it?

~~~
bowerbird
i saw ratings all along the scale; that is still the case.

and i don't know, in advance, how "happy" people here are, so even if there
_was_ some skew, i couldn't interpret it.

and if i did, it might be "experimenter confirmation bias" \-- one of the most
insidious and pernicious forms of bias.

and no, it's impossible to know which way the scale runs, because it can run
either way. (higher numbers are _not_ always "better", because "top" is often
associated with "the top of the charts", where lower numbers are "better". and
when i say "i look out for #1", you know what i mean.)

it's also unwise to assume that "happy" equals "better", because this is self-
report data, and do we really want people to _report_ they are happy if they
really are not? depressed people tell us such pressure to "just be happy"
becomes an additional source of stress on the experience.

besides, even if _i_ think i know which way the scale runs, the problem is
that i don't have any idea how the people who are _answering_ the survey
believe that the scale runs.

all of this is straightforward to anyone who has studied survey-research; it's
totally obvious and noncontroversial, certainly not the sort of thing that
should be _down-voted_. (yes, it was, indeed, believe it or not. so be it,
folks.)

i also didn't post it with any "attitude", and i note that the original poster
accepted the note without much fuss...

-bowerbird

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alrmd
4.5

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rk0567
8

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clef
8

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adamzerner
8

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adamzerner
7

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adamzerner
6

~~~
jackgolding
there is always one...

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adamzerner
5

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adamzerner
4

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adamzerner
3

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adamzerner
2

