Enquiries into Wellbeing: How Could Qualitative Data Be Used to Improve the Reliability of Survey Data?

Camfield discusses how mixing qualitative and quantitative methods in developing measures of wellbeing can increase researchers’ understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of survey data. She highlights the subjective nature of ‘objective’ data and the fragility of ‘subjective’ data, such as judgements of satisfaction, when they are removed from the context in which they were generated. Camfield makes this point drawing on examples of using cognitive debriefing in South Africa and developing a taxonomy of child poverty in Ethiopia. Finally, she advises caution in using subjective wellbeing data, recognising its micro-foundations.