Introduction – Measuring Well-Being: Collected Theory and Review Works

Abstract

Measurement is the most important activity in behavioral science, and perhaps the activity that is undervalued the most. It can be argued that scientific understanding and measurement go hand in hand. Indeed, this is the insight offered by Cronbach and Meehl (1955) when they argued that the development of a measure and the understanding of the underlying phenomena go hand-in-hand. Many people, even researchers themselves, think of measurement as a technical affair to be performed by the slower and less creative scientists, while the geniuses are busy formulating grand theories. In fact, Greenwald (2001, 2002) found that the majority of Nobel prizes in the sciences go to work on measurement rather than theory. And as argued above, theory and measurement usually advance together. To be able to measure something well means that we must have a good theory about that phenomenon. In addition, what sets science apart from other approaches to knowledge, such as philosophy or theology, is the heavy grounding it has in the empirical method. Thus, observing, recording, and measuring are core aspects of science, and their importance cannot be underestimated.