Oxford Happiness Questionnaire 1
INTERNAL CONSISTENCY RELIABILITY AND TEMPORAL STABILITY OF
THE OXFORD HAPPINESS QUESTIONNAIRE SHORT-FORM: TEST-RETEST
DATA OVER TWO WEEKS1
SHARON MARY CRUISE
CHRISTOPHER ALAN LEWIS1
University of Ulster at Magee College, Northern Ireland
CONOR MC GUCKIN
Dublin Business School of Arts, Republic of Ireland
Running head: Oxford Happiness Questionnaire
Key words: Happiness, positive psychology, internal consistency reliability, temporal
stability.
1
Address correspondence to Dr Christopher Alan Lewis, School of Psychology,
University of Ulster at Magee College, Londonderry, Northern Ireland, UK, BT48 7JL.
Phone: 0044 (0)28 71375320; Fax: 0044 (0)28 71375493; Email: ca.lewis@ulster.ac.uk
Oxford Happiness Questionnaire 2
INTERNAL CONSISTENCY RELIABILITY AND TEMPORAL STABILITY OF
THE OXFORD HAPPINESS QUESTIONNAIRE SHORT-FORM: TEST-RETEST
DATA OVER TWO WEEKS
Oxford Happiness Questionnaire 3
The Oxford Happiness Questionnaire short-form is a recently developed eight-item
measure of happiness. This study evaluated the internal consistency reliability and testretest reliability of the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire short-form among 55 Northern
Irish undergraduate university students who completed the measure on two occasions
separated by two weeks. Internal consistency of the measure on both occasions was
satisfactory at both Time 1 (alpha = .62) and Time 2 (alpha = .58). Stability across the
two administrations was satisfactory (r = .69), and there was no significant change
between Time 1 (M = 34.5, SD = 5.4) and Time 2 (M = 34.6, SD = 5.2). These data
support the internal consistency reliability and short-term test-retest reliability of the
Oxford Happiness Questionnaire short-form.
Oxford Happiness Questionnaire 4
Over the last twenty-five years there has been growing interest in positive
psychology (Aspinwall & Staudinger, 2003; Linley & Joseph, 2004; Peterson &
Seligman, 2004; Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000), including the measurement and
correlates of happiness (Argyle, 1987). At the centre of this work has been a number of
multi-item self-report measures (Snyder & Lopez, 2001), including the Bradburn Affect
Balance Scale (Bradburn, 1969), the Memorial University of Newfoundland Scale of
Happiness (Kozma & Stones, 1978, 1980), the Short Happiness and Affect Research
Protocol (Stones, Kozma, Hirdes, & Gold, 1996), the Subjective Happiness Scale
(Lyubomirsky & Lepper, 1999), the Depression-Happiness Scale (Joseph & Lewis, 1998;
McGreal & Joseph, 1993), and the short Depression-Happiness Scale (Joseph, Linley,
Harwood, Lewis, & McCollam, 2004). Arguably the most widely used measure of
happiness is the 29-item Oxford Happiness Inventory (Argyle, Martin, & Crossland,
1989; Francis, 1999).
Recently however, in an attempt to improve the psychometric performance of the
Oxford Happiness Questionnaire, Hills and Argyle (2002) have developed the Oxford
Happiness Questionnaire (different method of scoring, and reversing of approximately
half the items). Hills and Argyle (2002) also introduced an eight-item short-form of the
scale, intended to be a replacement for the full version when administration time is short.
Hills and Argyle (2002) provided initial evidence for the psychometric properties of both
the 29-item and the eight-item measures. Moreover, both versions of the measure have
demonstrated validity with measures of happiness, personality, self-esteem, satisfaction,
Oxford Happiness Questionnaire 5
life orientation, and life regard (Hills & Argyle, 2002), and measures of religiosity
(Lewis, Maltby, & Day, 2005).
To date, no information on the internal consistency reliability or test-retest
reliability of this measure has been reported. The present aim was to evaluate the twoweek test-retest reliability of the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire short-form among a
sample of Northern Irish university students.
METHOD
SAMPLE
Fifty-five students (9 male and 46 female) with a mean age of 23.9 years (SD =
6.3), all in attendance at the University of Ulster at Magee College, Londonderry,
Northern Ireland, enrolled on a course in psychology, were employed as respondents.
MEASURE
The Oxford Happiness Questionnaire short-form is concerned with measuring
personal happiness, a sample question being ‘I feel that life is very rewarding’ (Item 3). It
is scored on a six-point Likert scale ranging from ‘agree strongly’ (1) to ‘disagree
strongly’ (6). Three items are reversed scored. Scores range from 8 to 48, with higher
scores on the scale indicating a greater level of happiness.
PROCEDURE
The short-form was completed during class-time on two occasions separated by a
period of two weeks as part of a practical class. Participants recorded their names and age
but were assured of confidentiality, and participation was voluntary. None of the class
Oxford Happiness Questionnaire 6
declined to participate, and no credit was given for completing the questionnaires on
either occasion. The participants were not informed that the measure would be
readministered.
RESULTS
Scores on the scale for Time 1 and Time 2 were significantly associated (r
= .69). No significant difference was found in the mean scores (t = -.192, df = 54,
ns) between Time 1 (M = 34.5, SD = 5.4, range = 24 – 45) and Time 2 (M = 34.6,
SD = 5.2, range = 19 – 45). Levels of internal consistency reliability (Cronbach,
1951) for the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire short-form at both testing periods
were acceptable for an eight-item measure (Time 1: alpha = .62; Time 2: alpha =
.58). For example, Loewenthal (1996) suggests that a reliability of .6 may be
considered acceptable for scales with less than ten items. An examination of
corrected item-total correlations at both testing periods indicated that exclusion of
Item 8 of the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire short-form would raise reliabilities
at both times: Time 1 (alpha = .7) and Time 2 (alpha = .64).
DISCUSSION
The present data provides satisfactory evidence for both the internal consistency
reliability and the test-retest reliability over a two-week period of the Oxford Happiness
Questionnaire short-form among a sample of Northern Irish university students. Although
these findings are limited due to the small sample size, the selectivity of the sample (i.e.,
university students, mainly female), and the small length of the testing period, the Oxford
Oxford Happiness Questionnaire 7
Happiness Questionnaire short-form appears temporally stable. These findings provide
additional psychometric evidence that attest to the validity of the measure (see Hills &
Argyle, 2002). Further research is however required to examine the stability of the
Oxford Happiness Questionnaire short-form among larger and more representative
samples and over longer testing periods.
REFERENCES
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