Understanding happiness has always been a tricky concept, as examined in the article Subjective well-being: The science of happiness and a proposal for a national index, conducted by Diener, E. Published in American Psychologist, this research proposed the question: What does previous research show about the concept of happiness and how can the calculation of happiness for a national index be improved?

The data that used to answer this question are findings of previous research regarding happiness. The data was derived from public/private records. Diener analyzed various way in which subjective well-being (SWB) has being defined and measured. By constructive evaluation of previous research and by finding patterns, Diener was able to come up with conclusions. This research proposed a methodological refinement to the national index of subjective well-being. Subjective well-being was defined in the article as “people’s cognitive and affective evaluations of their lives.”

The article concludes that there has been great strides in the knowledge of SWB in the past years and many hold substance to SWB. The knowledge of SWB is, however, still very limited in the psychology community and that a stronger scientific foundation is necessary for providing unambiguous recommendation to improving happiness, whether it be societies or individuals. Being that this article was cited more than 1,000 times gives an initial response that it is substantial. Upon reading the article, Diener provided many respectable claims backed up with an abundance of supporting evidence. Additionally, the use of data that was contrary to claims gave the article more credibility in its propositions.