Abstract

This study investigates the context effects and gender differences in them on reported life satisfaction and if there are any gender differences in these effects to see whether and how much the particular circumstances of the life satisfaction survey, typically not controlled for, matter. It does so using a questionnaire survey in the city of Ústí nad Labem, Czech Republic, and the contextual factors included weather conditions, location, timing, and gender of the survey administrator. Statistical analysis is based on the ordinal logistic regression models. The results show that in some locations the average life satisfaction reported by men was statistically significantly different. As for women, their life satisfaction on average seems to be higher on Tuesdays and lower on Fridays. Also, for women, there is a positive relationship between the afternoon hours of the data collection and life satisfaction. There is no effect when it comes to gender of the questionnaire’s administrator. As for weather or temperature, no relation with life satisfaction has been found. The results clearly show that the effects of context conditions vary between men and women. Our results can help design questionnaire surveys focused on subjective well-being in a way that the results are unbiased and relevant.