Survey about what makes people happy / tick
December 25, 2010 2:37 PM   Subscribe

I'm looking for typical "what is most important to people" survey results (preferably with percentages or graphs to use). You know, as in, family, career, hobbies, helping others...

I'm working on my sketchbook project and want to incorporate something on how people define themselves, what motivates them, what is most important to them etc. This doesn't need to be hugely scientific, so can be a small sample size etc, but it should be nicely graphable.

I'm not sure if this makes sense? My theme for the sketchbook is "figuring you out", so this is in the vein of "well, in order to figure yourself out, you need to know what is most important to you in life... and here's a nice graph of what other people say."

I've googled around a bit but can't find anything that isn't wishy-washy or self-help talk. Yet I know one regularly reads articles based on surveys like that.

Thanks and merry Christmas! :)
posted by ClarissaWAM to Society & Culture (4 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
Pew Research Center looks like it might be a good resource. In particular, have a look at "Are We Happy?"
posted by MonkeyToes at 2:47 PM on December 25, 2010 [1 favorite]


Response by poster: Thanks, interesting survey. Unfortunately there is too much data to fit neatly into one graph. (also doesn't quite fit my theme). But thanks all the same!
posted by ClarissaWAM at 3:44 PM on December 25, 2010


Pew's Millenials' Priorities? Link is to summary; full report here (.pdf).

Snip:

What Millennials Want Out of Life

To a large extent, the things that Millennials value in life mirror the things older generations value. Family matters most, and fame and fortune are much less important. When asked to rate how important a series of life goals are to them personally, being a good parent ranked at the top for all four generations. Overall, 50% of the public says this is one of the most important things in their lives. An additional 44% say this is very important but not the most important thing for them personally. Only 5% say this is only somewhat important or not important at all. Although only about a third of Millennials (34%) have children, they are just as likely as their older counterparts to place high value on good parenting. About half (52%) say being a good parent is one of the most important things to them. This compares with 50% of those ages 30 and older. Millennial women are even more likely than Millennial men to say being a good parent is one of the most important things to them (56% vs. 48%). No similar gender gap exists among older generations.
posted by MonkeyToes at 4:14 PM on December 25, 2010


Definitely look into Daniel Pink. There's a brilliant RSA Animation based on one of Pink's TED talks, and also a Metafilter thread.
posted by sockpup at 4:17 PM on December 25, 2010


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