Does higher income make you happy? Every General Social Survey (GSS) includes the question, “Taken all together, would you say that you are very happy, pretty happy, or not too happy?” The table below uses the 2010 survey to cross-tabulate happiness with family income, measured as the response to the question, “Compared with American families in general, would you say that your family income is below average, average, or above average?”

a. Identify the response variable and the explanatory variable.

b. Construct the conditional proportions on happiness at each level of income. Interpret and summarize the association between these variables.

c. Overall, what proportion of people reported being very happy?

Transcribed Image Text:

Happiness and Family Income, from General Social Survey Happiness Not Too Pretty Very Income Happy Happy Happy Total Above average 21 213 126 360 Average 96 506 248 850 Below average 143 347 114 604 Total 260 1066 488 1814