Reliability, Validity, and Normalization of the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire

In this research we intended to normalize and examine the reliability and validity of the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire (OHQ). Our sample consisted of 1021 high school students in the scholastic year 2005-06 from Zanjan Province who were selected using multi-stage cluster sampling. The correlation coefficient of the test-retest scores, for measuring reliability, was 0.78 (P<0.001). Cronbach's Alpha of the questionnaire's test and retest stages were 0.84 and 0.87 respectively, which are adequate at both stages. In order to assess the questionnaire's validity, several methods were employed. Content validity was estimated by submitting the questionnaire to several expert psychologists, all of whom approved the power of the OHQ in assessing happiness. The overall index of the OHQ revealed a high correlation with each of the 5 factors (C, A, O, E, N) of the NEO personality inventory. Furthermore, factorial analysis resulted in 7 factors which accounted for 33% of the variance. Second order factorial analysis revealed that OHQ can be used as a uni-dimensional construct for measuring happiness. All assessment methods mentioned above indicated that the OHQ is a valid instrument for measuring happiness.