About this Research Topic
Over past 50 years, well-being studies have gradually evolved to become one of the most productive research fields in psychology. Every year, thousands of studies are conducted on topics such as quality of life, psychological well-being, positive emotions, optimism, psychological capital, and sexual health. However, as most scientific disciplines, these studies have primarily been made in WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) countries.
While this is not a major issue for studies focusing on universal basic processes, it poses a substantial limitation in understanding topics with strong cultural bias. Since constructs like happiness, life satisfaction, and positive emotions have been shown to be highly dependent on the cultural context, it is necessary to create opportunities to study well-being in non-WEIRD countries, which, despite hosting most of the world's population, are often underrepresented in scientific communications, mainly in the development of measurement instruments.
As expected, most of the available measurement instruments have been developed in the United States and Western Europe. Few studies are conducted in non-WEIRD countries, except for some adaptations of test designed from other contexts. We are convinced that this lack of diversity in the development of measurements is not due to a lack of capacities but rather because new developments have limited space in prestigious journals, which usually question their relevance compared to the appearance of validity of widely used tests. We are convinced that this lack of space for new developments is an error, because validity is not an inherent property of a test.
In this context, the purpose of this Research Topic is to promote the dissemination of new tests related to well-being research, developed from non-WEIRD countries. The papers in this collection do not necessarily need to propose measurements for new constructs, but they must offer original development with the highest methodological rigor, both in conceptualization and development, offering solid and multiple evidence of validity, applying contemporary psychometric standards.
The purpose of this Research Topic is to make visible the development of new assessment instruments, focused on constructs related to well-being, including the broad spectrum of positive and health psychology, developed from non-WEIRD countries, whose core is methodological strength. It is expected that the accepted papers offer new open-source tools, with greater methodological strengths than the available instruments, that will favor a methodological update to enrich research from commonly marginalized regions.
To fulfil this purpose, we expect original developments with:
• A clear operationalization of the construct to be evaluated;
• A development described in enough detail and in accordance with test development standards;
• Evidence of validity based on the internal structure, either from factorial, IRT or network models;
• Evidence of validity based on the relationship with other variables;
• Reliability estimates, and, when applicable, evidence of invariance.
In addition, provide enough information for the application in research and/or applied contexts.
While this is not a major issue for studies focusing on universal basic processes, it poses a substantial limitation in understanding topics with strong cultural bias. Since constructs like happiness, life satisfaction, and positive emotions have been shown to be highly dependent on the cultural context, it is necessary to create opportunities to study well-being in non-WEIRD countries, which, despite hosting most of the world's population, are often underrepresented in scientific communications, mainly in the development of measurement instruments.
As expected, most of the available measurement instruments have been developed in the United States and Western Europe. Few studies are conducted in non-WEIRD countries, except for some adaptations of test designed from other contexts. We are convinced that this lack of diversity in the development of measurements is not due to a lack of capacities but rather because new developments have limited space in prestigious journals, which usually question their relevance compared to the appearance of validity of widely used tests. We are convinced that this lack of space for new developments is an error, because validity is not an inherent property of a test.
In this context, the purpose of this Research Topic is to promote the dissemination of new tests related to well-being research, developed from non-WEIRD countries. The papers in this collection do not necessarily need to propose measurements for new constructs, but they must offer original development with the highest methodological rigor, both in conceptualization and development, offering solid and multiple evidence of validity, applying contemporary psychometric standards.
The purpose of this Research Topic is to make visible the development of new assessment instruments, focused on constructs related to well-being, including the broad spectrum of positive and health psychology, developed from non-WEIRD countries, whose core is methodological strength. It is expected that the accepted papers offer new open-source tools, with greater methodological strengths than the available instruments, that will favor a methodological update to enrich research from commonly marginalized regions.
To fulfil this purpose, we expect original developments with:
• A clear operationalization of the construct to be evaluated;
• A development described in enough detail and in accordance with test development standards;
• Evidence of validity based on the internal structure, either from factorial, IRT or network models;
• Evidence of validity based on the relationship with other variables;
• Reliability estimates, and, when applicable, evidence of invariance.
In addition, provide enough information for the application in research and/or applied contexts.
Keywords: Test development, well-being, evidence of validity, non-WEIRD countries, psychometric
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
