Scott Alexander critically examines conflicting studies on Amish happiness levels, finding the research too unreliable to draw firm conclusions. Longer summary

Scott Alexander examines conflicting claims about Amish happiness levels compared to modern societies and billionaires. He finds significant inconsistencies and methodological issues in the various studies, making it difficult to draw firm conclusions. The post highlights problems with data interpretation, study replication, and potential confounding factors. Scott emphasizes the unreliability of these early happiness studies, which predate improvements brought by the replication crisis in social science. He concludes that the research is not rigorous enough to make definitive statements about Amish happiness levels relative to other groups. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander analyzes survey results showing high parental satisfaction among his blog readers, comparing the findings to existing research and discussing their implications. Longer summary

Scott Alexander analyzes survey results about parental satisfaction among his blog readers. The survey shows that respondents are overwhelmingly happy with their decision to have children, with a mean satisfaction of 4.43 out of 5. This holds true across genders. When controlling for various factors, the data suggests a trend of increasing life satisfaction with more children. Scott compares these results to existing research, noting similarities and differences. He discusses potential reasons for discrepancies between direct questions about parental happiness and indirect life satisfaction measures. The post also explores correlations between personality traits and parental satisfaction. Scott concludes by reflecting on how these results inform his personal consideration of whether to have children. Shorter summary