2.2.4. Life satisfaction scale-subjective state (LSS–S)
The LSS-S (Kopina, 1996) is a ten item self-report questionnaire
used to assess subjective life satisfaction. The participant is asked
to answer items on a four point intensity scale from 1 (definitely
no) to 4 (definitely yes) in response to the question “How have you
been feeling lately?” with high scores indicating high life satisfaction.
Five of the items are reverse scored. The LSS-S has been
demonstrated sound internal consistency (α¼.87) in previous
research (Khawaja and Bryden, 2006).
2.3. Procedure
Ethics was obtained for the project from the University Human
Research Ethics Committee. The online questionnaire was constructed
using the program ‘KeySurvey’. Following this, course coordinators
from each faculty within the university were contacted via email and
invited to forward students a link to the questionnaire. A total of 110
course coordinators were contacted and given a description of the
study and informed about participation requirements. Twelve course
coordinators indicated their intention to forward the survey link to
their students. It is unknown exactly how many of those contacted
sent the link to their students, and it is unknown how many students
in total were invited to participate. While the response rate cannot be
accurately determined, the representativeness of the sample can be
examined by comparing the sample characteristics to the characteristics
of the total university population from which the sample was
obtained. The sample (n¼1148) was compared with the March 2012
enrolment data of the university population (N¼40231). A close
examination indicated that the participants’ gender distribution was
similar to that of the overall university (university population consisted
of 44.91% of men and 55.09% women). Further, the data
represented all faculties and the percentages of enrolments into
different faculties’ resembled the overall pattern reflected by the
university population.
All participants were provided with written information that
detailed aims of the study, confidentiality and anonymity of
individual information, as well as the voluntary nature of participation.
Consent was assumed once participants submitted the
completed questionnaires, and participants were free to withdraw
any time before responses were submitted. Data collection
occurred between the middle of the first university semester
(May, 2010) and the middle of the second university semester
(September, 2010). Those participants in the second group (n¼56)
met the principal researcher in a lecture room within the
university campus and completed the same protocol twice, one
week apart. There were no known risks associated with participation
in this research, however as the topic relates to experiences of
depression, participants were provided with the number of a
counselling service and advised that access to a counsellor was
available if any unforseen distress occurred.