ABSTRACT
The World Database of Happiness is an electronic findings-archive, tailored to meet the requirements of assembling research findings on happiness defined as the subjective enjoyment of one’s life-as-a-whole. The archive consists of some 20.000 electronic ‘finding pages’ on which an empirical observation is described on a standard format using a standard terminology. Pages are sorted in many ways, such as on subject, method and the people investigated. Each finding page has a unique internet address to which links can be made in review papers. This allows for the presentation of many research findings in a few tabular overviews. Use of this tool for research synthesis will facilitate the accumulation of knowledge on happiness.
Key words: literature review, research synthesis, findings archive, life satisfaction, subjective wellbeing