Johnethan Rivera Fieldwork Fall 2023

Can happiness be obtained without having fun? This is the main question that I am trying to
answer with this survey. In this survey, I asked a total of 9 questions to 30 respondents. There was no
specific test group because the survey was just posted online. The survey mostly ended up being
teenagers (13-19) with 3 outliers, 2 of which were in their 20s and the last in their 30s. Each question
asks the respondents about their relationship, experience, and correlation with both fun and happiness.
Their answers and explanations will go on to help dictate the result of this overwhelming umbrella
question.

The first question asked was ‘What would you (the respondent) describe as the feeling of fun?”.
This short-answer question helped determine the definition of fun in each respondent’s mind. Asking this
question also made it easier to determine if there is a common definition of fun or not. Respondents were
allowed to answer the question in any form, thus the way they answered would also help determine if they
see fun as a feeling or an experience. The results were quite interesting, the most common word used to
describe the feeling of fun was “joy”, 11 respondents mentioned it in their answers. A possible next step is
to ask how people experience joy, going deeper down a rabbit hole in a sense. Other common definitions
described “being care/stress-free” or “being around friends and family” as the feeling of fun. Most of the
teenagers answered in very specific ways. All answers given varied, teens tried to explain the feeling of
fun or an experience that was fun to them. Things like spending time with family, blasting hype music, or
even smoking weed were the teenager’s answers. All respondents 20 or up gave more general and
vague answers. All 3 tried their best to find a way to explain the mass definition of fun. In general, the 3
said that “fun is just being happy”. These answers helped me see that the main and most common
definition of fun from the recipients was just enjoying the time that they were having in the present
moment.

“Does that feeling of fun make you happy?” This second question was asked on a scale level.
The choices given were [No, mostly no, slightly no, slightly yes, mostly yes, yes]. There was no middle
option because neutrality would make the data harder to assess. Making respondents choose between
yes or no, even if to the slightest degree, will show which side they lean on more thus offering more
truthful results. The results seen in the graph: 0/30 people say that fun does not make them happy. 11/30
people say fun always makes them happy. 18/30 people say that fun makes them happy most of the time.
1 person said that fun makes them only slightly happy. According to the survey group, the feeling of fun
will always make a person happy even if it is to just the tiniest degree. It can be concluded from this
question that fun cannot happen without happiness, answering the reverse form of the current umbrella
question in a sense.
 The third question is “Do you need to be having fun to be happy?” Since it was established that
there was a direct link between fun and happiness in the last question, this new question asks the
respondent if one depends on the other or if there is a mutual connection between the two. This question
is formatted the same as the last one with 6 choices. The results: Most people feel like fun is not a
necessity to be happy. The degree to which it is not a necessity is where there is variety in the answers.
This question had the most variety in answers with respondents not being able to come up with a
consensus. The next step taken would have to be asking each respondent why they answered the way
that they did. In the graph shown below 7/30 people agree with “YES, fun is a necessity for happiness”.
5/7 feel like fun is mostly a necessity for happiness. 1 person feels like fun is only slightly a necessity for
happiness. Another person feels like fun is a must to be happy. On the other hand, 23/30 people agree
with “NO, fun is NOT a necessity for happiness”. 9/23 people feel like fun is mostly not needed to be
happy but you still need at least a bit. 9/23 people feel like fun is not a necessity at all to be happy. Lastly,
5/23 people feel like fun is only slightly not a necessity so most of the time it is needed but not all the time
to be happy.
 Question 4 is “How important is having fun in life?” This question assessed the emphasis that
each respondent put on fun in their day-to-day life. This made it possible to find if there were any outliers
with a bias towards fun and how important happiness is to them as well. The results: All respondents
agree that fun is important in life, however, the scale of said importance is variable. 8/30 people found fun
is only slightly important in life. 13/30 found that fun is mostly important in life. 9/30 people found that fun
is always important in life. These results show that happiness is always of importance throughout life and
the way to achieve said happiness is through fun. The results mostly lean that happiness cannot be
obtained without fun but further research may disprove this.
 Question 5, “Is there a limit to how much fun a person can have?” This question was asked to
determine if there is a limit to happiness due to the fact that there is a relationship between the two. The
results: This is a question where at least one person voted for each choice. 14 voted that there was no
limit on how much fun a person could have. 4 people voted that there is mostly no limit. Meaning that only
every now and then there is one. 2 people said slightly no limit. 7 people say slightly yes there is a limit. 1
person said mostly yes there is a limit. Lastly, 2 people agree that yes there is always a limit to how much
fun you can have.

Questions 6 and 7 are opposites. Question 6 asks “Do you believe that you could ever be happy
with too much fun?” Question 7 asks ”Do you believe that you could ever be happy with too little fun?”
These questions helped determine if there is a side that one leans on more than the other. The
consensus was that you can be happy with too much fun but cannot be happy with too little. This points to
the fact that happiness cannot be had without fun but again further research can be done.

Questions 8 and 9 go hand and hand. Question 8 asks for a personal experience “When have
you had the most fun?”. Question 9 states “In reference to Q8, was that one of your happiest moments? If
not, explain why it wasn’t and when you did feel most happy”. These questions help make the questions
and survey personal, allowing the respondents to personalize with their answers and survey.
I feel like the research has driven me to the conclusion that fun is needed to have happiness but there
could be examples that differ. The next survey will focus on examples in which there is no relationship if
there is an example.