Flourishing Scale - FS

Technical Manual

Script Author: Katja Borchert, Ph.D. (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond

Created: January 12, 2026

Last Modified: January 12, 2026 by K. Borchert (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond

Background

This script implements a computerized version of the Flourising Scale (FS), a measure of well-being, by Diener et al (2009/2010).

Copyright Information:

Copyright by Ed Diener and Robert Biswas-Diener, January 2009. Permission for Using the Scales (in Diener et al, 2010, p.155): "Although copyrighted, the SPANE and Flourishing Scale may be used as long as proper credit is given. Permission is not needed to employ the scales and requests to use the scales will not be answered on an individual basis because permission is granted here. This article should be used as the citation for the scales, and this note provides evidence that permission to use the scales is granted."

References

Diener, E., Wirtz, D., Tov, W., Kim-Prieto, C., Choi, D., Oishi, S., & Biswas-Diener, R. (2009). New Measures of Well-Being: Flourishing and Positive and Negative Feelings. In E. Diener (Ed.), Assessing Well-Being: The Collected Works of Ed Diener (pp. 247-266). Social Indicators Research Series 39, Berlin: Springer Science and Business Media B.V. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2354-4_12

Diener, E., Wirtz, D., Tov, W., Kim-Prieto, C., Choi, D., Oishi, S., & Biswas-Diener, R. (2010). New Well-being Measures: Short Scales to Assess Flourishing and Positive and Negative Feelings. Social Indicators Research, 97(2), 143–156. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-009-9493-y

Duration

1 minute

Description

A self-report questionnaire with 8 7-point-Likert scale questions measuring a person's self-perceived success in areas as relationships, self-esteem, purpose and optimism. The scale provides a single well-being score.

Summary Data

File Name: fs_summary*.iqdat

Data Fields

Name	Description
inquisit.version	Inquisit version number
computer.platform	Device platform: win \| mac \|ios \| android
computer.touch	0 = device has no touchscreen capabilities; 1 = device has touchscreen capabilities
computer.hasKeyboard	0 = no external keyboard detected; 1 = external keyboard detected
startDate	Date the session was run
startTime	Time the session was run
subjectId	Participant ID
groupId	Group number
sessionId	Session number
elapsedTime	Session duration in ms
completed	0 = Test was not completed 1 = Test was completed
fsScore	Sum of all individual scores (Range: 8-56) A high score represents a person with many psychological resources and strengths.

Raw Data

File Name: fs_raw*.iqdat

Data Fields

Name	Description
date	Date the session was run
time	Time the session was run
subject	Participant ID
group	Group number
session	Session number
build	Inquisit version number
q*_response	Response given (in assigned values) Scale: 7 (Strongly agree) - 1 (Strongly disagree)
q*_latency	How much time (in ms) the participant spent on the surveypage with this particular question (the last time this particular surveypage was visited)