All research presented in this article will have been extracted from the HINTS dataset. The researchers studying this dataset that I will be using gathered the dataset through questionnaire surveys. The two variables used in this article will be “What is your marital status?” Would you say…” and “In the last 30 days, how many times have you felt so sad that nothing could cheer you up?” » I chose these two variables because as a sociology major, I am very interested in how society functions as a whole, living in a society where marriage is encouraged and remaining single is looked down upon . I wanted to research if there really was a correlation. between the level of happiness a person experiences if they are married and when they are single. The variables selected after being operationalized are very important. This means that the variables have been put together in a topic where the question has been phrased in such a way that it does not have a double meaning or can be misunderstood. That is, the variables had simple answers, given in the form of a scale and a list of statuses. The possible answers to the marital status question were: “Married.” Living as a married man. Divorce. Widow. Separated. Single, never married. Not verified. Refuse. I don't know. Possible answers to the question “How sad are you” would be: “All the time.” Most often. Sometimes. A little time. Never. Refuse. I don't know. » People often ask what makes a person happy. Many people would like to know the secret to a happy life, the answer could be marriage. I would like to study the correlation between the happiness of a married person and the happiness of a single person. The dataset I will use for this... middle of paper ... I always have to be aware of is that people lie. Some respondents might have simply lied about the level of happiness they were experiencing, because if they told the truth they might feel guilty. A simple solution to this problem would be to conduct the investigation in a private setting and not over the telephone where the wife or husband could be within earshot. Another thing to consider is that if the social conception of marriage changes, will these change too? Only time will tell! ReferenceDiener, E. and Diener, C. (1996). Most people are happy. Psychological Science,7(3), 181-185.Glenn, N.D. (1975). The contribution of marriage to the psychological well-being of men and women. Journal of Marriage and Family, 594-600.Ross, C.E. (1995). Reconceptualizing marital status as a continuum of social attachment. Journal of Marriage and Family, 129-140