Clara Wolf

Question: Does reading for at least 20 minutes a day increase ones happiness?

Hypothesis:
If I spend 20 minutes of reading after school for one week, I will be able to increase my happiness.
There are so many good books out there to read and I believe that it I finish the book that I am
currently reading, I will be a happier person. When I am reading a book, my mind can escape and
wander and I forget about all of the stress in my life.

Procedure:
1. I will take the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire
2. I will record me happiness based on how I feel before each time I read
3. For five days in a row, I will read for 20 minutes after school
4. After I finish, I will record my happiness again to see if it changed
5. On the fifth day, I will take the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire again and see if my happiness
improved over the week.

Date: Rate {1-10} Before: Rate {1-10} After: Observations:

Thursday 3-2-17 6 7 I feel like depending

on what I read also
changes my happiness.

Friday 3-3-17 8 7 About halfway through

reading, I remembered
all sort of things I
needed to do. Causing
my to get stressed,
that is why my level
went down

Saturday 3-4-17 9 8 I was feeling very

happy at the beginning
because I had just
cleaned and after, I
was feeling rushed.

Sunday 3-5-17 8 8 Throughout my 20

minutes, I was
interrupted to build a
fire and I finished my
book.

Tuesday 3-7-17 5 8 When I read this day, I

 read closer to 6:00,
most of the other days
I read around 4:00. I
wonder if this variable
changed the results of
my experiment in any
way...

My happiness score before: 4.76

My happiness score after: 4.93

Conclusion: Even though all of my data didnt show that this helped with my happiness, I believe
that it did. Reading did help with my happiness but outside forces changed my mood also. If I was
calm after reading I would suddenly get rushed to an appointment or continue to stress about school.
While I conducting my experiment I felt calm and a lot happier because I could go into my room and
close the door and just have time to myself. After this experiment, I will now know how to calm down
in the future, reset my mood, and be a happier person.