For kazoolaw, one of a many peer reviewed articles discussing the measurement of stress:
More than a feeling: A unified view of stress measurement for population science
Epel ES, Crosswell AD, Mayer SE, Prather AA, Slavich GM, Puterman E, Berry Mendesa W
It's important to think about exactly what is being measured. In my earlier example of a satisfaction question (Does my income meet my needs?) the intent of the question is not to measure the level of income nor the magnitude of the needs. Rather it is asking for a perception of how the two parts relate. It doesn't matter how much one earns if you cannot afford to pay your bills or buy food etc. So asking only about income would be a poor question, as an example.
Similarly when we use pain perception surveys, while they may ask for a rating on a scale of say 1-10 with 10 being the maximum pain imaginable, your 10 and my 10 may be related to different causes, yet the perceived effect on us as individuals is the same, i.e the worst pain we can imagine.
That's a bit of a digression from the paradox of choice, but hopefully clarifies a little on why subjective measures can still be useful.
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