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Statement of the problem Essay This study explored the experience of subjective well-being (SWB) among the institutionalized aged: concept of well-being, indicators of the cognitive and affective components, and the factors which contribute towards their sense of well-being. It also looked into the perception of their close associates on the SWB of the elderly under investigation. Specifically, the study addressed the following questions: 1. What is the concept of subjective well-being among the institutionalized elderly? 2. What are the indicators of the cognitive and affective components of subjective well-being? 3. What are the factors which contribute towards the subjective well-being among the institutionalized elderly? 4. How do the close associates of the elderly view the following: the concept of SWB, the indicators of cognitive and affective components, and the factors contributing toward SWB among the elderly? 5. Are there similarities and differences observed in the view of the elderly and their close associates with regard to the experience of SWB among the institutionalized aged? This chapter presents in detail the research design, the description of the participants, the instruments used, the data gathering and analysis procedures. Research Design The present study employed the qualitative research design (Heppner, Kivlighan, Wampold, 1999; McLeod, 2001). Qualitative research involves doing one’s utmost to map and explore the meaning of an area of human experience. Generally it examines people’s words or actions in narrative or descriptive ways more closely representing the experiences of the people involved. It emphasizes the importance of looking at variables in the natural setting in which they are found and the qualitative researchers believe that human behavior cannot be understood outside of its context. According to McLeod (2001), the knowledge generated by qualitative research through eliciting peoples’ stories, sensitive listening, building up an understanding, and checking it out is usually holistic, nuanced, personal, contextualized and incomplete. Key (1997) observes that in qualitative research detailed data is gathered through open ended questions that provide direct quotations, and the interviewer is an integral part of the investigation. The present study was exploratory in nature (Westman, 2004) and employed case study as well as interview method to collect the data. It helped in understanding the concepts and personal meanings and theories held by the people who were being studied. The study also contributed to the understanding of how the elderly in the home for the aged conceived and defined quality of life or subjective experience of well-being in their lives as perceived by their administrators. Case Study. The rationale for including case studies were: (1) case studies strive towards a holistic understanding of cultural systems of action (Tellis, 1997). The interviews on the elderly elicited holistic information and nuances about their life and subjective sense of well-being. Content analysis alone could not do justice to the nuances came across in the accumulated data. According to Tellis (1997), selecting cases must be done so as to maximize what can be learned. (2) Case study is known as a triangulated research strategy (Tellis, 1997). The present study being qualitative, employing triangulation confirmed the validity of the findings (Yin, 1994). Interviews are one of the most important sources of case study information. Interview Method. In a qualitative study human person is the primary collection instrument. Insisting upon measurable outcomes to determine the quality of life is a disservice to elders (Moberg, 2001) and the world has many accounts of what aging looks like from the outside, but we have little insight into what aging looks and feels like and their sense of well-being from the perspective of older adults (Ray, 2002). It is an unquestionable truth that questions about what makes life worth living and what is their subjective experience of well-being to individuals are answered only by asking the individuals themselves. It helped to explore and explain the complexity of the fabric of life entering to its labyrinth, expressing the personal which is always interpersonal. In other words it gave access to the phenomenological data, which is the respondents’ perception, of themselves and their world. Exploring the concept of well-being, the indicators of cognitive and affective components of subjective well-being among the elderly and different features that they thought were helping toward their subjective experience of well being in the given situation of life, the researcher was able to gather the subjective description of the lived experiences of the institutionalized elderly.