Assessing Quality of Life and Living Conditions to Guide National Policy: The State of the Art (Social Indicators Research Series Book 11)

This book is a useful "how to" book for researchers and government offices wanting to start or improve their own QOL survey, and contains "best practices" from all over the world. It is a valuable resource for researchers, policy and for those wishing to effect changes in public policy. Preliminaries......Page 1 CONTENTS......Page 6 INTRODUCTION......Page 8 1. CONCEPTUALIZING AND MEASURING QUALITY OF LIFE FOR NATIONAL POLICY......Page 20 2. WHY SOCIAL POLICY NEEDS SUBJECTIVE INDICATORS......Page 40 3. TOWARDS A EUROPEAN SYSTEM OF SOCIAL INDICATORS: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK AND SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE......Page 54 4. STRATEGIES AND TRADITIONS IN SWEDISH SOCIAL REPORTING: A 30 YEAR EXPERIENCE......Page 96 5. QUALITY OF LIFE AND LIVING CONDITIONS IN THE NETHERLANDS......Page 122 6.“QUALITY OF LIFE” RESEARCH AT THE ISRAEL CENTRAL BUREAU OF STATISTICS: SOCIAL INDICATORS AND SOCIAL SURVEYS......Page 148 7. QUALITY OF LIFE IN A EUROPEAN PERSPECTIVE: THE EUROMODULE AS A NEW INSTRUMENT FOR COMPARATIVE WELFARE RESEARCH......Page 170 8. THE NORBALT PROJECT: COMPARATIVE STUDIES OF LIVING CONDITIONS IN THE THREE BALTIC COUNTRIES......Page 184 9. LIVING CONDITIONS IN THE ARCTIC......Page 198 10. CROSS-NATIONAL COMPARISON OF THE QUALITY OFLIFE IN EUROPE: INVENTORY OF SURVEYS AND METHODS......Page 224 11. TELESIS: THE USES OF INDICATORS TO SET GOALS AND DEVELOP PROGRAMS TO CHANGE CONDITIONS......Page 236 12. THE ROLE OF QUALITY OF LIFE SURVEYS IN MANAGING CHANGE IN DEMOCRATIC TRANSITIONS: THE SOUTH AFRICAN CASE......Page 274 13. MONITORING THE IMPACT OF LAND REFORM ON QUALITY OF LIFE: A SOUTH AFRICAN CASE STUDY......Page 300 14. TOWARD A SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT INDEX FOR HONG KONG: THE PROCESS OF COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT......Page 320 15. INTERNATIONAL COMPARISONS OF TRENDS IN ECONOMIC WELL-BEING......Page 356 16. DECLINING QUALITY OF LIFE COSTS GOVERNMENTS ELECTIONS: REVIEW OF 13 OECD COUNTRIES......Page 390 17. CONSIDERING SOCIAL COHESION IN QUALITY OF LIFE ASSESSMENTS: CONCEPT AND MEASUREMENT......Page 410 18. DO INCOME SURVEYS OVERESTIMATE POVERTY IN WESTERN EUROPE? EVIDENCE FROM A COMPARISON WITH INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORKS......Page 436 INDEX......Page 448 Social Indicators Research Series......Page 456 Our book is a useful "how to" book for researchers and government offices wanting to start or improve their own QOL survey, and contains "best practices" from all over the world. We discuss cutting-edge surveys that are being adopted by all countries in the European community as a standardized measure of each country's progress. We also discuss how developing countries can begin the measurement of Quality of Life in ways that will increase political credibility and require smaller budgets. Other chapters describe policy applications of the Quality of Life surveys, including nations' health goals, smoking cessation, child welfare, and poverty reduction. The authors of these chapters are the world's top experts on assessing Quality of Life. For example, the author of the first chapter is Sten Johansson, former Director of Statistics Sweden, responsible for creating the first comprehensive QOL assessment systems in the world, beginning in the 1960's. The author of the second chapter is Professor Ruut Veenhoven, known as the premier researcher on national happiness, having developed the largest database in the world on the subjective measures of well-being. Heinz-Herbert Noll is responsible for developing the unified Quality of Life measurement system for the new European Union, where up to 25 countries will be assessed using the same methodology and questionnaires This text is a "how to" book for researchers and government offices wanting to start or improve their own "quality of life" (QOL) survey. It contains "best practices" from all over the world and discusses surveys that are being adopted by all countries in the European Union as a standardized measure of each country's progress. It also discusses how developing countries can begin the measurement of quality of life in ways that will increase political credibility and require smaller budgets. Other chapters describe policy applications of the quality of life surveys, including nations' health goals, smoking cessation, child welfare and poverty reduction Edited By Michael R. Hagerty, Joachim Vogel, And Valerie Møller. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.