Handbook of Social Indicators and Quality of Life Research

Handbook of Social Indicators and Quality of Life Research
Author: Kenneth C. Land
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 594
Release: 2011-11-25
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9400724217

The aim of the Handbook of Social Indicators and Quality of Life Research is to create an overview of the field of Quality of Life (QOL) studies in the early years of the 21st century that can be updated and improved upon as the field evolves and the century unfolds. Social indicators are statistical time series “...used to monitor the social system, helping to identify changes and to guide intervention to alter the course of social change”. Examples include unemployment rates, crime rates, estimates of life expectancy, health status indices, school enrollment rates, average achievement scores, election voting rates, and measures of subjective well-being such as satisfaction with life-as-a-whole and with specific domains or aspects of life. This book provides a review of the historical development of the field including the history of QOL in medicine and mental health as well as the research related to quality-of-work-life (QWL) programs. It discusses several of QOL main concepts: happiness, positive psychology, and subjective wellbeing. Relations between spirituality and religiousness and QOL are examined as are the effects of educational attainment on QOL and marketing, and the associations with economic growth. The book goes on to investigate methodological approaches and issues that should be considered in measuring and analysing quality of life from a quantitative perspective. The final chapters are dedicated to research on elements of QOL in a broad range of countries and populations.

Social Indicators of Well-Being

Social Indicators of Well-Being
Author: Frank M. Andrews
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 462
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1468422537

This is a study about perceptions of well-being. Its purpose is to investigate how these perceptions are organized in the minds of different groups of American adults, to find valid and efficient ways of measuring these percep tions, to suggest ways these measurement methods could be implemented to yield a series of social indicators, and to provide some initial readings on these indicators; i.e., some information about the levels of well-being perceived by Americans. The findings are based on data from more than five thousand Americans and include results from four separate representative samplings of the American population. One of the ways our research is unusual is that it includes a major methodological component. Typical surveys involve a modest effort at instru ment development, the application of the instrument to a group of respondents, and an analysis of the resulting data that mainly describes the people studied. Our work, however, was implemented in a series of sequential cycles, each of which consisted of conceptual development, instrument design, data collection, analysis, and interpretation. Ideas and findings generated in prior cycles affected the design of subsequent cycles.

Quality of Life of Chinese People in a Changing World

Quality of Life of Chinese People in a Changing World
Author: Daniel Shek
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2014-10-14
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9789400793057

An examination of the major academic databases shows that there is a severe lack of studies of the quality of life of Chinese people. This picture deserves attention, particularly in view of the growing influence of China in the global arena. This book examines quality of life in Chinese people in different Chinese communities, including Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau. It is pioneer in the field and it has several unique features. First, in view of the lack of studies on Chinese family quality of life, this book contains papers on Chinese family quality of life. Second, in response to the lack of studies on the quality of life of Chinese adolescents, several papers on adolescent assessment, theory and intervention are included. Third, several papers examine quality of life of Chinese people in different stages of the life cycle. Finally, to give a broad picture about quality of life phenomena, papers adopting quantitative and qualitative methodologies are included in this book.

Doing Cross-Cultural Research

Doing Cross-Cultural Research
Author: Pranee Liamputtong
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2010-11-17
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9789048179121

Conducting cross-cultural research is rife with methodological, ethical and moral challenges. Researchers are challenged with many issues in carrying out their research with people in cross-cultural arenas. In this book, I attempt to bring together salient issues for the conduct of culturally appropriate research. The task of undertaking cross-cultural research can present researchers with unique opportunities, and yet dilemmas. The book will provide some thought-provoking points so that our research may proceed relatively well and yet ethical in our approach. The subject of the book is on the ethical, methodological, political understanding and practical procedures in undertaking cross-cultural research. The book will bring readers through a series of questions: who am I working with? What ethical and moral considerations do I need to observe? How should I conduct the research which is culturally appropriate to the needs of people I am researching? How do I deal with language issues? How will I negotiate access? And what research methods should I apply to ensure a successful research process? The book is intended for postgraduate students who are undertaking research as part of their degrees. It is also intended for researchers who are working in cross-cultural studies and in poor nations.

Connecting the Quality of Life Theory to Health, Well-being and Education

Connecting the Quality of Life Theory to Health, Well-being and Education
Author: Alex C. Michalos
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 425
Release: 2017-06-14
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 3319511610

This volume connects aspects of personal health, overall well-being, and education to quality of life. It includes discussions of Galen’s and Harvey’s views of the movement of blood in human bodies, and differences in the research traditions of social indicators research and health-related quality of life research. It examines determinants of health and quality of life in a variety of populations, including the residents of the Bella Coola Valley of British Columbia, aboriginal residential school survivors in Canada, and diabetics versus non-diabetics. It describes relations between health survey and patients’ medical chart reviews, the health and quality of life of older people, and the difference between good health and a good life. Other topics explored are student quality of life, comparisons of the quality of life of students, aboriginal and unemployed people, the impact of education on happiness and well-being, and liberal education. In addition, the volume presents Einstein’s views of ethics and science, and unacknowledged authorship in scholarly publications. The final chapter gives a historical review of quality of life research in Canada over the past fifty years.

Subjective Well-Being and Security

Subjective Well-Being and Security
Author: Dave Webb
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 330
Release: 2012-01-07
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 940072277X

Security, or the perceived lack thereof, impacts on quality of life at many levels. An important consideration is how security should be best understood. Although definitions of how to understand human security have been proposed, it is not clear how security should be measured. Security can be analyzed from different perspectives i.e., personal security, economic security, health security, political security, cyber security etc. In this volume, all facets of research pertaining to security and subjective well-being (SWB) are discussed, including among others: Objective and subjective measures of security; Multiple security dimensions; The relationship between security and SWB and possible mediators and moderators; Cultural and religious influences on security and SWB; Present and future security; Perceptions of crime in cities and regions and development of relevant indicators; Security in a globalized era and its relationship to SWB; Security, major events and SWB

Assessing Well-Being

Assessing Well-Being
Author: Ed Diener
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 280
Release: 2009-06-04
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 9048123542

The Sandvik, Diener, and Seidlitz (1993) paper is another that has received widespread attention because it documented the fact that self-report well-being scales correlate with a number of other methods of measuring the same concepts, such as with reports by knowledgeable “informants” (family and friends), expe- ence sampling measurement, and the memory for good versus bad life events. A single factor was found to underlie measures using different methods, and a n- ber of different well-being self-report measures were found to correlate with the non-self-report measures. Thus, although the self-report measures of well-being are imperfect, and can be in uenced by response artifacts, they have substantial validity as shown by their correlations with measurements based on alternative methods. Whereas the Pavot and Diener article reviewed the Satisfaction with Life Scale, the Lucas, Diener, and Larsen (2003) paper reviews various approaches to assessing positive emotions. As we wrote in the chapter in this volume in which we present new measures, we do not consider any of the existing measures of positive affect to be entirely acceptable for measuring subjective well-being in the affect area, and that is why we have created and validated a new measure.

Quality-of-Life Community Indicators for Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management

Quality-of-Life Community Indicators for Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management
Author: Megha Budruk
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 239
Release: 2010-11-25
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9048198615

While community quality-of-life indicators are gaining much needed attention in both scholarly work and practice, their application in the areas of parks, recreation and tourism management are not as well known. The applicability of indicator systems for natural resource and natural resource area management within the parks and recreation arena is very high, including urban parks and recreation programs and their influence on quality of life. Tourism is also an area that needs much more work in terms of assessing impacts as well as developing indicators for gauging progress in the long term. All three areas are an integrated discipline and most programs throughout the developed world are housed co-jointly. There are several researchers across the globe who are conducting innovative work in these areas. The editors feel that a volume on the topic will spur additional interests as well as serve to lead the research efforts.

Qualitative Indicators of Labour Standards

Qualitative Indicators of Labour Standards
Author: David Kucera
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 297
Release: 2007-03-11
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 140205310X

Recent years have witnessed a rapidly growing interest in the use and construction of "qualitative" indicators of labour standards. This volume results from a seminar that was organized to address these and related questions. The contributions offer a unique comparative critique of the progress toward standards. Contributors include academic experts as well as lawyers, social scientists and NGO experts who have done significant work on labour standards.