Measuring Well-being October 2011 OSI Education Programme workshop Charles Seaford Head of the Centre for Well-being, new economics foundation

Overview of presentation  The case for measuring well-being  The process of measuring well-being  Analysing well-being data  Examples of measuring well-being

Why should we measure well- being? ‘What gets measured gets done’ – Improve projects and services. – Evaluate the impact of a project or service on people’s lives. – Target projects and services at those most in need. – Inform policy and political decisions

To capture well-being we must measure flourishing & its drivers Personal Resources e.g. health, resilience, optimism, self-esteem, Good functioning and satisfaction of needs e.g. to be autonomous, competent, safe and secure, connected to others External Conditions e.g. material conditions, work and productivity, income (levels and stability) Good feelings day-to-day and overall e.g. happiness, joy, contentment Flourishing Drivers

To measure flourishing we need data on feelings and functioning Good functioning and satisfaction of needs e.g. to be autonomous, competent, safe and secure, connected to others Good feelings day-to-day and overall e.g. happiness, joy, contentment

Measurement of flourishing tends to be based on: Individuals – individuals are the unit of measurement Subjective indicators – people’s self- reported feelings and experiences provide the data

There are many tools used to measure well-being, for example: SWEMWBS (Short Warwick & Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Survey) –This has been validated for use in the UK UK ONS questions –These are currently being trialled by the UK government Many other instruments Creative techniques

The SWEMWBS…  Was developed by Warwick and Edinburgh Universities in 2006  Is a scale of 7 positively worded items with 5 response categories  Is used for measuring people’s wellbeing at two or more points in time in order to see changes over time  This would usually be before and after a project or intervention of some kind.

SWEMWBS STATEMENTS None of the time Rarely Some of the time Often All of the time I’ve been feeling optimistic about the future I’ve been feeling useful12345 I’ve been feeling relaxed12345 I’ve been dealing with problems well12345 I’ve been thinking clearly12345 I’ve been feeling close to other people12345 I’ve been able to make up my own mind about things 12345

The UK ONS ‘subjective well- being’ questions…  Have been trialled in the UK from 2011  Are a set of 4 questions with a response scale of 0-10  Are used to help build a national picture of well-being in the UK  Can be used by projects to compare project data with the national picture of well-being in the UK

UK ONS questions QUESTIONS Overall, how satisfied are you with your life nowadays? Overall, how happy did you feel yesterday? Overall, how anxious did you feel yesterday? Overall, to what extent do you feel the things you do in your life are worthwhile?

There are other instruments for measuring well-being  Psychological Needs Scales – A family of self-report measures, one general (21 items), one work-related, one relationship-focused, with 7 response categories – Based on SDT, concerns the 3 universal psychological needs for competence, autonomy and relatedness  Positive and Negative Affect Schedule – 20 item self-report measure, with 5 response categories

There are ways of being creative in well-being measurement  Thermometer Ranking – For example to measure levels of happiness before and after an event

There are ways of being creative in well-being measurement  Thermometer Ranking – For example to measure levels of happiness before and after an event

And others…  Smiley Face ranking – Projects select the scale, appropriate labels and corresponding faces, for example: UnhappyHappyVery happy

And others still…  Ladder ranking – Here, people would mark their responses to a given question against the most appropriate rung of a ladder:

Those measuring well-being also collect additional information…  Such as data on people’s: Gender Age Ethnicity Self-reported physical health Income Employment status Education level Housing type

…Which allows them to explore the drivers of well-being Personal Resources e.g. health, resilience, optimism, self-esteem, External Conditions e.g. material conditions, work and productivity, income (levels and stability)

There are other issues to consider when planning a well-being survey  Such as – Sample size – Mode of data collection – Timing of data collection – Who will do the data collection – Question order

Analysing well-being data entails knowing what you want to know  This might be: – What the overall levels of well-being are in your sample This knowledge can help determine needs This entails descriptive analysis – Whether there is a change over time in wellbeing levels of your sample This knowledge can help assess the impact of a project This entails longitudinal analysis – What the broader potential drivers of wellbeing are for your sample This knowledge can help to determine which policy areas to try and inform This entails regression analysis

There are many examples of good practice in measuring well-being  For example: – The UK Big Lottery Fund (BIG) – The Children’s Society (TCS)

BIG evaluates projects to assess their impact and improve them  Biggest distributor of lottery funds in the UK and largest non- government funder of UK voluntary sector.  Standardised questionnaires for self-reporting by project beneficiaries. – Questionnaires consider well-being assets, mental health, healthy eating, physical activity and social well-being.  Questionnaires completed at three points: – T1, when people first visit a project, T2, when they leave a project and T3, three months after they have finished a project. This helps assess changes over time and potential for the sustainability of behaviour change.

BIG found that…  For example, – Well-being helps sustain behaviour change: Improvements in physical activity behaviour between T1 and T3 appear to be dependent on good levels of mental health and well- being assets at T2. This helps to make the case for ensuring that BIG funded projects work to improve beneficiaries’ mental health and increase well- being assets in order to sustain other improvements.

TCS measures well-being to decide policy focal areas & evaluate projects  UK charity that helps children and young people through programme and service delivery, research and lobbying.  A number of initiatives to measure children’s well-being, each informed by the perspectives of young people. – 2005 research into what young people think makes a good life, through BHPS. This formed organising framework for: – 2008 first survey into children’s well-being, in primary and secondary schools, with self-report questions around self, relationships, environments & psychological well-being. This led to development of: – 2010 the Good Childhood Index, to measure national trends and variations in children’s well-being and for project evaluation.

TCS found that:  For example, – The amount of choice children have in life is a key factor explaining differences in well-being. This has implications for policy recommendations and project design/ delivery: – It is worthwhile focusing on policy areas where children’s choices can be maximised (e.g. education policy) – It is worthwhile designing and delivering projects with a view to maximising young people’s choices

Thank you