Quality of Life: Defining and Applying the Ordinal Ranking Methodology Patrick H. Buckley Professor, Geography Huxley Environmental College Western Washington University Bellingham, WA, USA patrick@wwu.edu

Talk Outline QUALITY OF LIFE [QOL] WHAT IS QOL HOW TO MEASURE QOL YOU DO IT: HANDS-ON CONCLUDING REMARKS

Part 1 WHAT IS QOL

WHAT IS QUALITY OF LIFE Define QOL List Applications Discuss Geographic or Spatial Scale View Examples

QOL Definition QOL: Sense of Satisfaction (Happiness, Pleasure, Well Being…) with the Environment in which a group lives Implies that the Goods and Services and Social Constructs available in an environment create the feeling of satisfaction The lack of these and/or the existence of Bads indicates a lower quality of life then desired

QOL High High quality of life includes Access to Goods, Services and Participation: Food, Clothing, Housing Education Opportunities for Social Participation Political Empowerment Social and Economic Equality Security

QOL Low Low Quality of Life implies Shortages of Goods, Inadequate Services, and Alienation: Hungry, Cold, Wet Uneducated Discrimination and Inequality Powerless and Underemployed Fear, Anger, Despair

QOL and Development Higher Development Generally Higher Economic Development has lead to Higher QOL However, Economic Development can also lead to new stresses in an environment and dissatisfaction Examples: Pollution: Air, Water, Noise Crowding and Social Disorder Alienation, Crime and Fear Terrorism

QOL History QOL Studies originated in 1930s: Since the 1930s, researchers from many fields have investigated and measured the quality of life (QOL) in various geographic areas (Wish, 1986)

QOL and Globalization QOL has been a topic of growing concern globally: Morris D. Morris (1979) has developed a useful statistic, called the Physical Quality of Life Index (POLI), for measuring the relative performances of economies in differing economic systems.

QOL and Globalization continued POLI is a composite index that combines 3 commonly collected measures of social welfare: 1. infant mortality rates, 2. life expectancy at age one, and 3. literacy percentage rates. These measures are statistics by which countries judge the basic health and life chances of their residents. (Stuart, 1984)

Focus of Studies Today Include Private Sector Marketing Real Estate Internet Resource Management Public Sector Education Facility Management Policy and Planning Environment Other Best Places, Schools, Locations Aging Population Children

Geographically Studies are preformed at various scales Globally: Country Continent Environmental region Nationally: Prefecture State County Locally: Neighborhood Ward Block

QOL Examples From WWW ASIAWEEK.com: Asia’s Best Cities http://www.asiaweek.com/asiaweek/features/asiacities2000/ Children’s Rights Council: Best US State to Raise a Child http://www.vix.com/crc/bestStates98.html#ranking Save the Children: Mother’s Index and Country Rating http://www.savethechildren.org/worldsmothers00/tablepage.shtml

Part 2 HOW TO MEASURE QOL

HOW TO MEASURE QOL Overview Variables Cultural Milieu Measurement Methods and Scale Ordinal Ranking Example

QOL Measurement Overview QOL is considered to be Multi-Dimensional Involves numerous variables Within a cultural/psychological milieu Numerous Methodologies are available for combining these variables Ordinal Ranking, Factor Analysis, Non-Metric Clustering… Geographic or Spatial Scale (aggregation, disaggregation) can greatly effect local results City block specific to single value for entire country

Variables Based on Objective of the Study (Asia’s Best Cities has data related to urban life) Can be biased by organization performing study and selecting the variables (Asiaweek focuses on business interests) Influenced by secondary data already collected and available (government statistics and census data popular)

Best Place in US to Raise Children Variables Example Best Place in US to Raise Children

Variables Example, continued Best Place in US to Raise Children Objective: Find safest places for children Bias: Political organization that emphasizes children’s legal rights and government intervention Data: All secondary, mainly emphasizes public health, income, crime, and deviant behavior. No new data.

Cultural Milieu Satisfaction is defined in cultural terms Example: Consider the Arctic Eskimos think of food like polar bears, seals, and fish Sportsmen think of adventure and recreation High fashion models think of fur coats Oil Companies think of petroleum reserves Tourists think of landscapes & quaint natives

Modeling Methodologies Ordinal Ranking -- most popular, creates a technique for normalizing and summing together a variety of variables Factor Analysis -- also popular, a sophisticated statistical technique to cluster and order multiple variables Other clustering or additive techniques also used

ORDINAL RANKING PROCEDURE Describe Modeling Technique Show Example Perform a “hands-on” exercise

Steps After Defining the Goal of the Study: 1. Select Geographic Places/Scale to be Ranked 2. Select Variables used to study the Places 3. Assign measures of value to each Variable 4. Determine utility functions for each Variable and replace Variable measure with corresponding utility measure

Steps continued 5. Rank Variables, highest to lowest 6. Give relative weights to adjacent Variables 7. Calculate absolute weights for entire system 8. Create weighted utility table 9. Rank the Places

Purpose: Example Study Upon Graduation, Select the best cities to start your career Best city should have: Good Market Good business climate Good work force Strong Community Spirit

1.Select Geographic Places to be Ranked

Translating Ideas into Variables: 2.Select Variables used to study the Places Translating Ideas into Variables: Good Market People Have Jobs = Low Unemployment People Have Money = High Income Good Business Climate Costs are Low = Low Housing Cost Good Work Force People are Talented = Highly Educated Strong Community Spirit People work together well = Many Volunteers

2.Select Variables used to study the Places, continued

3.Assign measures of value to each Variable

3.Assign measures of value to each Variable, continued

Need to Create Measurement System Common to All Variables 4. Determine utility functions for each Variable and replace Variable measure with corresponding utility measure Need to Create Measurement System Common to All Variables Problem Not all variables measured in same units Example Unemployment is in % and Income is in $ Solution Translate all variables into “utils” or units of utility

Utility Conversion Equations For a GOOD Uvi = (Xvi - MINv)/ (MAXv - MINv) Notation: Xvi = Variable v measured in units for place i MAXv = Maximum value of variable v MINv = Minimum value of variable v Uvi = Variable v measured in "utils" for place i v = subscript representing all variables i = subscript representing all places

Utility Conversion Equations, continued For a BAD Uvi = (MAXv - Xvi)/ (MAXv - MINv)

Utility Conversions

5. Rank Variables most important to least Most important Variable Ranked first, next most important ranked second, next third, until all included

6. Give relative weights to adjacent Variables Indicate how much more important two adjacently ranked variables are, always >1 Lowest variable assigned weight of one

7. Calculate absolute weights for entire system Absolute Weights indicate the over-all impact of a variable to the model Note that the highest ranking variable has the greatest weight

7. Calculate absolute weights for entire system Actual Calculations

8. Create weighted utility table and sum results Multiply Utility Measures by Absolute Weights, result is Weighted Utility Sum Weighted Utility to Determine QOL for a place

9. Rank the Places

Part 3 YOU DO IT: HANDS-ON

YOU DO IT: HANDS-ON United Nations Data Build Modified Human Development Index [HDI] Investigate Results Look at Mapped Results

Part 4 CONCLUDING REMARKS

CONCLUDING REMARKS Means for greater understanding Value of Geographic or Spatial Display of results Study Objective highly effects results Where to go from here

Means for greater understanding Demonstrates Best Locations and Regions Also Indicates Lagging Places that require Increased Attention

Value of Geographic or Spatial Display of results Some Patterns are best understood through geographic display Note the Low QOL Cluster Centered on Central Africa and South Asia

Study Objective highly effects results By Moving from QOL to the Difference between QOL Rank and Real GDP per Capita Rank, Patterns begin to alter That is given potential to improve a nations QOL how well is this occurring

Comparison of QOL and the Differences in Rank between potential for QOL based on Income and the Results based on combination of income, education, and average maximum age (Human Development Index). Note the pronounced shift in Northern Africa and Western Asia.

Where to go from here Techniques well developed Need to focus our objectives more carefully Need to develop a better understanding of relationships of objectives to possible variables Need to move away from secondary data Need to use Geographic tools more often