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

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

3. Part 1
WHAT IS QOL

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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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)

10. 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.

11. 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)

12. 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

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

14. QOL Examples From WWW
ASIAWEEK.com: Asia’s Best Cities
Children’s Rights Council: Best US State to Raise a Child
Save the Children: Mother’s Index and Country Rating

19. Part 2
HOW TO MEASURE QOL

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

21. 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

22. 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)

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

24. 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.

25. 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

26. 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

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

28. 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

29. 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

30. 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

31. 1.Select Geographic Places to be Ranked

32. 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

33. 2.Select Variables used to study the Places, continued

34. 3.Assign measures of value to each Variable

35. 3.Assign measures of value to each Variable, continued

36. 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

37. 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

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

39. Utility Conversions

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

43. 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

44. 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

45. 7. Calculate absolute weights for entire system
Actual Calculations

46. 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

48. 9. Rank the Places

49. Part 3
YOU DO IT: HANDS-ON

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

51. Part 4
CONCLUDING REMARKS

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

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

54. 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

56. 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

58. 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.

59. 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