Handbook On Constructing Composite Indicators

A guide for constructing and using composite indicators for policy makers, academics, the media and other interested parties. In particular, this handbook is concerned with indicators which compare and rank country performance.

A guide for constructing and using composite indicators for policy makers, academics, the media and other interested parties. In particular, this handbook is concerned with indicators which compare and rank country performance.

Il libro descrive e affronta alcune questioni tutt’ora aperte nel campo della costruzione di indicatori compositi. Si propone come complemento a riferimenti consolidati quali OECD handbook of composite indicators, e approfondisce temi che saranno certo oggetto di ampio sviluppo nel prossimo futuro, soprattutto nell’ambito degli indicatori di benessere e progresso umano. La prima parte del libro illustra lo stato dell’arte delle metodologie per la costruzione di indicatori compositi mentre la seconda parte affronta specifici nodi critici piu’ recenti. Il libro fornisce strumenti utili sia a ricercatori con una conoscenza limitata degli indicatori compositi, che a studiosi interessati ad un aggiornamento su temi più avanzati.

Leading, composite and sentiment indicators offer a powerful way of communication of statistical information and reaching out to users of statistics. The indicators can provide relevant and timely information on aspects of the economy and the social society that are not covered by other statistics. They can also provide information on complex phenomena in simple and condensed form, for instance on the current or expected economic development or on the well-being or sense of happiness of the citizens. These Guidelines provide guidance to statistical offices on their possible roles in developing and producing leading, composite and sentiment indicators and give practical and operational guidance to statistical offices that produce or consider producing these indicators. Existing examples of good practice are also referenced.

Perceiving complex multidimensional problems has proven to be a difficult task for people to overcome. However, introducing composite indicators into such problems allows the opportunity to reduce the problem's complexity. Emerging Trends in the Development and Application of Composite Indicators is an authoritative reference source for the latest scholarly research on the benefits and challenges presented by building composite indicators, and how these techniques promote optimized critical thinking. Highlighting various indicator types and quantitative methods, this book is ideally designed for developers, researchers, public officials, and upper-level students.

This volume discusses the many recent significant developments, and identifies important problems, in the field of social indicators. In the last ten years the methodology of multivariate analysis and synthetic indicators construction significantly developed. In particular, starting from the classical theory of composite indicators many interesting approaches have been developed to overcome the weaknesses of composites. This volume focuses on these recent developments in synthesizing indicators, and more generally, in quantifying complex phenomena.

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.