A Model to Measure Inequalities and Quality of Life.

This presentation discusses the development of a model to measure quality of life and different forms of inequalities of young people. Our conceptual framework and domains produced a survey for which a questionnaire was consistently constructed to measure inequalities and quality of life by incorporating indicators that respect social, political, economic, religious, and cultural diversities. According to Estes (2005, p. 3) social indicators are  direct measures of phenomena which they purport to measure  and  indirectly measure other, ever more complex, phenomena that cannot be measured directly, or at least cannot easily be measured directly. Traditionally  indicators have been presented as isolated from their socio-historical context of development. Nevertheless, in the last decades, there has been a tendency towards the construction of indicators, by region, generating an outlook that may integrate economic-political-cultural-social aspects. In this case, the instrument is organized in specific dimensions and contains socio-demographic variables, to measure inequalities and quality of life. The core outputs are new, non-traditional quality of life and inequalities indicators which can be applied to other populations, and in other geographical areas. Finally it presents the possibility of using method integration in the field of research on inequalities and quality of life  which requires that the researcher should articulate the data obtained through qualitative and quantitative means, and produce an integrated analysis of the said data. This conceptual and genealogical exposition shows a possible way in which a theoretical focus on quality of life can be related to the study of inequalities, taking into consideration the outlook on human capabilities proposed by Sen (2000). 

References:

Estes, R. (2005) Global change and indicators of social development . Departmental Papers (SPP) School of Social Policy and Practice. University of Pennsylvania.

Sen, A. (2000). Desarrollo y Libertad. Bogotá. Editorial Planeta.