Quality of Life Indicators

Two types of survey measures fall under the quality of life domain. The first is psychological measures used to assess satisfaction in response to a life situation, typically an individual-level measure of quality of life in the context of the mental health of persons living with chronic health diseases. The second is a social indicator, designed to assess life quality for the purpose of creating aggregated indices for making systemic comparisons. Though the former has received a higher volume of research, the latter is more central to public opinion research.

Assessing the well-being of individuals and communities may be one of the most important contributions public opinion researchers can make. By providing benchmarks, researchers can elucidate the antecedents and consequences of individual life satisfaction as well ...