ISQOLS News

Launching the Estes Weighted Index of Social Progress on MIQOLS website

(Estes WISP; http://www.miqols.org/toolbox/isp.html)

The Management Institute for Quality-of-Life Studies (MIQOLS) is pleased to announce the launch of the Weighted Index of Social Progress (WISP). The WISP is a quality-of-life metric innovation of Professor Richard J. Estes, Professor Emeritus of Social Work and Policy at the University of Pennsylvania (USA). Professor Estes has developed the WISP in the 1970s and has reported the quality of life on many countries and world regions since (from 1970s up to 2018) (see references to his publications regarding the WISP in http://www.miqols.org/toolbox/isp.html (click Show Sources).

Specifically, Professor Estes’ WISP is a composite index of quality of life at the country level. That is, the WISP index captures quality of life of the vast majority of the countries (countries that maintains social indicators data). The WISP consists of an overall composite score of each country (shown as an actual score varying from 0 to 100, ranks, and standard deviation from the mean). The overall index is made up of 10 subindices: education, health, women status, defense effort, economic, demography, environmental, social chaos, cultural cohesion, and welfare effort.

The Education Subindex is made up of four indicators: (1) Public Expenditures on Education as Percentage of GDP (+; i.e., the positive sign indicates that the higher the score the higher the quality of life); (2) Primary School Completion Rate (+); (3) Secondary School Net Enrollment Rate (+); and (4) Adult Literacy Rate (+).

The Health Subindex consists of six indicators: (1) Life Expectation at Birth (+); (2) Infant Mortality Rate (-; i.e., the negative sign indicates that the higher the score the lower the quality of life); (3) Under-Five Child Mortality Rate (-); (4) Physician Per 100,000 Population (+); Percent of Population Undernourished (-); and (6) Public Expenditure on Health as Percentage of GDP (+).

The Women Status Subindex consists of five indicators: (1) Female Adult Literacy as Percentage of Male Literacy (+); (2) Contraceptive Prevalence among Married Women (+); (3) Maternal Mortality Rate (-); (4) Female Secondary School Enrollment as Percentage of Male Enrollment (+); and (5) Seats in Parliament Held by Women as Percentage of Total (+).

The Defense Effort Subindex consists of one indicator, namely Military Expenditures as Percentage of GDP (-).

The Economic Subindex consists five indicators: (1) Per Capita Gross National Income as Measured by PPP (+); (2) Percent Growth in GDP (+); (3) Unemployment Rate (-); (4) Total External Debt as Percentage of GDP (-); and (6) GINI Index Score (-).

The Demography Subindex comprise three indicators: (1) Average Annual Rate of Population Growth (-); (2) Percent of Population Aged < 15 years (-); (3) Percent of Population Aged > 64 Years (+).

The Environmental Subindex has three indicators: (1) Percentage of Nationally Protected Area (+); (2) Average Annual Number of Disaster-Related Death (-); and (3) Per Capita Metric Tons of Carbon-Dioxide Emissions (-).

The Social Chaos Subindex has six indicators: (1) Violations of Political Rights (-); (2) Violations of Civil Liberties (-); (3) Number of Internally Displaced Persons Per 100,000 Population (-); (4) Number of Externally Displaced Person Per 100,000 Population (-); (5) Estimated Number of Deaths from Armed Conflicts (-); and (6) Perceived Corruption Index (-).

 The Cultural Cohesion Subindex has three indicators: (1) Largest Percentage of Population Sharing the Same or Similar Racial/Ethnic Origins (+); (2) Largest Percentage of Population Sharing the Same or Similar Religious Beliefs (+); and (3) Largest Share of Population Sharing the Same Mother Tongue (+).

Finally, the Welfare Effort Subindex has five indicators: (1) Age First National Laws-Old Age, Invalidity & Death (+), (2) Age First National Laws-Sickness & Maternity (+); (3) Age First National Laws-Work Injury (+); (4) Age First National Laws-Unemployment (+); (5) Age First National Laws-Family Allowance (+).

Please visit the WISP metric on MIQOLS’ website at http://www.miqols.org/toolbox/isp.html and start using it for research and to guide public policy decisions at the national and international levels.

http://www.miqols.org/toolbox/isp.html

Congrats to ISQOLS Member, Wolfgang Glatzer on his new book: "History and Politics of Well-Being in Europe"

This book presents a reconstruction of the history of well-being on the European continent with special attention to the European Union, as people from Europe have a history of a long-term march towards well-being. It discusses ancient civilizations on the European continent, which have contributed significantly to the features of well-being in contemporary Europe. 

Click to read more...

Congratulations ISQOLS member,Carol Graham & her co-authors on the publication of their article in Science Magazine Online! "Well-being in metrics and policy" Click to read the full article:

https://bit.ly/2AOjDoA 

#Wellbeing#policy #QualityofLife

The International Society for Quality of Life Studies (ISQOLS) calls for nominations for the “2019 ISQOLS Prize for the Best Dissertation on Quality-of-Life, Well-being, and Happiness.” The deadline for nominations is December 31^st, 2018 (31/12/2018).

The aim of the prize is to promote the activity of young researchers working on quality-of-life, happiness, and well-being issues. All dissertations that have been successfully defended during the two calendar years prior to the award deadline are eligible for consideration. Resubmissions of unsuccessful nominations from prior years are welcome, as long as the dissertation defense date remains within the period of eligibility. Dissertations must be written in English.

The member student’s advisor or the scholar most familiar with the student's research must send the nomination. Nominations must be sent via email to office@isqols.org with the title “Dissertation Award Nomination” in the subject line. The deadline for the submission is December 31^st, 2018 (31/12/2018).

 

The nomination letter should be written in English and it should include the following information:

• The title and abstract of the dissertation;
• The name of the candidate;
• The name of the candidate’s primary advisor;
• The name of the institution where the dissertation was defended;
• The date of the dissertation defense;
• A two page summary of the significance of the dissertation research. Nominations should explain the precise nature and merits of the work.
• An electronic copy of the full dissertation in Word or .pdf format;
• A list of publications produced from the dissertation work.

 

ISQOLS awards the best dissertation with a lump sum of $1,500 USD, one-year free membership to ISQOLS, one-year free access to the journal Applied Research in Quality of Life Studies, and free registration to the 17th ISQOLS conference that will be held in Granada (Spain) from the 4th to the 7th of September 2019.

 

To further promote the research on quality-of-life, well-being, and happiness, ISQOLS may award up to five second best candidates who will receive a lump sum of $300 USD, one-year free membership to ISQOLS, one-year free access to the journal Applied Research in Quality of Life Studies, and free registration to the 17th ISQOLS conference.

 

The submissions will be reviewed by a committee chaired by ISQOLS’s Vice-President of Academic Affairs.

 

Successful candidates will receive their prizes at the concluding ceremony of the 17th ISQOLS conference. They are expected to present a summary of their work during a special session of the conference. Successful candidates are also expected to acknowledge ISQOLS in their publication.

 

Winners will be notified by March 30^th, 2019.

If you use data to improve community conditions, join us Sept. 17 & 18 in Minneapolis at the 2018 Impact Summit. Our focus is on making data accessible, credible and actionable with and for the community.  The 2018 Impact Summit boasts some of the field’s most influential presenters, panels and interactive workshops in a forum designed to be conducive to the sharing of ideas, learning of new concepts and meeting new connections. Concurrent tracks will discuss Data tools, Data to action, Measuring, Engaging the community, Sustaining your work.

Attendees are program managers, data analysts, communications folks, researchers and students from nonprofits and foundations, research institutions and consulting firms, government and academia.  More information: http://communityindicators.net/conferences/2018-impact-summit/

Note that we are still accepting sponsors and exhibitors as well:  http://communityindicators.net/conferences/2018-impact-summit/2018sponsors/