Handling incomplete Quality-of-Life Data

Incomplete data sets are often encountered in theanalysis of quality-of-life (QOL) data. The incompleteness arisesfrom two major sources, namely, missing responses and artificialquantification of response categories. Shen and Lai (1998a)propose using Optimal Scaling (OS) to tackle the problem. The OSmethod based on numerical iterative approach attempts to restorethe continuous property of the measurements and provide estimatesfor missing responses. However, the OS leads to convergenceproblem when there are many missing values in the data set; andit incorporates no mechanisms to provide the standard errors ofthe mean estimates when missing values are filled. Hot-deckimputation is therefore suggested. This paper presents asimulation study to show that the random hot-deck imputationyields reasonable estimates for the population mean and generallypreserves the distribution of the population. In addition, whenapplying the random hot-deck imputation, valid estimates for thestandard error of the mean estimate can be obtained using thevariance formula due to Lai (1998). With hot-deck imputationtaking care of the missing responses and OS quantifying theresponse categories, it is postulated that the problem of dataincompleteness can be more satisfactorily handled. By applyingthe proposed techniques to real survey data, this paper alsopresents the change of the QOL of Hong Kong residents in the lastdecade leading to the turning point of the metropolis in 1997.     

Socioeconomic Indicators for Analyzing Convergence: The Case of Greece: 1960–2004

The purpose of this paper is to use socioeconomic indicators for analyzing convergence within Greece at regional (NUTS II) and prefecture levels (NUTS III) since 1960. We use two alternative approaches. The first one is based on the coefficient of variation and the second one on quality of life rankings. We confirm the decline of regional inequalities in Greece, with the exclusion of the 1980s. Regions with increased tourist and trade activity are also regions with high quality of life. Border regions are usually the laggards of social and economic development.

Formative Indicators and Effects of a Causal Model for Household Human Capital with Application

Dagum and Slottje (2000) estimated household human capital (HC) as a latent variable (LV) and proposed its monetary estimation by means of an actuarial approach. This paper introduces an improved method for the estimation of household HC as an LV by means of formative and reflective indicators in agreement with the accepted economic definition of HC. The monetary value of HC is used in a recursive causal model to obtain short- and long-term multipliers that measure the direct and total effects of the variables that determine household HC. The new method is applied to estimate US household HC for year 2004.     

区域林业经济评价的指标设计与GIS应用——以陕西秦岭地区经济调查为例

林业经济的数据信息和研究对象所处的地理位置有着密切联系，而且具有时间的变化。运用GIS技术能对林业经济信息进行时间维、空间维的分析和比较，通过对空间数据的操作和管理实现查询检索、形态分析、叠置分析、邻域分析、图像分析、应用模型分等功能。该文为利用GIS分析区域经济问题提供了新思路。     

Measuring Changes in Family Wellbeing in New Zealand 1981–2001

Since the mid-1980s, New Zealand has experienced extensive economic, social and political reforms. The economic impact of these changes has been closely monitored and much commented upon. However, the social impacts of the reforms on different family types are less well understood. This paper outlines a project designed to monitor how the reforms impacted upon specific family types via the use of indicators of family wellbeing constructed from census data. These indicators show that for a range of family types, the reforms of the 1980s and 1990s varied in their impact, with single-parent families faring worst.

陕西省城镇化健康发展研究及政策建议

促进城镇化健康发展是当前国内学术界比较关注的问题。以城镇化适宜度指标、城镇化初始动力指标、城镇化后续动力指标、城镇竞争力水平指标、城镇现代化水平指标五个方面的评价指标体系对城镇化健康发展进行评价，根据陕西省的有关统计资料，通过因子分析和聚类分析，将2005年陕西省城镇化健康发展的水平划分为四类，指出其发展的特点，并就存在的问题提出应分别采取低成本领先战略、差异化战略、突出重点战略等政策建议。     

建立科技社团公信力评价指标体系的若干思考

建立科技社团公信力指标体系,需要澄清几个方面的问题：包括科技社团、科技社团的特点、公信力的界定等,而这些问题的讨论旨在通过将定性指标和定量指标有机地结合起来,以建立科技社团公信力指标体系。     

Measuring What Matters: Achieving Consensus on a Positive Aging Indicator Set For Ireland

The objective of this study was to measure consensus among expert stakeholders on a set of positive aging outcome indicators in Ireland. Stakeholders from academic, public, and voluntary sectors and older people participated in a 3-round, online Delphi study to evaluate indicators for participation, security, healthy aging, attitudes to aging, and information access. Evaluation criteria included: acceptability, utility, accessibility, ranking, and balance and coherence. Consensus was achieved on 56 key indicators that are aligned with action areas in the National Positive Ageing Strategy. These indicators will be reported on a biannual basis to monitor progress in positive aging in Ireland.     

Using a balanced set of measures to focus on long-term competency in internal communication

To advance our knowledge on measurement efforts in internal communication, this paper presented the findings from two research projects related to how we can measure the effectiveness of organizations’ internal communication initiatives and their contributions to organizations’ business performance. Integrated findings from in-depth interviews and a content analysis suggested that although limited financial metrics have been applied to the evaluation process, traditional measurement approaches such as feedback survey, focus group, and qualitative analysis have been widely used. Measurement efforts in employee communication have been largely focusing on employee participation, engagement, satisfaction, and productivity. The paper was concluded with suggested implications for corporate communication measurement challenges.     

European Scientific Socio-Economic Reporting: State and Possibilities of Development

This paper proposes a European socio-economic reporting system, consisting of different elements and constructed in a modular form. The main idea is to monitor the process of welfare production, conceived in the form of an input-throughput-output model. Actors of welfare production generate inputs, these are mediated and filtered by institutional arrangements and finally determine the outcomes, that is the individual welfare. For all of the three parts of the welfare production model available data sources, social reports, social surveys, databases with institutional information etc. are reviewed and analyzed with respect to their use for the monitoring of welfare production. The paper is divided into five sections: first, the state of socio-economic reporting is outlined; second, the use of the available material is discussed; third, new approaches and instruments in socio-economic reporting are described; fourth, a scenario of European socio-economic reporting is outlined; and fifth, the steps needed for implementation are delineated.