Along with the development of concept of quality of life, international organizations and nations have also studied and developed systems of indicators measuring quality of life, satisfa
Trang 11
INTRODUCTION
1 Reasons for choosing theme
Quality of Life and improving the quality of people’s life are key
contents in the human development strategy This objective is put at the
forefront in the socio-economic development strategy of every nation and
gets much attention from many countries in the world as well as Viet Nam
In the last years, on the basis of the previous studies on quality of life
of scholars worldwide, many international organizations and countries have
raised different viewpoints and concepts on quality of life, depending on
the extent of development, socio - cultural notions, and traditions of each
nation and region Along with the development of concept of quality of life,
international organizations and nations have also studied and developed
systems of indicators measuring quality of life, satisfaction and well-being
with life On the basis of these indicators, international organizations and
nations have calculated composite index in order to evaluate quality of
people’s life, changes in quality of life over time or compare among
nations, regions, or inhabitant communities
However, such academic researches on this theme are relatively
limited in Viet Nam The quality of life of Viet Nam is just only
internationally evaluated and compared in the aspect of the world At
national level, we just standstill at discussions, exchanges of concept but do
not clarify rationale or background of constituting concept Some other
researches only consider partly quality of life as satisfaction with life or
measurement of quality of life of each specific group such as children,
elderly persons in the aspect of psychology, health, etc The concept itself
and insight of concept of quality of life in Viet Nam are not currently
apparent Indicators measuring quality of life are dispersed and
unsystematic, so it hardly evaluates comprehensively quality of life This is
a research gap in the quality of life in Viet Nam
Having originated from practical basis in term of existing policy and
research gap, it is absolutely necessary to carry out the thesis “Method of
developing and calculating composite index to measuring the quality of life
2
2 Research purpose
Research purpose of the thesis is to develop a system of statistical indicators measuring quality of life and calculation method of quality of life index on the basis of determining concept framework of quality of life in order to serve for the work of socio-economic macro management and activity of comparability and assessment of quality of life in Viet Nam
To obtain the aforementioned purposes, the thesis must answer the following research questions:
- Which direction should the study on quality of life in Viet Nam
be implemented?
- How is the concept of quality of life in Viet Nam understood? Which components does structure of concept of quality of life include?
- How is system of statistical indicators measuring quality of life
in Viet Nam developed and which indicators are included?
- Which methodology is quality of life index developed by? How are weights and method of aggregation determined?
3 Subjects and research scope
Objects and research coverage of the thesis are quality of life in Viet Nam, system of statistical indicators measuring quality of life and composite index of quality of life in Viet Nam
However, quality of life is a huge research theme meanwhile data sources are limited, the thesis only focuses on measuring objective aspect but temporarily does not consider about measuring subjective aspect of quality of life
Data in 2016 will be collected to pilot calculate the composite index
of quality of life at national level
4 Research methodology
As quality of life is one of new issues that have not been much studied in Viet Nam, qualitative research methodology consisting of literature review and in-depth interview with experts are used throughout the research in order to study and find out issues such as research approach and measurement of quality of life, components of quality of life; system of
Trang 23
statistical indicators measuring quality of life; calculation method of
composite index; etc
In addition, to pilot calculate composite index of quality of life, the
thesis uses method of collecting secondary data from available sources;
method of collecting primary data by interviewing experts in order to
determine weights of component indices; method of processing and
analyzing data; method of comparison, assessment on the influence of the
components on quality of life in general in the study
5 New contributions of the thesis
The thesis has new theoretical knowledge contributions as follows:
- Rationale of the research and measuring concept of the quality of
life in Viet Nam, of which determining study approach and developing
theoretical framework on the quality of life including concept and structure
of the concept
- System of statistical indicators measuring quality of life in Viet Nam
- Methodology of building and calculating composite index of
quality of life in Viet Nam
- Additionally, the thesis also contributes to practical aspect when
pilot calculating composite index of quality of life in Viet Nam in 2016
This is a useful reference for making policies to improve quality of
people’s life
6 Thesis structure
Apart from Introduction and Conclusion, the thesis consists of 3
chapters:
Chapter 1 Theoretical basis on quality of life
Chapter 2 System of statistical indicators measuring quality of life in
Viet Nam
Chapter 3 Developing calculation method of quality of life index in
Viet Nam
4
CHAPTER 1 THEORETICAL BASIS ON QUALITY OF LIFE 1.1 General theoretical issues on quality of life
1.1.1 Research approaches to quality of life
Literature review shows that there are some approaches to determine the quality of life Initially, quality of life is evaluated by purely economic approach basing utility theory and through a unique indicator as GDP per capita However, this notion has been gradually changed since many theories mentioned quality of life as a multi-dimensional cross-sectoral concept
In the 1960s, there were two oppositely traditional approaches in measuring quality of life, i.e objective and subjective approaches Objective approach based on the resources focuses on measuring people’s objective circumstances Meanwhile, subjective approach based on utility theory is the measurement of subjective wellbeing In the 1970s, the utility theory was replaced by the basic needs approach The basic needs theory stated that quality of life was defined as the level of satisfaction of most members in the given society with the hierarchical needs (Sirgy, 1986) Capability approach to the quality of life was established in the 1980s and became popular in the 1990s According to Stiglitz et al (2009:42), “this approach conceives a person’s life as a combination of various ‘doings and beings’ (functioning) and of his or her freedom to choose among these functioning (capabilities)” This approach is considered to have covered both the objective approach based on resources and the basic needs approach At present, this approach is one of the most influential theories and is the premise for the Human Development Index, the Millennium Development Goals, and many other development issues at the global level
1.1.2 Some debates related to concept of quality of life
Due to heterogeneous approaches as well as personal perceptions, different concepts of the quality of life were mentioned but no widely accepted concept exists This leads to many debates related to concept of the quality of life and how to measure quality of life
However, in the social science researches, there were two approaches
Trang 35
objective or subjective approaches and concept of quality of life whether as
uni-dimension or multi-dimension and which dimensions are concerned
The objective measurements on quality of life are presented by
evaluating external living conditions while subjective measurements consider
personal assessments on those conditions According to Borthwick-Duffy
(1992) (quoted in Felce & Perry, 1995, 54), there are 3 perspectives on this
issue, including: (1) by objective approach, consider quality of life as quality
of living conditions; (2) by subjective approach, quality of life is considered
as satisfaction with life; (3) a combination of two subjective and objective
approaches in measuring quality of life based on conceding their strengths
and weaknesses Then, the quality of life is considered as a combination
between living conditions and satisfaction with life According to Cummins
(2000), Hagerty et al (2001), Costanza et al (2007), Stiglitz et al (2009),
etc, many researchers agree with the third perspective
In the viewpoint of social research, quality of life is an abstract concept,
accordingly it is often considered with different components (dimensions)
Nowaday, there is a high concurrence in considering quality of life as a
multi-dimensional concept (Cummins, 1997; Felce, 1997; Snoek, 2000; Hagerty et
all, 2001; …) Along with this concurrence, many researchers found out the
way to determine dimensions or components of quality of life However, they
still did not reach consistency on how many dimensions as well as which
dimensions they are (Alkire, 2008) Generally, three aspects of physical,
psychology and society are considered when studying quality of life
1.1.3 Some measurements of quality of life of international
organizations and nations worldwide
In the last years, on the basis of the previous studies on quality of life
of scholars worldwide, many international organizations and countries have
conducted different studies on measuring and assessing the changes in
quality of life among nations, cities, communities, etc
Accordingly, many composite indices measuring the quality of life
have been widely published such as United Nations’ World Happiness
index (WHI), Better Life Index of the Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development (OECD), Where-to-be-born index of the
6
Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), the Happy Planet Index (HPI) of the New Economics Foundation (NEF), etc
Not only international organizations but also many countries worldwide have studied, developed a system of indicators measuring quality of life and calculating composite index reflecting quality of life or similar concepts Many countries such as England, France, New Zealand, and Canada conducted periodical surveys to collect information for research on quality of life in their nations Some countries in the same region with Viet Nam have spent many years studying this theme such as Malaysia Quality of Life (MQL) of Malaysia, Green and Happiness Index (GHI) of Thailand, etc
The common point of these studies is that the majority of them evaluate quality of life in a multi-dimensional manner Rationale of concept and structure of the concept of quality of life or similar concepts are always determined on the basis of theoretical cornerstone or certain philosophies
In order to measure quality of life, depending on its construct, criteria of indicator selection and data collection ability, each research determines its certain indicators However, many researches combined considering objective and subjective indicators in measuring and assessing quality of life Of which, objective indicators often reflect people’s living conditions which are easily collected by different sources, particularly from available and official statistics sources The most discussed objective aspects in the assessment on quality of life include: economic conditions, housing conditions, education, health, environment, family life and community, people’s safety and participation The subjective indicators reflecting people’s perception of life are collected by social surveys
1.2 Theoretical framework on quality of life in Viet Nam
1.2.1 Socio-economic viewpoints and objectives in Viet Nam
In spite of existing many issues need solving, development perception of Viet Nam is comprehensive-oriented development for every aspect of socio-economic life, of which focusing on human rights guarantee; satisfying people’s needs for human development, improve quality of life The socio-economic development objectives of Viet Nam as
Trang 47
Article 3 of the Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam
2013 stated: “The State guarantees and promotes the people's mastery;
acknowledges, respects, and protects human rights and citizens’ rights;
implements the objectives of affluent people, powerful state, democracy,
justice, civilization, and that all people enjoy abundant, free, and happy life
and are given conditions for all-sided development”.
The socio - economic development strategy for the period of 2011- 2020
clearly states that commitment of Viet Nam Government: “Economic growth
should be combined with cultural development, implementation of social
advance and equality, continuous improvement of people’s life quality,…”.
1.2.2 Approaches to measuring quality of life in Viet Nam
From the aforementioned analysis, the author suggests that the
quality of life in Vietnam should be considered in the capability approach,
also known as human development approach (Cobb, 2000), in combination
with the subjective wellbeing approach This means that the quality of life
in Vietnam needs to be measured by both objective and subjective factors
This combination in the measurement of quality of life in Vietnam is both
methodological and in line with the general trend of the world All experts
who took part in the in-depth interview agree with this suggestion
1.2.3 Propose theoretical framework on quality of life in Viet Nam
With the aforementioned approaches, the quality of life in Viet Nam
is a multi-dimensional concept Of which, objective quality of life is
measured by socio-economic indicators in order to reflect at extent to what
the needs of people’s living conditions are met or can be met; subjective
quality of life is measured by the extent of happiness, wellbeing,
satisfaction or similar states of each individual Therefore, from the author's
point of view, the quality of life in Vietnam should be interpreted as
follows: "Quality of life is the extent to which objective human needs of
living condition are fulfilled in relation to personal perceptions of
subjective wellbeing”
Structure of this concept will be defined on the basis of top-down
approach Additionally, it should be based on theory in combination with
8
components must be not only compliance with the context of Viet Nam but also appropriate with international practice
The objective dimensions of quality of life in Vietnam were
identified based on Allardt (1993) and Stiglitz et al (2009), according to
the capability approach Meanwhile, personal perceptions - the subjective dimension of quality of life in Vietnam- are considered based on theory of subjective wellbeing Experiences of international organizations and countries worldwide as well as real situation in Viet Nam currently are practical basis
Then, the theoretical framework of the quality of life in Vietnam is proposed in Figure 1 below
Figure 1 Theoretical framework of Quality of Life in Vietnam
Source: Author’s suggestion
This theoretical framework is the basis for practicing measurement and assessment of the quality of life in Viet Nam in a systematic and scientific manner
Subjective dimension:
Satisfaction with Life
Objective dimensions:
Economic conditions Housing conditions Education Health Family relationship Participating community Nature environment Social environment Governance Political voice
QUALITY
OF LIFE
Trang 59
CONCLUSION FOR CHAPTER 1
The objective of chapter 1 is to develop theoretical framework on the
quality of life in Viet Nam, which consists of concept and its construct
This theoretical framework must be developed on the basis of robust
rationale and practice
Fundamental rationale for the development of theoretical framework
on the quality of life in Viet Nam is theories on the quality of life in the
world Generally, quality of life is approached in the tendency of
multi-dimension and multidisciplinary Theories on quality of life can be
developed by different approaches such as objective approach focused on
the resources and living conditions; subjective approach based on personal
well-being; basic needs approach or capability approach The
heterogeneous approaches lead to different perceptions on quality of life
However, not any concepts are widely accepted
Practical basis for the development of theoretical framework on the
quality of life in Viet Nam is development perspective, socio-economic
development objectives as well as current socio-economic background in
Viet Nam and experience of international organizations, nations in studying
quality of life The analysis shows that the quality of life in Viet Nam
closely associates with human development, economic development,
cultural development, social equity and development of safety and healthy
living environment
Accordingly, the thesis goes to conclusion that quality of life in Viet
Nam is a multi-dimensional concept which should be considered in line
with capability approach in combination with subjective well-being
approach Therefore, the quality of life in Viet Nam must be measured by
both subjective and objective indicators The structure of concept of the
quality of life in Viet Nam is divided by 11 components, of which 10
components reflect the needs of objective living condition that should be
met, including: (1) economic conditions, (2) housing conditions, (3)
education, (4) health, (5) family relationship, (6) participating in
community, (7) natural environment, (8) social environment, (9)
governance and (10) political voice; component (11) reflects people’s
10
CHAPTER 2 SYSTEM OF STATISTICAL INDICATORS MEASURING QUALITY OF LIFE IN VIET NAM 2.1 General issues on the development of indicator system measuring quality of life
2.1.1 Method of developing indicator system measuring quality of life
The thesis uses the top-down approach (theoretical approach) to develop indicator system measuring quality of life The thesis applies hierarchical design by Maggino & Zumbo (2012), starting from concept model, identifying components of the concept, determining variables, basic indicators, finally these indicators are arranged in an appropriate manner in the indicator system
By this approach, the process of measuring quality of life requests for a sound theoretical framework Then, these indicators not only simply provide information but also present relationship with concept model
2.1.2 Requirements and principles of the development of system of statistical indicators measuring quality of life in Viet Nam
According to Noll (2004), a system of indicators must satisfy general requirements, including: (1) being developed on the scientific basis with theoretical approach and apparent concept; (2) as a comprehensive and integrated system; (3) using the most appropriate indicators (valuable and reliable); and (4) using the best available database and guarantee comparability among nations (or localities)
Apart from the aforementioned requirements, a system of statistical indicators measuring quality of life in Viet Nam must cover completely key aspects of the quality of life, meet requirements of measuring quality of life in Viet Nam in conformity with certain historic background; indicators are strictly regulated in term of content, coverage, calculation method and guarantee legality and consistency; make sure of stability in a relatively long time but being changeable in conformity with conditions in each period;
In order to meet the aforementioned requirements, the development
of system of statistical indicators measuring quality of life must comply with the following principles to assure: (1) targeted orientation; (2) systematization; (3) concretization; (4) accuracy; (5) feasibility; (6) international comparability; (7) adaptation; (8) efficiency
Trang 611
2.1.3 Criteria to select statistical indicators measuring quality of life
The thesis uses both direct and indirect indicators (proxy) to measure
quality of life Besides, types of indicator - input, output or outcome can be
used simultaneously, in which, the output indicators and outcome indicators
are preferred
The thesis uses 14 criteria used by Jacksonville Community Council,
Incorporated (Florida, United States) when selecting quality of life indicators
These criteria include: (1) purposefulness, (2) importance, (3) validity and
accuracy, (4) relevance, (5) responsiveness, (6) anticipation, (7)
understandability, (8) availability and timeliness, (9) stability and reliability,
(10) outcome orientation, (11) asset orientation, (12) scale, (13) clarity, and
(14) representativeness
2.1.4 Process of developing system of statistical indicators measuring
quality of life
As mentioned above, contents of subjective measurement of quality of
life exceed over the coverage of the thesis With the components of
measuring the extent of fulfilling the needs of objective living conditions,
determining indicators is carried out by the following steps:
Step 1: Literature review, study international experience in the
development of system of statistical indicators measuring quality of life;
considering national development goals; study related statistical indicator systems
Step 2: Make the list of indicators and develop a summary of their
properties
Step 3: Select indicators in line with mentioned criteria and guarantee
requirements of indicator system as well as comply with principles of
developing indicator system
Step 4: Consult with experts about the list of indicators proposed in step 3
Step 5: Sum up experts’ ideas, study again data properties and
selection criteria to make the final indicator system
2.2 Propose a system of statistical indicators measuring quality of life
in Viet Nam
The system of statistical indicators measuring quality of life in Viet
12
aspects of the quality of life, group 11 reflects subjective aspect of the quality
of life and the group 12 reflects the overall quality of life
2.2.1 Indicators for measuring the economic conditions
Indicator 1.1: Employment rate (aged 15 and over) (%) Indicator 1.2: Monthly average income per capita (VND) Indicator 1.3: Poverty rate (%)
Indicator 1.4: Percentage of respondents reporting that their economic condition has improved in the past 5 years (%)
Indicator 1.5: Percentage of laborers having social insurance (%)
2.2.2 Indicators for measuring the housing conditions
Indicator 2.1: Percentage of households having permanent house (%) Indicator 2.2: Average dwelling area per capita (m2)
Indicator 2.3: Percentage of households using hygienic water (%) Indicator 2.4: Percentage of households using electricity (%) Indicator 2.5: Percentage of households using hygienic toilet (%) Indicator 2.6: Percentage of households having or using at least one
of the information and communication equipments (%)
2.2.3 Indicators for measuring the education
Indicator 3.1: Literacy rate in population aged 15 and over (%) Indicator 3.2: Percentage of population with high school diploma or higher (%)
Indicator 3.3: Number of pupils per teacher Indicator 3.4: Net enrolment rates (%) Indicator 3.5: Completion rate (primary, secondary and high school) (%) Indicator 3.6: Percentage of children under 5 years who are monitored for development in health, education and social psychology (%) Indicator 3.7: Number of years of schooling for the population aged
15 and over
2.2.4 Indicators for measuring the health
Indicator 4.1: Life expectancy at birth Indicator 4.2: Infant mortality rate (per 1000 live births) Indicator 4.3: Number of doctors per 10000 people
Trang 713
Indicator 4.5: Percentage of children under 1 year old immunized
fully vaccinations (%)
Indicator 4.6: Percentage of children under 5 years old malnutrition (%)
Indicator 4.7: Percentage of people having health insurance (%)
2.2.5 Indicators for measuring family relationships
Indicator 5.1: Percentage of household having a cultural family certificate (%)
Indicator 5.2: Divorce rate (per 1000 people)
Indicator 5.3: Percentage of household having family violence (%)
Indicator 5.4: Sex ratio at birth
2.2.6 Indicators for measuring the participating community
Indicator 6.1: Percentage of villages having cultural house (%)
Indicator 6.2: Percentage of villages having a cultural village certificate (%)
Indicator 6.3: Percentage of respondents having voluntary
contribution to local projects (%)
2.2.7 Indicators for measuring the nature environment
Indicator 7.1: Percentage of respondents reporting that the water
quality has declined in the past three years (%)
Indicator 7.2: Percentage of respondents reporting that the air quality
has declined in the past three years (%)
Indicator 7.3: Forest area (% of land area)
Indicator 7.4: Living solid waste collection rate (%)
2.2.8 Indicators for measuring the social environment
Indicator 8.1: Criminal rate (per 10000 people)
Indicator 8.2: Percentage of respondents reported they were victims
of one of the four types of crime (%)
Indicator 8.3: Percentage of respondents said they felt safe walking
alone around the area they live during the night (%)
Indicator 8.4: Safety levels in localities
Indicator 8.5: Road traffic death rate (per 100000 people)
2.2.9 Indicators for measuring the governance
Indicator 9.1: Transparency of local decision-making index
Indicator 9.2: Control of corruption index
14
2.2.10 Indicators for measuring the political voice
Indicator 10.1: Percentage of people voted in the National Assembly election (%) Indicator 10.2: Percentage of people voted in the Commune People’s Council Election (%)
Indicator 10.3: Percentage of people voted in the Village Head Election (%)
Indicator 10.4: Percentage of respondent said that the Candidate was not suggested (%)
2.2.11 Indicators for measuring the satisfaction with life
Indicator 11.1: Lever of satisfaction with life
2.2.12 Indicators for measuring the overall quality of life
Indicator 12.1: The quality of life index
In Viet Nam, at present, there are not any researches publishing data
on the satisfaction of the people with their life Additionally, similarly to the quality of life, satisfaction with life is an abstract concept that is often measured by a multi-item scale Developing this scale is a complex process that needs implementing in a specific research project This exceeds over the author’s ability Therefore, in the coverage of this thesis, the author only raises issue: it needs to study on the satisfaction with life when carrying out measurement of quality of life in Viet Nam The contents and measurement method of satisfaction with life will be continuously studied
in the future
Contents related to composite index of quality of life will be presented in the chapter 3 of this thesis
Trang 815
CONCLUSION FOR CHAPTER 2
The objective of chapter 2 is to develop system of statistical
indicators measuring quality of life in Viet Nam This system must satisfy
general requirements of the indicator system such as scientific basis, a
comprehensive and integrated system includes appropriate indicators,
available data and guarantee spatial comparability Besides that, in order to
measure quality of life, this system must cover completely key aspects of
the quality of life; make sure of stability in a long time but being
changeable to be appropriate in line with each period
The process of developing indicator system for measuring quality of
life must comply with the principles such as: targeted orientation;
systematization; concretization; accuracy; feasibility; international
comparability; adaptation; and efficiency
Indicators are selected according to these criteria, include:
purposefulness, importance, validity and accuracy, relevance,
responsiveness, anticipation, understandability, availability and timeliness,
stability and reliability, outcome orientation, asset orientation, scale, clarity,
and representativeness
Fundamentally, system of indicators measuring quality of life is
developed by hierarchical design in relation with theoretical approach This
process results in a system of statistical indicators divided by 12 groups, of
which the 10 first groups measure 10 components of objective quality of
life, consisting of 48 indicators; group 11 measures subjective quality of
life and group 12 measures overall quality of life
Each indicator in the system is presented comprehensively with
content, meaning, calculation method and data sources The indicator
measuring subjective quality of life is not studied in the coverage of this thesis
16
CHAPTER 3 DEVELOPING CALCULATION METHOD OF QUALITY OF LIFE INDEX IN VIET NAM 3.1 Overview of methods of developing composite index
3.1.1 Concept and strengths, weaknesses of composite index
According to OECD (2008), composite index is an index which is built on the basis of combining separated indicators based on basic model
of measured multi-dimensional concept
Composite index is often used to explain about complex issues that hardly grasp in large fields such as economics, society and environment Its strengths include: easy to explain, enable to have an overall look at complex multi-dimensional issues to support decision makers; allow to implement simple comparisons among nations, regions and localities, etc However, its weakness is to mislead easily policies if it is explained incorrectly or process of developing composite index is not transparent or not based on a sound conceptual framework Besides that, high subjective shown by selecting indicators and weights can be issue causing a lot of debates
3.1.2 Calculation method of composite index
Currently, there are two methods of calculating composite index that are paid much attention by researchers, particularly calculating composite index of quality of life or similar indices They are OECD’s method and Alkire-Foster one Generally, each method has its own strengths and weaknesses Selecting which method will depend mainly on data conditions
as well as socio-economic background of each nation
However, the biggest challenge for Alkire-Forster method is to require all data to be collected by the same survey to enable to identify consistently missing objects in accordance with a certain criterion (Alkire
& Santos, 2011) Additionally, the lack of shortage thresholds of quality of life in Viet Nam is also a big obstacle Therefore, the author proposes to develop the quality of life index in Viet Nam by method of OECD (2008)
3.1.3 Selection of calculation method for composite index
Method of developing composite index of OECD (2008) is relatively complicated with different options in each step of the process, especially in the contents of data standardization, determining weights and composite
Trang 917
According to Mazziotta & Pareto (2013), 4 main factors to take into
account in the choice of the best method for calculating composite index
are as follows: (1) type of indicator (substitutable/non-substitutable); (2)
type of aggregation (simple/complex); (3) type of comparison (absolute/
relative); and (4) type of weights (subjective/objective) It depends on each
assumption, requirement and real condition to select appropriate solutions
3.2 Propose calculation method of quality of life index in Viet Nam
The thesis proposes the composing of Vietnam quality of life index
including the following steps: (1) Developing the theoretical framework;
(2) Selecting indicators; (3) Normalization of data; (4) Determining
weights; and (5) Calculating component indices and the composite index
Steps 1 and 2 have been solved in detail in the first two chapters of
the thesis The methods in steps 3, 4 and 5 will be selected based on
suggestions of Mazziotta & Pareto (2013), available data and the ability to
apply in practice
3.2.1 Normalization of Data
Normalization to ensure comparability across indicators is required
prior to data aggregation
The thesis chooses Min-Max to normalize data for its simplest and
most common normalization procedure Then, all normalized indicators
have the same range of variation (0.1), but not necessarily the same
variance The higher normalized indicator is, the better quality of life is
− (3.1)
In case of highly skewed indicators, we should use the logarithmic
transformation, as follow
=ln ( ) − ln ()
ln () − ln () (3.2)
In case of negative indicators, normalization is used to transform the value
into positive orientation Then the normalized equation is defined as follows:
=−
− (3.3)
In case of indicators having optimal value, meaning that the value of
these indicators should be close to a certain central value (the optimal
threshold) The normalized equation is defined as follow:
18
− (3.4)
For indicators which have absolute value/or ratio value/or value per capita, the minimum and maximum values are determined based on the respective minimum and maximum values in practice; or the actual values achieved in units (i.e provinces) for many years (it is advisable to widen the achievement gap); or the minimum and maximum values established by international organizations for published indicators
For indicators which have percentage value, the thesis chooses the minimum value as 0 and the maximum value as 100
3.2.2 Weighting
Determining weights is a source of contention In general, weights should be selected in connection with both the theoretical framework and the data properties
Weights can be defined objectively or subjectively Objective weights are determined by statistical methods based on mathematical models, therefore, they are more objective and less controversial However, due to lack of accordant data, it is impossible for the thesis to use these methods to determine the objective weights
The subjective weights will be used to calculate the quality of life index in Vietnam Since the structure of the quality of life concept is composed of several dimensions, we must calculate the component indices before calculating the composite index Based on the results of in-depth expert interviews and available data, the thesis chooses equal weights for individual indicators in calculating component indices but unequal weights for components in calculating the composite index
The budget allocation approach (BAP) is used to determine unequal weights for components of the quality of life This is a method of determining subjective weights based on expert interviews
3.2.3 Aggregation
In general, the choice of how the index is aggregated depends on the view about whether compensability between individual indicators or dimensions is allowed
In this thesis, the arithmetic mean should be used to calculate components indices It means that compensation among indicators in each dimension is allowed Because of equal weights among indicators in each
Trang 1019
=∑ ! (3.5)
where is component index of dimension i (i=1, #$$$$$); n is the number
of components; is value of individual indicator j after
normalization in each component (j=1, !$$$$$$); and m is the number of
indicators in each component
However, with a view of partially compensation, that the quality of
life index should be calculated by geometric mean will encourage the equal
development of all quality of life’s components in Vietnam Because of
unequal weights among components, the quality of life index is calculated
by weighted geometrics mean, as follow:
= %& '(
∑ )(
(3.6)
where I is the quality of life index; Ii is the component index I; fi is
weight of the component index i
According to the United Nations’s experience when developing the
Human Development Index, the author proposes to evaluate the quality of
life in Vietnam depending on the index’s value as follows
Table 3.1 Value framework of the quality of life index in Viet Nam
I < 0,3 Very low quality of life
0,3 ≤ I < 0,5 Low quality of life
0,5 ≤ I < 0,7 Medium quality of life
0,7 ≤ I < 0,8 Fairly high quality of life
0,8 ≤ I < 0,9 High quality of life
Source: Author’s suggestion
3.3 Pilot calculate the quality of life index in Viet Nam
3.3.1 Result of pilot calculating the quality of life index in Viet Nam
Due to the heterogeneous spatial and temporal data, the thesis only
calculates the quality of life index in Vietnam at the national level in 2016 In
addition, this composite index is calculated based on 10 groups of indicators
20
measuring the objective quality of life because of unavailable data on the satisfaction with life
48 individual indicators are normalized by the Min-Max transformation with the minimum and maximum values determined as stated
in section 3.2.1
The weightings of the component indices are determined by the BAP method using the constant sum scaling The mean score of each component is the basis for determining the weight of that component Besides, pair sample t-test is useful to examine whether there is a significant difference in mean scores among the quality of life’s dimensions Results show that 10 quality of life’s dimensions can be divided into 4 groups Then, weight of each dimension in each group is calculated by simple mean of mean scores of all dimensions in that group dividing by 10 Hence, sum of weights is 10 As a result, weight of each component in group 1 (economic conditions) is 1.9; group 2 (housing conditions, education, health and family relationship) is 1.2; group 3 (nature environment and social environment) is 0.9; and group 4 (participating community, governance and political voice) is 0.5
Component indices are calculated according to formula 3.5, which is the simple mean of normalized indicators
Table 3.7 Results of calculating component indices
Source: Author’s own calculation
The composite index is calculated by using the formula 3.6 As a result, with the value of 0.671, the achievement of quality of life in