Методологични предизвикателства при измерване благоденствието на държавите: случаят със субективното благоденствие
Methodological Challenges in Measuring the Wellbeing of Countries: The Case of Subjective Wellbeing

Summary/Abstract: A particular path has to be followed in order to measure and monitor country wellbeing and progress, leading from concept to measure, to syntheses, to interpretation. In order to achieve the possibility to monitor a country consistently with the definition of progress and wellbeing, the following definitions are needed: (a) the concepts to be measured and monitored and their conceptual dimensions, (b) the ambits (domains) in which the concepts are observed and monitored, (c) the indicators to be developed and constructed (including their synthesis), (d) interpretative / explanatory models, which actually link obtained results to the previously defined concept. The widely accepted main concepts defining the progress of a country (or community) are wellbeing of individuals (quality of life), its fair distribution (equity) and sustainable promotion (sustainability). Each concept can be declined, observed and investigated through both objective and subjective aspects, which refer to and concern opinions, evaluations, feelings, perceptions, attitudes, desires, values, and motivations related to each individual life as a whole or in different specific contexts. Social policies and programmes need more and more data on subjective components in order to complement social, economic, and health factors, such as the degree to which a perceived need is being met and the importance of that ‘perceived need’ to one’s overall life. This work aims at clarifying some conceptual issues concerning subjective characteristic (such as subjective wellbeing) and unravelling some important methodological aspects and issues that should be considered in measuring subjective characteristics and creating subjective data and indicators.

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