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Monitoring mankind: The search for quality
Author(s) -
House Peter W.,
Livingston Robert C.,
Swinburn Carol D.
Publication year - 1975
Publication title -
behavioral science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.371
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1099-1743
pISSN - 0005-7940
DOI - 10.1002/bs.3830200107
Subject(s) - happiness , agency (philosophy) , process (computing) , function (biology) , term (time) , quality (philosophy) , management science , quality of life (healthcare) , risk analysis (engineering) , computer science , psychology , process management , operations research , social psychology , medicine , epistemology , sociology , business , engineering , social science , psychotherapist , philosophy , physics , quantum mechanics , evolutionary biology , biology , operating system
This paper concerns itself with an effort on behalf of the Environmental Studies of the Environmental Protection Agency to develop a methodology for the assessment and quantification of the term quality of life. An experiment was conducted at a QOL symposium in 1973 where a list of QOL factors was generated and weighted in the hope of providing a useful tool for the decision making process. Discussion of the exercise points out the problems and pitfalls to be avoided in trying to quantify this concept. Finally, after analyzing the results, the authors suggest that measuring QOL as a happiness function may not be feasible and suggest, instead, the use of dissatisfaction indices. A brief description of this concept is presented with some current applications.