MEASURES OF ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE:
|
||
THIS STUDY:
FURTHER EXPLORING THE USE OF INDICATORS: An Indicators Master's Thesis (in progress)
TOWARD A DEFINITION OF SOCIAL INDICATORS
Raymond Bauer (1966), often referred to as the father of the social indicators movement, defined social indicators as “statistics, statistical series, and all other forms of evidence – that enable us to assess where we stand and are going with respect to our values and goals, and to evaluate specific programs and determine their impact” (p. 1).
A more precise though controversial description was featured in the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare’s Toward a Social Report: “…a statistic of direct normative interest which facilitates concise, comprehensive, and balanced judgments about the conditions of major aspects of society. It is in all cases a direct measure of welfare and is subject to the interpretation that, if it changes in the “right” direction, while other things remain equal, things have gotten better, or people are “better off”. Thus, statistics on the number of doctors or policemen could not be social indicators, whereas figures on health or crime rates could be” (p. 97, cited in Rossi and Gilmartin 1980, p. 16).
This description was controversial, as researchers Sheldon and Freeman (1970) criticized this definition, arguing that requiring social indicators to be of direct or immediate normative interest is too restrictive. They believed that since a social indicator’s normative significance and therefore relevance to policy is likely to change over time, basic research and better data series are needed before the development of a theoretical framework for social indicators. Sheldon argued for an inductive approach: first gather descriptive data then develop the categories that would allow meaningful generalization and eventually work towards analysis of social change.
Despite the criticism from these prominent indicators researchers, modern indicators projects believe that indicators must be descriptive and normative, largely subscribing to the earlier view put forth by Bauer (1966) and the USDHEW.