Developing perceived quality of life indices : An application of ordered weighted average operators

Quality of life (QOL) studies typically focus either on aggregate measures of QOL variables using secondary data sources for aggregated spatial units or on primary data collected through sample surveys whereby individuals provide subjective assessments of QOL dimensions. This paper uses sample survey data collected in a 2003 survey of QOL using a spatially stratified sample design across the Brisbane-South East Queensland (SEQ) region, Australia's fastest growing metropolitan region in the ‘sun belt’. A ‘subjective-well being approach' has been adopted to explore a range of techniques for mapping inter-regional variability. Various aggregation operators— ‘Max’, ‘Min’, ‘Average’, Exponential and Maximum Entropy, are employed to develop five QOL indices based on an ‘ordered weighted average’, a non-linear aggregation technique. It is shown that the quality of life across the Brisbane-SEQ region varies with substantial differences exhibited across different weighting regimes