Page 46 - The Importance of Common Metrics for Advacing Social Science Theory and Research

The Importance of Common Metrics for Advancing Social Science Theory and Research: A Workshop Summary
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/13034.html

34 THE IMPORTANCE OF COMMON METRICS

Disaggregation and Aggregation
Mulgan acknowledged the difficulty in using any kind of aggregate
indicators or aggregate population measures; at the same time, the key to
measuring behavior change in any field rests in large part on knowing how
to disaggregate or segment the population. For example, a practitioner may
consider interventions to reduce recidivism among prisoners or to reduce
obesity by assuming that particular interventions will be highly effective
for perhaps 10 or 20 percent of the population, if selection of participants
is made by cognitive style, culture, etc. However, the intervention will
probably be ineffective if an entire population group is selected without
segmentation. At the same time, the segmentation tools used in health ser-
vices, which are based on commercial marketing, are unproven and often
dismissed, he observed. According to Mulgan, there is a greater need for
targeting and segmentation, yet national statistical officers, academies of
science, and other similar organizations seem to want to discourage devel-
opment of robust segmentation tools.

Measurements of Well-Being and Psychological Need
Mulgan identified as a major research concern in the United Kingdom
the failure of many of the current measures of poverty to capture actual
need. He explained that the earlier focus on material needs (e.g., money,
housing, nutrition) do not cover such factors as psychological well-being,
the strength of social relationships, and the like. More specifically, a person
who is isolated yet reasonably materially well off may be more in need than
a person who is materially poor but has very strong family support. He
reported that the Young Foundation has been investigating, both through
statistical analyses and case studies, ways to understand the dynamics of
need in a contemporary society, giving equal weight to material, psychologi-
cal, and psychosocial measures.
While psychological measures are not as well-developed as material
ones, Mulgan noted, these are needed to measure well-being, life satisfac-
tion, and other factors, such as social connectedness. He emphasized the
strong impact of cultural norms in terms of how people present their levels
of well-being.

Valuing Social Impact

According to Mulgan, it is important to measure social value by cre-
ating standardized metrics or tools to compare investments in programs.
While the question of measuring social value has been alive in the world
of policy since before the mid-1960s, he noted that there have been several

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