Chapter 11

Our ability to monitor social change and evaluate the condition of our society by means of social indicators depends on our ability to measure a wide variety of social phenomena with acceptable reliability and precision. Thus efforts to improve social measurement—both measurement techniques and data collection procedures—are central to the development of improved social indicators. But if these activities are closely linked, they remain separate in their ultimate objectives. The purpose of social measurement is to obtain reliable estimates of selected quantitative aspects of social phenomena that are of interest for a variety of reasons. Social indicators, in contrast, constitute a subset of social measurements and other forms of evidence that inform us about current conditions and emerging trends with respect to those aspects that relate to human well-being or to major areas of social concern. Three broad problem areas must be dealt with in developing social indicators. First, there are technical problems relating to social measurement per se; these include indicator specification and construction. Second, a variety of sociopolitical problems, such as possible ideological biases in problem definition, data presentation, and the interpretation of findings, may distort our efforts at societal assessment. Third, a number of communication problems impede the effective presentation of information in social indicators form to both policymakers and the general public. But there is also evidence of substantial progress in coping with these difficulties during the past decade.