IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/jcsosc/v7y2024i1d10.1007_s42001-023-00244-5.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A machine learning-based assessment of subjective quality of life

Author

Listed:
  • Sebastián Rodríguez

    (Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales)

  • Pablo Cabrera-Barona

    (Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales)

Abstract

This paper evaluates subjective quality of life using various Machine Learning (ML) techniques. Utilizing a survey conducted in Quito’s historical downtown and adopting subjective quality of life as a theoretical framework, we applied ML regression techniques (ordinal logistic regression, random forests and support vector machines) to identify satisfactions with different domains of life influencing overall satisfaction with life. Our findings indicate that satisfaction with work, satisfaction with household conditions and satisfaction with health explain overall life satisfaction. Additionally, it was observed that high values of these satisfactions are evenly distributed across space. The applied techniques can be easily replicated for diverse urban contexts, expanding the use of ML methods within the Social Sciences. Assessing satisfaction with life of urban residents is critical to support better urban planning. Policy-making should promote satisfaction of different domains of life by recognizing the complexity and multidimensionality of the factors that influence the quality of life of human beings.

Suggested Citation

  • Sebastián Rodríguez & Pablo Cabrera-Barona, 2024. "A machine learning-based assessment of subjective quality of life," Journal of Computational Social Science, Springer, vol. 7(1), pages 451-467, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jcsosc:v:7:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1007_s42001-023-00244-5
    DOI: 10.1007/s42001-023-00244-5
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s42001-023-00244-5
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s42001-023-00244-5?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Francesco Ferrante, 2009. "Education, Aspirations and Life Satisfaction," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(4), pages 542-562, November.
    2. Alex Michalos, 1986. "An application of multiple discrepancies theory (MDT) to seniors," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 18(4), pages 349-373, November.
    3. Ed Diener & Eunkook Suh, 1997. "Measuring Quality Of Life: Economic, Social, And Subjective Indicators," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 40(1), pages 189-216, January.
    4. Piotr Bialowolski & Dorota Weziak-Bialowolska, 2021. "Longitudinal Evidence for Reciprocal Effects Between Life Satisfaction and Job Satisfaction," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 22(3), pages 1287-1312, March.
    5. Shilpi Mittal & Jayprakash Chadchan & Sudipta K. Mishra, 2020. "Review of Concepts, Tools and Indices for the Assessment of Urban Quality of Life," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 149(1), pages 187-214, May.
    6. Robert Cummins, 1996. "The domains of life satisfaction: An attempt to order chaos," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 38(3), pages 303-328, January.
    7. Ismahene Aouadni & Abdelwaheb Rebai, 2017. "Decision support system based on genetic algorithm and multi-criteria satisfaction analysis (MUSA) method for measuring job satisfaction," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 256(1), pages 3-20, September.
    8. Rojas, Mariano, 2008. "Experienced Poverty and Income Poverty in Mexico: A Subjective Well-Being Approach," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 36(6), pages 1078-1093, June.
    9. Gérard Biau & Erwan Scornet, 2016. "A random forest guided tour," TEST: An Official Journal of the Spanish Society of Statistics and Operations Research, Springer;Sociedad de Estadística e Investigación Operativa, vol. 25(2), pages 197-227, June.
    10. Alex Michalos & Bruno Zumbo & Anita Hubley, 2000. "Health and the Quality of Life," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 51(3), pages 245-286, September.
    11. Yuan, Liang & Shin, Kongjoo & Managi, Shunsuke, 2018. "Subjective Well-being and Environmental Quality: The Impact of Air Pollution and Green Coverage in China," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 124-138.
    12. M. Sirgy & Don Rahtz & Muris Cicic & Robert Underwood, 2000. "A method for assessing residents' satisfaction with community-based services: a quality-of-life perspective," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 49(3), pages 279-316, March.
    13. Matthias Schonlau & Rosie Yuyan Zou, 2020. "The random forest algorithm for statistical learning," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 20(1), pages 3-29, March.
    14. Daisy Das, 2008. "Urban Quality of Life: A Case Study of Guwahati," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 88(2), pages 297-310, September.
    15. Milad Karimi & John Brazier, 2016. "Health, Health-Related Quality of Life, and Quality of Life: What is the Difference?," PharmacoEconomics, Springer, vol. 34(7), pages 645-649, July.
    16. Xiangren Yi & You Fu & Ryan Burns & Meng Ding, 2019. "Weight Status, Physical Fitness, and Health-Related Quality of Life among Chinese Adolescents: A Cross-Sectional Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(13), pages 1-11, June.
    17. Karatzoglou, Alexandros & Meyer, David & Hornik, Kurt, 2006. "Support Vector Machines in R," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 15(i09).
    18. Gérard Biau & Erwan Scornet, 2016. "Rejoinder on: A random forest guided tour," TEST: An Official Journal of the Spanish Society of Statistics and Operations Research, Springer;Sociedad de Estadística e Investigación Operativa, vol. 25(2), pages 264-268, June.
    19. Luo Lu & Robin Gilmour, 2004. "Culture and conceptions of happiness: individual oriented and social oriented swb," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 5(3), pages 269-291, September.
    20. Mariano Rojas & Karen Watkins-Fassler, 2022. "Religious Practice and Life Satisfaction: A Domains-of-Life Approach," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 23(5), pages 2349-2369, June.
    21. Mariano Rojas, 2006. "Life satisfaction and satisfaction in domains of life: is it a simple relationship?," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 7(4), pages 467-497, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jorge Guardiola & Andrés J. Picazo-Tadeo, 2013. "Weighting life domains with Data Envelopment Analysis," Working Papers 1311, Department of Applied Economics II, Universidad de Valencia.
    2. Nadine Häusler & Oliver Hämmig & Matthias Bopp, 2018. "Which Life Domains Impact Most on Self-Rated Health? A Cross-Cultural Study of Switzerland and its Neighbors," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 139(2), pages 787-802, September.
    3. Chang-ming Hsieh, 2019. "Importance of Health and Relative Importance of Satisfaction with One’s Own Health: A Case of Frail Immigrant Older Adults," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 143(1), pages 81-93, May.
    4. Jorge Guardiola & Andrés Picazo-Tadeo, 2014. "Building Weighted-Domain Composite Indices of Life Satisfaction with Data Envelopment Analysis," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 117(1), pages 257-274, May.
    5. Jorge Guardiola & Francisco González-Gómez & Ángel Lendechy Grajales, 2013. "The Influence of Water Access in Subjective Well-Being: Some Evidence in Yucatan, Mexico," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 110(1), pages 207-218, January.
    6. Gordeev, Stepan & Steinbach, Sandro, 2024. "Determinants of PTA design: Insights from machine learning," International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).
    7. Xue, Shaobo & Ma, Bo & Wang, Chenguang & Li, Zhanbin, 2023. "Identifying key landscape pattern indices influencing the NPP: A case study of the upper and middle reaches of the Yellow River," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 484(C).
    8. Susana Iglesias-Antelo & Vicente López-López & Antonio Vázquez-Sanmartín, 2021. "Assessing the Influence of Strategic Resources on the Quality of Life in Spanish Cities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-19, November.
    9. Cristina Bernini & Andrea Guizzardi & Giovanni Angelini, 2013. "DEA-Like Model and Common Weights Approach for the Construction of a Subjective Community Well-Being Indicator," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 114(2), pages 405-424, November.
    10. Hou, Lei & Elsworth, Derek & Zhang, Fengshou & Wang, Zhiyuan & Zhang, Jianbo, 2023. "Evaluation of proppant injection based on a data-driven approach integrating numerical and ensemble learning models," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 264(C).
    11. Ma, Zhikai & Huo, Qian & Wang, Wei & Zhang, Tao, 2023. "Voltage-temperature aware thermal runaway alarming framework for electric vehicles via deep learning with attention mechanism in time-frequency domain," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 278(C).
    12. Agnieszka Wojewódzka-Wiewiórska & Anna Kłoczko-Gajewska & Piotr Sulewski, 2019. "Between the Social and Economic Dimensions of Sustainability in Rural Areas—In Search of Farmers’ Quality of Life," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-26, December.
    13. Patrick Krennmair & Timo Schmid, 2022. "Flexible domain prediction using mixed effects random forests," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series C, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 71(5), pages 1865-1894, November.
    14. Jie Shi & Arno P. J. M. Siebes & Siamak Mehrkanoon, 2023. "TransCORALNet: A Two-Stream Transformer CORAL Networks for Supply Chain Credit Assessment Cold Start," Papers 2311.18749, arXiv.org.
    15. Akinori Kitsuki & Shunsuke Managi, 2023. "Importance Weighting in Subjective Well-Being Measures: Using Marginal Utilities as Weights for Domain Satisfaction," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 24(3), pages 1101-1120, March.
    16. Bourdouxhe, Axel & Wibail, Lionel & Claessens, Hugues & Dufrêne, Marc, 2023. "Modeling potential natural vegetation: A new light on an old concept to guide nature conservation in fragmented and degraded landscapes," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 481(C).
    17. Susanne Väth & Michael Kirk, 2014. "Do property rights and contract farming matter for rural development? Evidence from a large-scale investment in Ghana," MAGKS Papers on Economics 201416, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
    18. Manuel J. García Rodríguez & Vicente Rodríguez Montequín & Francisco Ortega Fernández & Joaquín M. Villanueva Balsera, 2019. "Public Procurement Announcements in Spain: Regulations, Data Analysis, and Award Price Estimator Using Machine Learning," Complexity, Hindawi, vol. 2019, pages 1-20, November.
    19. Borup, Daniel & Christensen, Bent Jesper & Mühlbach, Nicolaj Søndergaard & Nielsen, Mikkel Slot, 2023. "Targeting predictors in random forest regression," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 841-868.
    20. Chang-ming Hsieh & Qiguang Li, 2022. "Importance Weighting in the Domain-of-Life Approach to Subjective Well-Being: the Consideration of Age," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 17(2), pages 525-540, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:jcsosc:v:7:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1007_s42001-023-00244-5. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.