IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/soinre/v141y2019i1d10.1007_s11205-017-1804-0.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Conceptual Framework for Visualizing Composite Indicators

Author

Listed:
  • Yael Albo

    (University of Haifa
    Technion)

  • Joel Lanir

    (University of Haifa)

  • Sheizaf Rafaeli

    (University of Haifa
    Technion)

Abstract

Composite indicators (CIs) are common measurements and benchmarking tools used to measure multidimensional concepts such as well-being, education and more. Indicators and sub-indicators are selected and combined to reflect a measured phenomenon. Measurement iterations produce a series of time-oriented data, which stakeholders, as well as the general public, might be interested in interpreting. Visualization of a CI is highly recommended, in order to facilitate interpretation and enhance understanding of indicator components and their evolution over time. In recent years, a variety of CI visualizations have been published including various visualization techniques. Indeed, visualizing a CI is a complex and challenging issue, involving many design choices. However, there is a lack of guidelines and methodological approaches for CI visualization design. We suggest a framework that provides a systematic way of thinking of CI visualizations. The framework is intended for two uses: as a design tool when constructing a new CI visualization, and as an analytic tool for systematically describing, comparing and evaluating CI visualizations. The suggested framework is the outcome of both a top-down process, based on CI construction and information visualization literature, and a bottom-up process, in which 35 existing visualization applications of popular CIs were analyzed. We use Munzner’s visualization analysis and design framework (Munzner in Visualization analysis and design, CRC Press, Boca Raton, 2014) in an adaptive way, considering the specific challenges and characteristics of CI visualizations, in order to develop and discuss a systematic view of the data, tasks and methods for visualizing CIs. We demonstrate the use of the framework with a case study analyzing the popular OECD Better Life Index visualization tool.

Suggested Citation

  • Yael Albo & Joel Lanir & Sheizaf Rafaeli, 2019. "A Conceptual Framework for Visualizing Composite Indicators," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 141(1), pages 1-30, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:soinre:v:141:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1007_s11205-017-1804-0
    DOI: 10.1007/s11205-017-1804-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11205-017-1804-0
    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/s11205-017-1804-0?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. Lee Stapleton & Guy Garrod, 2008. "Policy Preceding Possibility? Examining Headline Composite Sustainability Indicators in the United Kingdom," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 87(3), pages 495-502, July.
    2. Rajagopal, 2014. "The Human Factors," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Architecting Enterprise, chapter 9, pages 225-249, Palgrave Macmillan.
    3. Michela Nardo & Michaela Saisana & Andrea Saltelli & Stefano Tarantola & Anders Hoffman & Enrico Giovannini, 2005. "Handbook on Constructing Composite Indicators: Methodology and User Guide," OECD Statistics Working Papers 2005/3, OECD Publishing.
    4. Laurens Cherchye & Willem Moesen & Nicky Rogge & Tom Puyenbroeck, 2007. "An Introduction to ‘Benefit of the Doubt’ Composite Indicators," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 82(1), pages 111-145, May.
    5. Bryony Hoskins & Massimiliano Mascherini, 2009. "Measuring Active Citizenship through the Development of a Composite Indicator," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 90(3), pages 459-488, February.
    6. Gary W. Dickson & James A. Senn & Norman L. Chervany, 1977. "Research in Management Information Systems: The Minnesota Experiments," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(9), pages 913-934, May.
    7. Andrea Saltelli, 2007. "Composite Indicators between Analysis and Advocacy," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 81(1), pages 65-77, March.
    8. N/A, 2004. "Index for 2004," European Union Politics, , vol. 5(4), pages 511-512, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Flavio Comim, 2021. "A Poset-Generalizability Method for Human Development Indicators," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 158(3), pages 1179-1198, December.
    2. Borsi, Mihály Tamás & Valerio Mendoza, Octasiano Miguel & Comim, Flavio, 2022. "Measuring the provincial supply of higher education institutions in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).

    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. Salvatore Greco & Alessio Ishizaka & Menelaos Tasiou & Gianpiero Torrisi, 2019. "On the Methodological Framework of Composite Indices: A Review of the Issues of Weighting, Aggregation, and Robustness," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 141(1), pages 61-94, January.
    2. Riccardo Natoli & Segu Zuhair, 2011. "Measuring Progress: A Comparison of the GDP, HDI, GS and the RIE," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 103(1), pages 33-56, August.
    3. P. Zhou & B. Ang, 2009. "Comparing MCDA Aggregation Methods in Constructing Composite Indicators Using the Shannon-Spearman Measure," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 94(1), pages 83-96, October.
    4. P. Zhou & B. Ang & D. Zhou, 2010. "Weighting and Aggregation in Composite Indicator Construction: a Multiplicative Optimization Approach," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 96(1), pages 169-181, March.
    5. Stelios Gialis & Michael Taylor, 2016. "A Regional Account of Flexibilization Across the EU: The ‘Flexible Contractual Arrangements’ Composite Index and the Impact of Recession," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 128(3), pages 1121-1146, September.
    6. Milica Maricic & Jose A. Egea & Veljko Jeremic, 2019. "A Hybrid Enhanced Scatter Search—Composite I-Distance Indicator (eSS-CIDI) Optimization Approach for Determining Weights Within Composite Indicators," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 144(2), pages 497-537, July.
    7. Omrani, Hashem & Valipour, Mahsa & Jafari Mamakani, Saeid, 2019. "Construct a composite indicator based on integrating Common Weight Data Envelopment Analysis and principal component analysis models: An application for finding development degree of provinces in Iran," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    8. George Kararach & Godwell Nhamo & Maurice Mubila & Senia Nhamo & Charles Nhemachena & Suresh Babu, 2018. "Reflections on the Green Growth Index for developing countries: A focus of selected African countries," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 36(S1), pages 432-454, March.
    9. Stelios Gialis & Lila Leontidou & Michael Taylor, 2014. "Composite indicators of flexibilization across EU regions: a critical re-appraisal and interpretation," ERSA conference papers ersa14p513, European Regional Science Association.
    10. Van Puyenbroeck, Tom & Rogge, Nicky, 2017. "Geometric mean quantity index numbers with Benefit-of-the-Doubt weights," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 256(3), pages 1004-1014.
    11. Jill Johnes, 2018. "University rankings: What do they really show?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 115(1), pages 585-606, April.
    12. Cherchye, Laurens & De Rock, Bram & Kerstens, Pieter Jan, 2018. "Production with storable and durable inputs: Nonparametric analysis of intertemporal efficiency," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 270(2), pages 498-513.
    13. Laurens CHERCHYE & Willem MOESEN & Nicky ROGGE & Tom VAN PUYENBROECK, 2009. "Constructing a knowledge economy composite indicator with imprecise data," Working Papers of Department of Economics, Leuven ces09.15, KU Leuven, Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB), Department of Economics, Leuven.
    14. Foa, R. & Tanner, J.C., 2012. "Methodology of the Indices of Social Development," ISD Working Paper Series 2012-04, International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam (ISS), The Hague.
    15. Giménez, Víctor & Thieme, Claudio & Prior, Diego & Tortosa-Ausina, Emili, 2022. "Evaluation and determinants of preschool effectiveness in Chile," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    16. Annalina Sarra & Eugenia Nissi, 2020. "A Spatial Composite Indicator for Human and Ecosystem Well-Being in the Italian Urban Areas," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 148(2), pages 353-377, April.
    17. Greco, Salvatore & Ishizaka, Alessio & Tasiou, Menelaos & Torrisi, Gianpiero, 2019. "Sigma-Mu efficiency analysis: A methodology for evaluating units through composite indicators," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 278(3), pages 942-960.
    18. Van den Bossche, Filip & Rogge, Nicky & Devooght, Kurt & Van Puyenbroeck , Tom, 2009. "Robust CSR Investment Screening," Working Papers 2009/05, Hogeschool-Universiteit Brussel, Faculteit Economie en Management.
    19. Panagiotis Artelaris, 2022. "A development index for the Greek regions," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 56(3), pages 1261-1281, June.
    20. Cristina Davino & Rosaria Romano, 2014. "Assessment of Composite Indicators Using the ANOVA Model Combined with Multivariate Methods," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 119(2), pages 627-646, November.

    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:soinre:v:141:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1007_s11205-017-1804-0. 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.