To answer the question ‘in what ways can you use surveys to measure inequality?’ I will talk about the different types of inequality that can be measured such as health, happiness and monetary inequality. I will also be discussing the advantages and disadvantages of measuring inequality using surveys. I am going to this by paying reference to a variety of sources and critiquing them such as ‘World Health Organisation’ (WHO), the World Happiness Index (WHI), the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation Development (OECD).
Firstly, before I discuss how we can use surveys to measure inequality, firstly we must understand what equality is. “The state of being equal, especially in status, rights and opportunities …show more content…
A way that health can be measured is through life expectancy rates. Life expectancy rates are a useful way of measuring health inequalities as not only can you measure health globally and nationally but you are also able to compare life expectancy rates within cities and boroughs. An example being the London life expectancy tube map which shows the average life expectancy based on which area in London you live in based on the tube map (Lives on the Live, 2012). Another way of measuring life expectancy is by looking at the differences between men and women. Surveys show that on average women live longer than men. However, an issue with comparing life expectancies between men and women is that it does not show why men do no not live as long as women as it does not take into account the personal lives between men and women such as work hours and what they do with their day to day lives (ONS, 2014). However, the WHO take a different approach in how they measure health. The WHO measure global happiness by using 17 different …show more content…
Well-being in measured by the ONS by asking people a set of questions and telling them to give their answers on a scale of 1-10. The ONS asks people four different questions on their survey. These questions allow people to assess their life, as well as providing an idea of what some one’s days-to-day emotions are like. Even though the ONS has had their survey introduced into over 20 other surveys across government and other non-governmental surveys, it is important to remember that the findings from these surveys are based on survey estimates, because of this, the results are subject to scrutiny and uncertainty. This means rather than having the exact measurement of well-being in the United Kingdom (UK), the results should be interpreted as providing a good estimate and not as an exact measurement. The advantage of measuring well-being inequality is that you can compare the differences of well-being compared to their income between higher and lower socio-economic backgrounds within the UK. This can even be done on a local level and even on a global level. A disadvantage of measuring well-being inequality is that the answers will be subjective to where they live and would perhaps compare their own well-being to their neighbour’s well-being. Not only that but if you are from a poorer area then you may also compare yourself to someone from an even poorer area and rate your well-being better than
Firstly, before I discuss how we can use surveys to measure inequality, firstly we must understand what equality is. “The state of being equal, especially in status, rights and opportunities …show more content…
A way that health can be measured is through life expectancy rates. Life expectancy rates are a useful way of measuring health inequalities as not only can you measure health globally and nationally but you are also able to compare life expectancy rates within cities and boroughs. An example being the London life expectancy tube map which shows the average life expectancy based on which area in London you live in based on the tube map (Lives on the Live, 2012). Another way of measuring life expectancy is by looking at the differences between men and women. Surveys show that on average women live longer than men. However, an issue with comparing life expectancies between men and women is that it does not show why men do no not live as long as women as it does not take into account the personal lives between men and women such as work hours and what they do with their day to day lives (ONS, 2014). However, the WHO take a different approach in how they measure health. The WHO measure global happiness by using 17 different …show more content…
Well-being in measured by the ONS by asking people a set of questions and telling them to give their answers on a scale of 1-10. The ONS asks people four different questions on their survey. These questions allow people to assess their life, as well as providing an idea of what some one’s days-to-day emotions are like. Even though the ONS has had their survey introduced into over 20 other surveys across government and other non-governmental surveys, it is important to remember that the findings from these surveys are based on survey estimates, because of this, the results are subject to scrutiny and uncertainty. This means rather than having the exact measurement of well-being in the United Kingdom (UK), the results should be interpreted as providing a good estimate and not as an exact measurement. The advantage of measuring well-being inequality is that you can compare the differences of well-being compared to their income between higher and lower socio-economic backgrounds within the UK. This can even be done on a local level and even on a global level. A disadvantage of measuring well-being inequality is that the answers will be subjective to where they live and would perhaps compare their own well-being to their neighbour’s well-being. Not only that but if you are from a poorer area then you may also compare yourself to someone from an even poorer area and rate your well-being better than