INTERVIEW
their mood and how important art and culture are to their wellbeing. Respondents have commented fre- quently that accessible and affordable sports facilities, fi tness and sporting interaction matter to them, as does having the time and money to engage in arts and cultural activities. “Leisure is widely recognised as being good for us, however there’s nothing quite like hearing it fi rst hand,” says Allin. “We would encourage peo- ple to join our debate and have their say about how leisure activities affect their sense of wellbeing.”
THE BACKGROUND The project comes on the back of grow- ing international interest in measuring quality of life as well as more conven- tional measures of success. Five years ago, French president
Nicolas Sarkozy commissioned a report from a panel of leading academics, including Nobel Prize-winning econ- omists Joseph Stiglitz and Amartya Sen, to explore new ways of measuring the health and progress of a country. The report by Stiglitz and Sen recom- mended that countries should fi nd new ways of measuring happiness aside from economic growth. Canada is also at the forefront of the movement to fi nd new ways of measuring wellbeing, while Bhutan introduced the idea of a Gross National Happiness Index. In the UK, Paul Allin and his team
THE INTEGRATED HOUSEHOLD SURVEY
From April, four questions aimed at monitoring subjective wellbeing will be added to the Integrated Household Study. These questions were devel- oped with advice from a range of experts and organisations, including the National Statistician’s Advisory Board on Measuring National Well- being. The questions are: ■ Overall, how satisfi ed are you with your life nowadays? ■ Overall, how happy did you feel yesterday?
have been researching the measure- ment of economic performance, quality of life, environmental impacts and sus- tainability for almost four years. “We identifi ed what we’re now call- ing national wellbeing as an emerging requirement, that lots of people were interested in, around 2007,” says Allin. “We could see it was getting a head of steam and we wanted to get ahead of that and understand what the UK’s position was and what its requirements were.” Phase one of the project is a national debate, with the aim of iden- tifying the key areas that make up wellbeing. People have been asked what matters to them via online sur- veys, an online debate and a series of consultations across the UK.
■ Overall, how anxious did you feel yesterday? ■ Overall, to what extent do you feel the things you do in your life are worthwhile?
Respondents are asked to reply to these questions on a scale of nought to 10. The questions will be supple- mented with additional questions as part of the ONS’s Opinions Survey, a smaller survey that goes out to around 1,000 adults per month.
“The public consultation has really taken off,” says Allin. “The team run- ning the debate has been talking to people ranging from young offend- ers to city councillors and members of church groups. We really want to get as broad a set of views as possi- ble and get people thinking about the kind of society they want to live in, and about how important things like lei- sure and family and things outside work are, as well as work itself.” One of the major challenges of the
project is that not only is wellbeing extremely diffi cult to measure, but the meaning of the word itself is diffi cult to pin down. “It’s not just about how happy people are, which is the popular idea of what it means,” says Allin. “There isn’t one clearly understood
defi nition; it’s more about one’s men- tal state, physical health, relationship and social position.”
Although the ONS has never meas- Past research has examined the link between sport and wellbeing 28 Read Leisure Management online
leisuremanagement.co.uk/digital
ured individual wellbeing in any comprehensive way, it is something that has been explored quite exten- sively. The really interesting question, according to Allin, concerns national wellbeing and what that really is. “Is it simply the totality of individual wellbe- ing, or is there more to it than that? If we can ask a representative sample of people about their own wellbeing, will that give us a statistical picture of the wellbeing of the country? “While some argue that national wellbeing is just the summation of indi- vidual wellbeing, others say that we need to put other things alongside the assessment of individual wellbeing in order to understand the bigger picture.
ISSUE 2 2011 © cybertrek 2011
PHOTO:
SHUTTERSTOCK.COM/©FOTOKOSTIC
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