Course Title: Human and Sustainable Development

Course Code: RDS 761

Nature of the Course: Theory                                                   Period per Week: 3

Year: Second                                                                       Time per Period: 1 hour

Semester: Second                                                                             Total Period: 48

Level: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

 

Course objectives

The course offers an overview of the composite indicators used in development research. It will address some reliability tests with example of Likert scaling in social research. By the end of the course students should understand human and sustainable development, and governance indicators, and their applicability in development in different contexts. This course will thus equip students with basic capacities to apply research on social indicators and quality of life to real world problems.

Course Outlines                                                                                                      LH

Unit I: Composite Indicators                                                                                  9

  • Issues of Composite Indicators
  • Steps for Constructing a Composite Indicator
  • Cronbach Alpha and Guttmann Scaling
  • Likert Scaling

Unit II: Social Indicators and Quality of Life Research                               12

  • Development and Evolution
  • Issues of Quality of Life and Social Indicators
  • Happiness Index
  • Health Wellbeing
  • Consumer Wellbeing

III. Human and Sustainable Development Index                                          15

  • Theoretical Concept of Human and Sustainable Development
  • Methodologies of Human and Sustainable Development Indexes
  • Theoretical Concept of Multidimensional Poverty
  • Methodology of Multidimensional Poverty Index
  • Nepal Human and Sustainable & Multidimensional Poverty indexes

Unit IV: Governance Indicators                                                                          12

  • Theoretical Concept of Governance
  • Methodology of Governance Indicators
  • Methodology of Corruption Perception Index
  • Nepal Governance and Corruption Perception Indexes

References

Anand, S. and A. Sen (1994). Human development index: Methodology and measurement. New York: UNDP

Bertelsmann Transformation Index (https://www.bti-project.org/en/home/)

Governance (http://info.worldbank.org/governance/wgi/)

https://dataviz.worldbank.org/views/ProvincialSDGDashboardv8/Province?iframeSizedToWindow=true&:embed=y&:showAppBanner=false&:display_count=no&:showVizHome=no

https://www.npc.gov.np/en/category/nepal_human_development_reports

https://www.sdgindex.org/

https://www.sdgindex.org/

https://www.transparency.org/cpi2019

International Country Risk Guide (https://www.prsgroup.com/explore-our-products/international-country-risk-guide/)

Lafortune, G., G. Fuller, J. Moreno, G. Schmidt-Traub, C. Kroll (2018). SDG Index and dashboards detailed methodological paper. https://www.sdgindex.org/

Land, Kenneth C., A. C. Michaols and M. J. Sirgy (ed.) (2019). Handbook of social indicators and quality of life research. London: Springer

Nachmais, C. F. and D. Nachmais (1996). Research methods in the social sciences. New York: St. Martin’s Press.

National Planning Commission (NPC) (2014). Nepal Human Development Report. Kathmandu: NPC

Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) (2008). Handbook of constructing composite indicators: Methodology and user guide. OECD: JRC European Commission,

Quality of Government Institute (https://qog.pol.gu.se/)

  1. L. Hartley, S. L. & W. E. MacLean, Jr. (2006). A review of the reliability and validity of Likert-type scales for people with intellectual disability. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 50 (II), 813-827. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2788.2006.00844.x

Subedi, P.K. (2014). Social Research Method. Kathmandu: Kirti Publications

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) (2018). Human Development Report 2010. New York: UNDP

Varieties of Democracy (https://www.v-dem.net/en/)