Methods for measuring subjective poverty
The poor themselves seldom use the metric of a dollar-a-day to asses their wellbeing. What methods and tools do development practitioners use to capture and measure subjective poverty?
When subjective poverty is defined as the necessary household budget below which people think they are poor, it is usually measured using the minimum income question (MIQ), the income evaluation question (IEQ), the consumption adequacy question (CAQ) or the economic ladder question (ELQ). In doing so, the concept aims to quantify perceptions of poverty into a poverty line.
From a multidimensional perspective of subjective poverty, the many dimensions are captured through creative and innovative qualitative or quantitative approaches.
There is also a body of literature that emphasises the value of complementing both qualitative and quantitative assessments of objective and subjective poverty.
Subjective poverty measurements, however, depend on socio-economic circumstances, cultural values and political contexts. These vary across countries, in time, between regions, even between urban and rural zones. Such measures are therefore more difficult to compare across time and space.
When subjective poverty is defined as the necessary household budget below which people think they are poor, it is usually measured using the minimum income question (MIQ), the income evaluation question (IEQ), the consumption adequacy question (CAQ) or the economic ladder question (ELQ). In doing so, the concept aims to quantify perceptions of poverty into a poverty line.
From a multidimensional perspective of subjective poverty, the many dimensions are captured through creative and innovative qualitative or quantitative approaches.
There is also a body of literature that emphasises the value of complementing both qualitative and quantitative assessments of objective and subjective poverty.
Subjective poverty measurements, however, depend on socio-economic circumstances, cultural values and political contexts. These vary across countries, in time, between regions, even between urban and rural zones. Such measures are therefore more difficult to compare across time and space.
Recommended readings
- The ability to go about without shame: a proposal for internationally comparable indicators of shame and humiliation
- ( D. Zavaleta / Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative , 2008)
- Shame and humiliation are central to the understanding of poverty, yet internationally comparable data on this dimension are missing. Based on existing indicators from related fields, this article sug...
- Compendium of best practices in poverty measurement
- ( Fundacao Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatistica , 2006)
- Measuring poverty is a complex endeavour that is complicated by data availabilities, social and political contexts, and ideology. This compendium offers a thorough discussion on best practices in pove...
- Towards a democratic definition of poverty. Socially perceived necessities in South Africa
- ( G. Wright;M. Noble;W. Magasela / Human Sciences Research Council, South Africa , 2008)
- This paper attempts to create a definition of poverty in South Africa and its relation to social exclusion. The report develops Indicators of Poverty and Social Exclusion (IPSE). Indicators are in ter...
- Subjective assessments, participatory methods and poverty dynamics: the Stages-of-Progress method
- ( A. Krishna / Chronic Poverty Research Centre, UK , 2007)
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The Stages-of-Progress methodology helps examine why households move out of and into poverty. This paper presents the methodology, briefly discussing some results from case studies carried out in d...
- ‘Translation is not enough’: using the Global Person Generated Index (GPGI) to assess individual quality of life in Bangladesh, Thailand, and Ethiopia
- ( L. Camfield;D. Ruta / ESRC Research Group on Wellbeing in Developing Countries . University of Bath , 2007)
- Few subjective measures of quality of life are available for use in developing countries. This report describes the successful validation of one such measure, the Global Person Generated Index (GPGI),...
- Poverty research: methodologies, mindsets and multidimensionality
- ( R. Chambers / Institute of Development Studies, Sussex, UK , 2007)
- This paper explores linkages between methodologies, mindsets, concepts and perceptions in research on poverty. Three streams, syndromes or paradigms are described; non-contextual and quantitative, qua...
- Annotated bibliography of recent Q2 analyses of poverty
- ( J. da Silva / Q-Squared: Combining Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches in Poverty Analysis , 2006)
- This annotated bibliography was prepared to help promote a better integration of qualitative and quantitative approaches to poverty assessment in the developing world through the facilitation of infor...
