In a guest post, the Utah Foundation’s Morgan Lyon Cotti discusses the Utah Foundation Quality of Life Index, which seeks “to better understand the quality of life in Utah, and the factors that contribute to or detract from it.”
The Index was created by surveying Utahns about 20 factors that influence quality of life. The survey was conducted by Lighthouse Research by phone, and 621 interviews were completed. Each factor was carefully selected based on an extensive literature review of other quality of life surveys, a focus group in which participants discussed the many important elements of quality of life, and discussion among experts regarding this topic. These factors represented a broad array of issues, ranging from jobs and education to parks and shopping. Survey respondents rated each factor on a five-point scale, with one signifying the poorest quality and five being best. The averages of these scores were then calculated to create scores and an overall index, with a possible 100 points for each. Using this methodology, the first biennial Utah Foundation’s Quality of Life Index stands at 77.2 for 2011
