Indicators: From Counting to Communicating

Abstract

The use of indicators for analyzing quality-of-life conditions and differential access to resources and opportunities have gained the attention both in the academic as well as in the planning practice and policy arenas. However, teaching indicator methods and usage is a challenge since it requires the practice of going through all the steps of indicators’ development in a short period of time. These steps range from counting, construction and operationalization of the indicators to more policy and learning-related steps that require a critical and reflective process. This gradient from the traditional and mechanistic to the critical is also reflected in the evolution of indicators’ movement. To analyze and illustrate this development we document education, fieldwork and research on indicators carried out at our faculty in the past 20 years. Our experience indicates that indicators have a great potential to bring the worlds of research and education, and the world of planning and policy making closer together. We believe that in education process, it is of utmost importance to emphasize the shift in the role of indicators from the traditional counting and description towards a more critical and communicative role. We present a framework to show the existing dichotomies and how to incorporate this shift in indicators’ development.