Ranking of the Districts of Jiroft County Based on Quality of Life Criteria, Using TOPSIS Model

Abstract

Purpose: The term of (QOL) has entered in the literature of development from 1960 decade. Evaluating and ranking the Quality of life of people in a definite region would be very helpful in presenting solutions and strategies towards reducing poverty and preparing the necessary conditions for development. Thus, the aim of this study was to analyze QOL in the centers of rural districs of Jiroft County. Methodology: Research population included 4243 households that about 350 ones of them were selected as research sample based on Kerjecie and Morgan sampling table and Stratified Random Sampling Technique. A predesigned questionnaire with close and open ended questions was designed to collect data. The validity of the supposed questionnaire was verified using face validity procedure and its reliability was also verified calculating Cronbach's Alpha coefficient (from 0.710 to 0.898) in a pilot study. TOPSIS technique was used to weight QOL criteria and then to rank centers of rural districts. Findings: The results showed that in a range from 0 to 1, the QOL of Khaton Abad (0.7235) ranked the first and Halil (0.1097) ranked the last. More Over, the Overall mean of QOL in the study area (0.3680) showed that the supposed villages were relatively poor in terms of QOL. Research limitation: different variables with different measurement scales and the necessity of standardizing the supposed score was the main challenge of this study. Practical implications: Based on the main findings of this study, it is recommended to pay enough attention to improve some quality of life criteria i.e. income, housing, and nutrition especially in less developed regions such as Halil, Islam-Abad, Dolat-Abad, Sarbijan, Rezvan, Saghdor and Ganjabad.