text: 55. For practical uses, the conceptual framework of social indicators, although it may be imperfect and controversial, needs to be expressed in terms of statistics, statistical series, or other forms of measures. This requirement raises another set of problems in view of the statistical reali­ ty in many developing countries. The efforts of data-producing agencies in these countries are often discredited by inaccuracy and inconsistency of key demographic and economic statistics. To improve these series and to generate other necessary statistics would require laborious and time­ consuming effort. Consequently, social indicators listed in statistical series are necessarily limited in their coverage, and a reader might con­ clude that social indicators are merely a loose compendium of social statistics. Because of dissatisfaction with the limitations of objective indicators in expressing the quality of life, advanced countries have experimented with subjective indicators. These efforts to improve survey techniques and methods of measurement may in the future produce sensible approaches in dealing with the qualitative aspects of well-being. However, similar attempts in developing countries would further burden their statistical requirements. 56. Attempts to construct aggregated indicators from social indica­ tors confront the unresolved problems of indexing and of measuring social unmeasurables. Some notable refinements have not been sufficient to receive general acceptance. Model building and analytical 52 applications of social indicators have just begun, With a few pioneering° studies restricted py the paucity of available · data and; establish~d . · theories. The non-existence of reliable data and of established theories ·. forins another vicious circle that is difficult. to break. One of the irnpqr-.. . tant pre-requisites for· breaking this vicious circle is the data ba.se for social indicators which will enable researchers to test fonnulated hy_. ·. · · ~~~- . ·,. 5 7. For the field to develop further, a reorientation of ~cial ihdica­
analysis: The text appears to be discussing the challenges and limitations of using social indicators to measure the quality of life in developing countries, particularly in terms of data collection and analysis. It also touches on the need for refinements in survey techniques and methods of measurement to better capture the qualitative aspects of well-being. Given these themes, it is likely that the text is related to the fields of social sciences and development studies.