14 - Researching wellbeing: from concepts to methodology

Summary

From concepts to methodology

This volume began by recalling the urgent policy challenges to eliminate extreme poverty in developing countries. The research programme around which this volume has been organised rests on the proposition that the concept of wellbeing is not only academically promising but also can be of practical policy value in both developed and developing worlds. Des Gasper, however, argues in Chapter 2 that if this is the case then two basic challenges must be met. The first is to demonstrate that the label of ‘wellbeing’ can be conceptually useful, or as he puts it ‘appealing’, to both academia and policy. The second is to answer, ‘When will it promote priority to the basic needs of the poorest and under what conditions?’ To achieve this, we contend, requires (a) combining different disciplinary perspectives to advance our understanding of wellbeing and (b) translating this into an agenda for empirical research. These are the topics of sections 14.3 and 14.4 of this chapter.

The formal objective of the Wellbeing in Developing Countries Research Group at the University of Bath has been to develop a conceptual and methodological framework for understanding the social and cultural construction of wellbeing in developing countries.