Public Services and the Quality of Life

• Published in: Social indicators research Vol. 48; no. 2; pp. 125 - 156
• Main Authors: Michalos, Alex C., Zumbo, Bruno D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Kluwer Academic Publishers 01.10.1999; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Age groups; Attitudes; Beliefs; British Columbia; Canada; Cities; Community Satisfaction; Economic sociology; Family Income; Family relations; Government (Administrative Body); Government officials; Government services; Government Spending; Happiness; Life Satisfaction; Likert Scales; Multiple Regression Analysis; Musical performance; Polls & surveys; Population; Preferences; Provincial government; Public officials; Public Opinion; Public Policy; Public Services; Quality of Life; Questionnaires; Recreation; Regression analysis; Relationship; Road maintenance; Sampling; Sampling techniques; Self esteem; Social Indicators; Social research; Social services; Sociology; Sociology of economy and development; Spouses; Standard of living. Income; Surveys; Canada; Prince George British Columbia Canada; Local government; Local Policy; Satisfaction; Quality of Life; Expenditures; Public Service; Federal administration; Police; Public policy; Public Facilities; Fiscal Policy
• ISSN: 0303-8300; 1573-0921
• DOI: 10.1023/A:1006893225196

This is a report of the results of a survey of citizen beliefs and attitudes about public services and the quality of life in Prince George, British Columbia, Canada in the summer of 1997. Information is provided about the perceived frequency with which various services were used, the perceived satisfaction and value for tax dollars spent on the services as well as on levels of government officials generally, preferences for the provision of more or fewer services and for spending relatively more or less revenue on different services, views about user-fees, and views about smoke-free public places and the likely impact of bylaw changes on people's behaviour. Using such information, we examined correlations among perceived satisfaction, perceived value for money, use, spending preferences and demand, and, using multiple regression analysis, explained 66% of the variance in life satisfaction scores, 57% of the variance in satisfaction with the quality of life scores and 37% of the variance in happiness scores. Applying LISREL 8.14, it was shown that a model in which our three global indicators were explained by 13 domain indicators was superior to a model in which the latter indicators were explained by the former, i.e., a Bottom-Up model was superior to a Top-Down model. A simple linear model was also used to explain 32%, 20% and 19%, respectively, of the variance in satisfaction with municipal, provincial and federal government officials.