Publication Date

1982

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

First Advisor

Suchner, Robert W., 1944-

Degree Name

M.A. (Master of Arts)

Legacy Department

Department of Sociology

LCSH

Taiwan--Economic conditions

Abstract

This thesis is a study of perceptions of the impact of economic development on quality of life in Taiwan. Specifically, it investigates the impact of gender, education, age, and area of residence on perceptions of the quality of life. This study is based on a secondary analysis of The Taiwan Area Research Group on Theological Issues (TARGTI) data, a 1980 survey of Taiwanese on the attitudes of economic development and quality of life. TARGTI developed 49 items concerned with the relationship between economic development and increases or deterioration in quality of life. A factor analysis of responses of 1400 people displays five factors regarding the impact of economic development on quality of life in individual, environment, religion, traditional values, and cultural spheres. Factor scales were constructed to measure each of the factors. Using MANOVA, four different models were tested to tease out the individual and interaction effects of area of residence, education, age, and sex -- forming a set of correlated predictors for the overall measure of quality of life. The results indicate reliable differences in perceptions of quality of life due to area of residence, level of education, level of education by area of residence, and level of education by age of respondent. The main findings of the series of univariate analysis of perceptions of the five individual dimensions of quality of life reveal: (1) Rural residents are most likely to perceive the deleterious effects of economic development on the environment, and urban residents are least likely to do so. (2) Level of education is a very influential factor. The least educated people perceived less effect on individual benefits and traditional values from economic development, while they perceived more impact on physical and psychological environment and religion. (3) Among college educated, older people and rural residents perceived more positive impact on cultural and individual benefits from economic development.

Comments

Includes bibliographical references.||Includes illustrations.

Extent

vii, 96 pages

Language

eng

Publisher

Northern Illinois University

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Rights Statement 2

NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.

Media Type

Text

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