| Attribution | The extent to which any observed changes in outcomes are the result of a project or programme. |
| Attrition rate | The drop out rate of participants attending a project or programme or for whom data has not been collected in rounds of a survey |
| Autonomy | The capacity to make decisions and take action in our lives. |
| Before and After comparative survey | A type of survey used in a before-and-after design (or pre-post design) where measurements are taken both before and after the introduction of a project or programme to measure its effect |
| Benchmark data | The practice of evaluating something by comparison with a standard |
| Closed questions | Any question that individuals respond to using only a set of predetermined answers |
| Community wellbeing | the social, economic, environmental, cultural, and political conditions that enable a community to flourish. |
| Contribution analysis | Explores how your project or programme has contributed to wellbeing outcomes or impacts, alongside with other factors |
| Counterfactual | What would have happened to the same individuals at the same time had the project or programme not been implemented |
| Demographic questions | These are questions on the background characteristics of your respondents, such as age, gender and ethnicity |
| Experimental Design | A design that aims to establish a cause-and-effect relationship and is a way to plan your evaluation or “experiment” to ensure your results are valid and objective. One of the key principles of the design is the use of randomisation, assigning your participants to treatment and control groups entirely randomly |
| Index | A compound measure that aggregates multiple indicators |
| Inventory measure | Comprises a group of items that seek to measure one variable of interest |
| Mean | the average of a range of data, and The average of a range of data, and an important measure that allows you to compare different findings to each other |
| Mixed-Method design | Research design in quantitative and qualitative methods are used in a single study to gather and analyse data in order to answer a research question/s |
| National Well-being Dashboard | An online visual overview of the national wellbeing data, which allows users to search by domains of wellbeing |
| Objective wellbeing | A definition of wellbeing that focuses on observable quality of life indicators such as income, food, housing and social attributes (education, health, and social connections |
| Office for National Statistics | A non-ministerial Government department that provides data to help with economic, social and environmental policy making. |
| Open questions | Questions that allow someone to answer how they wish to rather than pick a response from a list of options |
| Ordinary Least Squares Regression (OLS) | A method for understanding how well a model - or calculation- fits the data by estimating the unknown parameters It is used with a linear regression model
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| Outcomes | The benefits that a project or intervention is designed to deliver |
| Outputs | The tangible and intangible products that result from project activities |
| P-value | In statistical hypothesis testing, this value that tells us whether an observation is the results of a change that happened or a result of random occurrences |
| Pre-post survey | A survey that is carried out before participation begins, again after a set period and then at the end of your project or programme |
| Positive/Negative Affect | Feelings of happiness, good mood, interest or engagement with life / feelings of unhappiness, bad mood, disinterest or lethargy with life |
| Purpose | An aspect of wellbeing that captures our sense that the things we do are worthwhile |
| Qualitative analysis | Making analytic generalisations based observation, dialogue and evocation, rather than direct measurement |
| Quantitative analysis | Representing data in terms of numerical values and involves direct measurement |
| Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) | This is a theory-driven approach used to analyse the causal contribution of different conditions or contexts to an outcome/s or interest The technique is useful for identifying a variety of patterns and analysing h complex causation and multiple causes of an outcome |
| Quasi-experimental Design | A design that aims to establish a cause-and-effect relationship in which participants are not randomly assigned to treatment and control groups |
| Randomised Control Trial (RCT) | Trial in which individuals are randomly assigned to one of two groups: one (the experimental group) receiving the intervention that is being tested, and the other (the comparison group or control) receiving an alternative (conventional) treatment, to test the effects of an activity or treatment |
| Realist Evaluation | This is a theory-driven approach that aims to identify the underlying mechanisms that explain “how” outcomes are achieved and in what context/s”. In a realist evaluation, specific, hypothesised causal mechanisms, in context, are articulated and evidence gathered for each |
| Repeated Measures T-test | A t-test assesses whether the mean scores from two experimental conditions are statistically different from one another |
| Retrospective survey | This type of survey asks participants to rate changes in their knowledge, abilities and behaviours at the end of their participation in a project or programme from memory |
| Snowballing strategy | A sampling strategy that involves asking respondents you have already identified or other stakeholders to recommend other people they know who may fit your desired criteria |
| Social capital | The non-economic resources that exist in a community - especially the strength of its networks and relationships |
| Subjective wellbeing | A self-reported measure of wellbeing, based on an individual's own assessment rather than external observation |
| Wellbeing inequality | The extent to which people’s experiences of life vary within a population or between groups |
