Design and validation of an index to measure development in rural areas through stakeholder participation

TL;DR

This paper develops and validates a Rural Development Index using three aggregation methods, finding the unweighted arithmetic/geometric mean most accurately measures development levels across Portuguese regions.

Contribution

It introduces a new index for rural development assessment based on stakeholder-selected indicators and compares three aggregation methods for accuracy.

Findings

Unweighted arithmetic/geometric mean best measures rural development

The index effectively differentiates development levels across regions

Stakeholder input via Delphi improved indicator selection

Abstract

This paper proposes the development of an index to assess rural development based on a set of 25 demographic, economic, environmental, and social welfare indicators previously selected through a Delphi approach. Three widely accepted aggregation methods were then tested: a mixed arithmetic/geometric mean without weightings for each indicator; a weighted arithmetic mean using the weights previously generated by the Delphi panel and an aggregation through Principal Component Analysis. These three methodologies were later applied to 9 Portuguese NUTS III regions, and the results were presented to a group of experts in rural development who indicated which of the three forms of aggregation best measured the levels of rural development of the different territories. Finally, it was concluded that the unweighted arithmetic/geometric mean was the most accurate methodology for aggregating indicators to create a Rural Development Index.