Education Portal for Students in India

Real World Examples: Concept Development In our previous “Real World Examples” post, we explored with a little cookie baking fun! For this post, we will move from the kitchen to the great outdoors and study the art of planting to kick-off our final domain, Instructional Support! Instructional Support looks at how we help children learn to solve problems, reason, and think; how teachers use feedback to expand and deepen skills and knowledge; and finally, how teachers help children develop more complex language skills.

We start our domain journey with the Concept Development dimension. Concept Development focuses on strategies the teacher uses to promote children’s higher-order thinking skills and cognition. It is not rote teaching. Instead, it is the method a teacher uses to get children to think about the how and why of learning.

For adults, Concept Development may look and sound more like talking ourselves through the learning process. Here is one example that many can relate to during the springtime months; planting! We will explore how two adult siblings learn more about planting by beautifying their neighborhood park.

1. Analysis and Reasoning The story begins when siblings decide to take a walk to their neighborhood park.
2. As they approach the park, conversation ensues.
3. Wow, look at all the dead plants and bushes.
4. I wonder what happened? They were all alive last year.” (Evaluation).
5. Look, the plants on the other side of the park they have survived and had the same structure and leaves.

According to the internet, they are a type of rose-bush. See the picture”? (Classification/Comparison). “I wonder what we can do to keep the park looking nice and the plants alive?” (Problem Solving). “I think that a partial-sun bush might work better over on this side of the park.” (Prediction).

1. Creating The conversation continues.
2. Well, what kind of bushes might be partial sun bushes? I think that boxwood, azalea, and gardenia plants might work.” (Brainstorming).
3. Okay, it looks like Boxwood would be a good fit for this space.
4. Now, where exactly should it go and what equipment might we need?” “It looks like we will need a shovel, tape measure, scissors, stakes, soil conditioner or compost, hammer, and work gloves.” (Planning).

Fast forward a couple of days; “Now that we have all of the equipment let’s begin digging and planting!” (Producing). Integration As the siblings prepare the ground and begin digging one says, “I read an article about how neighborhood parks increase a sense of community and when there is greenery it can help reduce stress, especially living in the city as we do.

I am excited to be planting more green plants in our park!” (Connecting Concepts). “I agree, it feels good to give back to our community. Do you remember in school, we would learn how to plant a tree in the spring? This project reminds me of planting the tree. They told us that the roots should be covered but not all of the tree trunk.

The directions say something similar for this hedge and its root ball.” (Integrates with Previous Knowledge). Connections to the Real World “I wonder how we might be able to do this at home even though we do not have a yard. I bet we can plant a partial shade bush in a planter using the same equipment!” (Real world application) “I remember when grandma would plant her azaleas in a planter and keep them on her balcony, the butterflies loved the flowers and I think that having the same kind of bush would enhance our own balconies!” (Related to adult lives).

Through the process of planning and planting, they learned a new concept about plants and bushes. This process is similar to the methods educators use when promoting Concept Development in the classroom. By the siblings using higher order thinking skills instead of someone telling them what to do they were able to analyze, create and make connections to their lives while also integrating the knowledge they already learned about planting.

Remember to rely on your curiosities to help develop questions. If you are curious about something, your students will be too! : Real World Examples: Concept Development
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What is an example of concept development in education?

Why is Concept Development Relevant? – Concept Development is important for many reasons:

1. Concept Development is important because it forces the teacher to have a very clear understanding and definition of what is being taught, and it provides a written reference for students, especially English Learners,
2. Concept Development is important so students can generalize new situations in school and real life. Students need a good foundation at the conceptual level so they can apply the concepts they have learned to new situations. For example, students can calculate how much paint is needed to paint a wall because they immediately recognize that this involves determining area.
3. Concept Development is important so students can internalize the generalization as opposed to learning individual instances. For example, teach the rule that Days of the Week are always capitalized, This is a general rule that students can apply to any day of the week instead of individual days being taught separately. According to brain research (Allard 2007), information should be given in generalizations (one hook) as opposed to individual examples (multiple random hooks) in order for the information to be stored in long-term memory, If students are not taught concepts, then the information is not stored in long-term memory.
4. Concept Development is relevant because all students should be able to describe the concepts being taught. In the article Putting Students on the Path of Learning by Richard Clark, Paul Kirschner, and John Sweller, students with no relevant concepts in long-term memory will blindly search for solutions for extended periods and learn almost nothing.
5. Concepts are tested on state tests and Common Core Assessments, For example, the 5 th grade Smarter Balanced Assessment uses the concept main idea in the question. Students will need to know what main idea is in order to select the correct answer.

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What is the meaning of concept development?

2.5 Develop Concepts Alex Hass Concept development is a process of developing ideas to solve specified design problems. The concepts are developed in phases, from formless idea to precise message in an appropriate form with supportive visuals and content.
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What is the purpose of concept development?

Concept development guide You have a great idea for your next product or service. But do your customers like your idea? Will they buy it? Our Concept Development Guide will help you understand concept development stages and how they help bring your brilliant ideas to life.

• You’ll save time and effort by developing a product or service concept that’s a great fit for your target market before you launch it.
• Concept development helps you evaluate your customers’ reactions to your product or service before your product launch.
• It is a structured way to develop an idea, see if customers like your idea, and determine what customer market is willing to buy it.

The concept development process helps you focus on the good product ideas so you don’t waste time and effort on a bad idea. The process includes:

Brainstorming to create a pool of potential product or service concepts.Performing customer research to target your ideal customer.Estimating the market potential for your product or service concept.Creating a prototype for your product.Devising a marketing strategy.Performing test marketing.Evaluating your results.

The concept development process will help you prove the market feasibility of your product. As part of the process, you will use customer surveys to help you understand the best product features and ones that need improvement. You can also discover how much customers will pay for your product or test new concepts.

Throughout the concept development process, you will be trying to come up with an idea that solves a problem for your ideal customer. That idea will become a product or service that you sell to your target market. It all starts with an idea. But it has to be a good one that solves a customer problem. Brainstorming is a popular method that creates a lot of ideas, while understanding that only one or two will be tested as a viable concept.

There are many brainstorming techniques, from mind-mapping and storyboards, to having everyone write down their ideas in 10 minutes or less. This type of brainstorming can be done in person or on an online chat tool. The goal is to get as many ideas as possible.

The key is to be inclusive and incorporate multiple perspectives and opinions. In brainstorming, it is common for extroverts to lead the group if ideas are spoken in a group. However, this method doesn’t work well for introverts who may need extra time to consider and communicate their thoughts. An everyday event might also lead to a product idea.

VelcroⓇ was invented by a Swiss engineer after a walk in the woods made him wonder why burrs stuck to his pants. Under a microscope, he found the “hooks” of the burr stuck to the “loops” in the fabric of his pants. He used the hook and loop idea to create this well known product that is used in thousands of ways.

Brainstorming an idea is the first step in your concept development process. You will use the information gathered in this step as part of your new product development process. But first, you need to find out more about your ideal customers. Your product or service will solve customers’ problems. But do you know who your customers are and what challenges they have? Customer research is the process of discovering who your ideal customer is, what their problems are, and how much they will pay for your solution.

Creating buyer personas, or fictional profiles of customer challenges and opportunities, are helpful to visualize who your customer is and what they want and need. One way to understand customer challenges is to investigate what is trending in your industry.

Social media is a great outlet for candid customer replies. You can research product reviews, vendor websites, social media channels, and other sites where customers leave comments. Customers state exactly who is solving their problems and what product or service gaps still exist. Surveys are another great way to understand what customers are thinking.

Survey results are broken down by age, gender preference, and other metrics that give you detailed insights into customer behavior. Some companies are using Voice of the Customer (VoC) research to determine what their customers need. By collecting customer feedback, customer retention soar to 87% as opposed to only 56% for firms who don’t collect VoC feedback.

Does our new product interest you?Which product feature do you like the best – or worst?How does the product compare to similar brands?How much would you pay for the product?What feature would you change?Would you buy the product for your household members?

Conducting surveys on more than one concept will help you determine which product or service your customers like the most. You can concept results in less than an hour with, Who are your biggest competitors? That’s the next step in concept development. A competitive analysis will help you understand what companies you compete with and which marketing strategies they use. This analysis will help you understand how you and your competitors differ.

1. Those differences make you unique.
2. If customers are willing to buy your products because they are unique, you have a competitive advantage.
3. Your competitive analysis will help you find gaps in the market.
4. These are customer problems that exist, but are not being solved.
5. The concepts from your brainstorming session might fill those gaps and result in a new product.

You can also take advantage of market trends. Do customers have new needs because of the weather, changing economic conditions, celebrity endorsements, or a baby boom? There are many factors that will affect your market so pay close attention to new trends.

1. The global pandemic showed gaps where new products were needed.
2. For instance, a metal worked overtime to make test tube tray holders for vaccine manufacturers.
3. A designed a vending machine for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to be put in public areas to keep people safe in public venues.
4. A global company designed rug tiles with symbols to indicate where people could stand 6 feet apart and socially distance themselves from other people.

Your competitive analysis will help you market and sell your products better. You’ll know not only what problems to solve for your customers, but if your competitors are doing so too. Based on your competitive analysis, you will narrow down the number of concepts you have and see which ones have the best chance of gaining a competitive edge in the market.

• After you have decided which concepts you want to pursue, you can create a prototype to get a look and feel for the product.
• With prototyping, you make a real-life mockup of your product.
• A prototype will test and validate your idea, often quickly and cheaply.
• Prototypes are tangible forms of your idea.

They may not even be the entire product, just a part of it, like a box, a handle, or a beta version of a software app. Prototyping is a valuable part of your product development process, allowing people to see, use, touch, and feel the product instead of just imagining it.

Prototypes can also be visual designs and other images so you can get feedback prior to developing any materials or writing code. In the beginning stages, you just need a rough prototype so you can gather input from your team and potential customers. The prototype will challenge your original ideas and test your assumptions.

may look nothing like the final manufactured product. Early computers, like the Apple 1, was a circuit board wired to a keyboard. The iPad prototype was a small screen plugged into a keyboard. Over 30 push button phone prototypes were created in the 1940’s by Bell Labs, only to be scrapped until 1963 when a better prototype emerged that people thought could be used in people’s homes.

It may take several rounds of prototyping before a final prototype is ready for customers to evaluate. You can use surveys to get additional input from customers on how to improve the product so your prototypes improve. After you receive input from your team and customers that your prototype seems viable and there is a market for your product, it’s time to create a marketing strategy.

Your marketing strategy is how you plan to get your product to market to be sold to customers. It incorporates the “4 P’s” of marketing:

Product – your brand, product or service offered, and packaging Price – what price you will sell it for, including discounts and your payment policy Place – which sector you will sell it and what channels of distribution will you use. Promotion – your advertising and sales promotion plans

Balancing these four variables is critical to your new product launch and ongoing sales. Your customer research and competitive analysis will help you design an effective marketing strategy. For instance, some products position themselves as a premium product and have a higher price tag than their competitors.

For two competing products, each one might have the same manufacturing cost, but because of their pricing strategy, they are priced and positioned differently. In addition, competitors may use different channels to distribute their products because one caters more effectively to their audience. For instance, Bing may be the search engine that luxury brands prefer for online advertising.

Bing’s show that 73% of users are under age 45 and 25% have incomes in the top 25%, making it a better place to promote higher priced products. Test marketing gets your product in front of customers to capture their reaction before you go to a full product launch.

• The goal is to understand the market acceptance of a product.
• As part of the concept development process, the goal of test marketing is to understand the general market viability of your product or service.
• It differs from the product development process where the goal is to test the features of the product.

There are three ways to perform test marketing. The first is through a standard test marke t. With this approach, companies have their products placed in stores in a smaller test market and then track sales for their product. Secondly, a controlled test market, often performed by a marketing agency like ACNielsen, will place the product in select stores and then monitor those store’s customer purchase transaction data.

Finally, a simulated market is where a panel of consumers provide first-hand feedback about products. The simulated market is quicker and not as extensive as the standard or controlled test markets. Surveys are also a valuable way to perform test marketing. Your survey design process can include specific questions about your products to a wide audience to understand customer attitudes toward the product and if they would buy it.

See how to get fast, clear results with SurveyMonkey’s Product Concept Analysis, In your concept development process, you will also evaluate the features of the product using eight (8) variables. These variables detail how the product solves the customer’s needs, helping you to better market your product.

Convenience, How easy is it for the consumer to find information about your product? How much effort is required to purchase it (online vs. in-store)? Does it require installation or maintenance? The more convenient a product is, the more likely the customer is to buy it. Usability, Once purchased, how easy is it for the customer to use? How much satisfaction (or frustration) do they get from using it? Can they easily solve their initial problem for buying the product? Usability affects how well customers accept your product. Quality, Quality refers to how much better one product is compared to another. It may be in terms of how long it lasts, the materials that make up the product, its reliability or safety in comparison to a competing product. Functionality, Does the product do what it is supposed to do? Customers need products to function as expected to solve their problems. They will judge the product on whether or not it is easy to use. Performance, Some features will provide a metric to show how well it performs. For instance, “a 10 hour battery life” or “0 to 60 mph in 10 seconds” are performance features. Price. Price is one of the core parts of the marketing mix. What can customers expect to pay for the product? What will they get for that price? What discounts or bonuses are included. Extras like free shipping or discounts for bulk purchases affect the price. Value, What value does the consumer get from the product? Is the value of the benefits they get from the product more than the price that they paid? Increasingly, customers are looking for brands that offer more value than just the price. Experience, What is the customer’s experience throughout the life of the product? Will they continue to enjoy it and make additional purchases? Companies are now highlighting the customer experience as a core part of the customer journey in buying and using a product throughout its useful life.

Over of product launches fail. The concept development process helps companies improve their chances of clearly understanding their concept’s potential as a product or service to reduce the chances of failure. Even the biggest companies, who spend millions of dollars for their market research, can fail in concept testing.

Capture objective opinions on your product features.Help optimize your product by eliminating features you don’t need.Test the effectiveness of your brand influence on your concept.Evaluate your concept against your competitors.Check the effectiveness of existing products.

Online surveys have the advantage of accessing a large audience, increasing the number of respondents. Questions are flexible and can be tailored to your specific concept testing needs. Objectivity is another benefit of online surveys overcoming any subjective bias that may exist within the team. SurveyMonkey has proven methods to use in all of your concept development stages. Our for concept testing include:

Ad creative analysisProduct concept analysisVideo creative analysisPackaging design analysisLogo design analysis Brand name analysisMessaging and claims analysis

Sample questions for your concept testing include:

What was your first reaction to the product?How would you rate the quality of the product?How innovative is the product?When you think of the product, is it something that you do or don’t need?How would you rate the value for the money paid for the product?If the service were available today would you use it?How likely are you to replace your current service?What are the things you like most about the product?

These are just a few of the extensive bank of survey questions that we offer our clients. Our Audience panel survey collects data from the targeted audiences to accurately test your product concept. Whether you are at the initial stages of product ideation or ready to launch your product, SurveyMonkey’s Audience panel will provide you with clear results, quickly, on how well your product will perform.
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What is concept development in children?

Concept development –

explore and describe the objects, movements and qualities that are around youhelp children to explain their thoughts and feelings with wordsincorporate counting, naming, and describing into everyday activitiesbrainstorm members of categories (for example who can think of types of vehicles?)what kind of word is that? categorise vocabulary as they come up in interactions (for example run skip glide prance are all ways of moving)show how It fits: use objects/pictures (to represent words/concepts) and sort words to categories and subcategories.

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What is concept development activities?

Research-based curricula assist education staff in helping children develop thinking skills and a deeper understanding of concepts. This resource provides guiding questions for exploring how a curriculum fosters concept development. This includes:

Analysis and reasoning: Asking children thought-provoking questions and open-ended questions Creating: Engaging children in planning, brainstorming, and generating ideas Integration: Helping children connect new information to prior knowledge Connections to the real world: Helping children connect learning experiences to their lives outside the learning setting

Download the PDF Curricula may have different ways to guide teachers in supporting children’s concept development. A curriculum may provide strategies to help children develop analytical thinking skills and a deeper understanding of concepts. It may also offer children with opportunities to experiment, brainstorm, and create.
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What are the five concepts of development?

The five major development concepts

Workers assemble engines at a factory in Weifang, Shandong province.

China’s economy is in historic transition. Opportunities and challenges abound. China’s problems are daunting: slower growth, social imbalances, industrial overcapacity, excessive debt, massive pollution－the list goes on. How to address such diverse, complex issues? China has an overarching, guiding strategy.

1. According to President Xi Jinping, China’s development model, going forward, will be driven by “innovation, coordination, green, openness and sharing”.
2. It’s called the “Five Major Development Concepts”.
3. Why these five concepts? How does each work? Why are they amalgamated? Why this order? Moreover, since each of the five concepts is already well known and commonly prescribed, why now this guiding, integrated strategy? I address these questions in a series of six essays－this overview, and one on each of the five concepts.

They are based on six episodes of my TV show, Closer to China with R.L.Kuhn, on CCTV News, which tells the true story of China via China’s thought leaders. ⅔(Watch “The Five Major Development Concepts” on “Closer To China with R.L.Kuhn”－CCTV News, Sundays 9:30 am and 9:30 pm China time, beginning September 25.) These episodes are in turn based on a new book, Piloting China.

• In the book, the Five Major Development Concepts are explained in theory and illustrated in practice through real-world case studies.
• Guided by the book, I traveled across China with our CCTV crew to see how these five concepts are being implemented.
• It was an adventure.
• I was pleased to find “Innovative Development” in the top spot, the first of the five development concepts.

It signals that China’s leaders appreciate the primary role of reform in the country’s economic and social transformation. Reform requires change, change requires doing things differently, and doing things differently requires innovation. I looked for two kinds of innovation: obviously in science and technology, but also in management and processes.

• In order to optimize economic development, the efficient allocation of resources is essential.
• That’s why “Coordinated Development” is the second development concept.
• While China now recognizes that the market must play a “decisive” role, still there are issues, such as when provinces and cities compete with each other by developing similar industries.

Other issues requiring coordination include how to integrate diverse regions and rebalance urban and rural areas. Pollution has become a scourge in China, the debilitating consequences of rapid industrial development. Chinese people are exceedingly displeased to see their air, water and soil so polluted, and the government has responded by elevating “Green Development”, the third development concept, to highest national importance.

One of the pioneers has been East China’s Zhejiang province, where in 2005 Xi Jinping, then Zhejiang Party secretary, famously said: “Clear waters and green mountains are mountains of gold and silver.” Putting the theory into practice, Zhejiang has pioneered an “eco-compensation” system, which enables regions to both preserve the environment and develop eco-friendly industries.

I’ve been visiting China since the late 1980s and I bear witness to China’s historic development. “Open Development”, the fourth development concept, is exemplified by China’s free trade zones, the Belt and Road Initiative, and Chinese companies going abroad (building infrastructure, selling high-speed rail, even buying foreign companies).

China cannot become a “moderately prosperous society” until its economic and social imbalances－particularly between rural and urban areas－are reduced and poverty is eliminated. That’s why “Shared Development”, the fifth development concept, is vital. Shared development comes last, not because it is least important, but because it requires the success of the first four development concepts.

As China’s economy settles into its “new normal”, with slower growth and multiple challenges, Xi calls for market and government, working together, to optimize and balance efficiency and fairness. The government, in Xi’s philosophy, is “smart”, while the market is “decisive”.

1. That’s why his Five Major Development Concepts now inform the thinking and guide the behavior of officials at all levels of government.
2. For China to fulfill its first comprehensive goal of becoming a “moderately prosperous society” by 2020, its economy must transition and its society must rebalance－and to bring about such major transformations, the Five Major Development Concepts are crucial.

The author is a public intellectual, political/economics commentator, and international corporate strategist. : The five major development concepts
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What are the types of concept development?

20+ Concept Development Techniques

Backward Invention	Brainstorming
Concept Testing	Counterfactual Thinking
Creativity Of Constraints	Design Concept
Divergent Thinking	Feasibility Study
First Principles	Idea Generation

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What are the strategies of concept development?

According to this, development is structured by three teaching phases: exploration, concept invention/ introduction and application. Through this sequence students‟ thinking is expected to progress from concrete thinking to formal abstract level.
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What is the first stage of concept development?

1. Review the product development specification – The first step is to review the product development specification created in the product definition or first phase. The PDS provides a framework for brainstorming viable concepts. If no product development specification exists, the team can create one.
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What are the three concept of development?

Development: an analysis of concepts, measurement and indicators ARTICLES Development: an analysis of concepts, measurement and indicators Jair Soares Jr. I, ; Rogério H. Quintella II

• I E-mail address: Escola de Administração, Universidade Federal da Bahia Salvador, BA, Brazil
• II E-mail address: Escola de Administração, Universidade Federal da Bahia Salvador, BA, Brazil
• ABSTRACT

This paper presents the result of a comprehensive analysis of the main forms of development measurement. Recognizing the level of complexity that the subject involves, aspects related to interpretations and dominant ideologies in development/growth concepts are shown initially.

• The second part of this work constitutes a critical analysis of forty-three of the most well-known national and international indicators used to measure this phenomenon.
• It is imagined that this analysis can show the state of the art for constructing development indicators.
• The development process covers a complexity of relationships.

Its analysis, therefore, cannot be restricted only to the economic dimension because, as a rule, the question is presented both in the media and a considerable part of specialized literature. Emphasis on this dimension has historic origins, which have already shown the fragility of this approach.

Key words: development; development indicators; index; well-being. HISTORIC DETERMINANTS OF DEVELOPMENT: FROM THE 17 TH TO 19 TH CENTURY The concept of development is almost as old as civilization. Its extensive use in western societies from Greco-Roman civilizations to the late 19 th century as a generic construct that designates the most varied aspects related to humanity’s well-being, however, made the concept come closer to that of a doctrine.

For this present study’s purposes, a temporal cut was chosen from 17 th century illuminist ideas and its metamorphoses until current times. At the end of that century, the predominant idea of development was dependent on natural and positive phenomena, with its expansion only contained by conscience of limit ( ),

• Following a long dispute between those called the Modern and Ancient, ending with victory by the Modern, Leibniz (1646-1716) inaugurated the concept of infinite progress.
• Other modern thinkers such as Condorcet, Kant, Hegel and Marx in turn conceived and interpreted progress in a distinct manner from that resulting from the idea of conscience of limit or, in other words, are aligned with the potentially infinite concept of progress.

In these authors’ works, it is also possible to note a certain proximity with Augustinian thinking, of conceiving history as a totality, a firm march of civilization, a continual, albeit inconstant and non-linear process, in the direction of a common well-being.

In Rist’s words: “a constant evolution, based on the belief of human perfectibility and motivated by the incessant search for well-being” (Rist, 2001, p.70). In the mid 18 th century, radically opposing the Rousseaunian vision of the good savage ( ), Buffon (1707-1788) defended the idea that there is a general prototype for each species in nature and that this is perfected because of the climate and habits of the society in which it is inserted.

In his work Natural History, the author defends the idea that civilization will arrive at the European and affirms: “Because of their superiority, civilized people are responsible for the coming world” (Buffon as cited in Duchet, 1984, p.54). In this way, Buffon almost gives the force of law to what he perceives as a historic reality.

Also in the 18 th century, the Marquis of Condorcet (1743-1794), launched the bases of thinking that would predominate in the second half of the 20 th century, in defending the idea that Europeans would end up respecting the independence of their ex-colonies and, then, should contribute to them through civilizing their people ( ) (Rist, 2001, p.68).

Another paradigm of development, however, had already reached its peak in the 19 th century, under the form of Social Evolutionism. The term development, in this new paradigm, prevailed on concepts such as modernization or liberation, Such predominance seems to result from the need for a broader concept to represent the multiple dimensions necessary for humanity’s well-being.

An apparent alignment of modernity theories can now be highlighted in the sense of perceiving social groups as a unique species and therefore presenting similar development paths. However, recurrent analogy with the natural development processes does not explain and is not even able to adequately deal with the cultural multiplicity present in societies, particularly in the 20 th and 21 st centuries, as will be discussed later on in this paper.20TH CENTURY DEVELOPMENT: THE PERSPECTIVE OF INTERNATIONAL AGENCIES The growing diffusion of development concepts and policies permits the last decades to be nominated here as the era of development.

The origin of this era, in which we supposedly still live, can be located at the end of the first half of the 20 th century, possibly in North American President Harry S Truman’s international policy, when he decided to highlight the importance of extending the technical help offered to some Latin American and other less-favoured nations: I believe that we should make available to peace loving peoples the benefits of our store of technical knowledge in order to help them realize their aspirations for a better life.

And, in cooperation with other nations, we should foster capital investment in areas needing development (Truman, 1949). The Marquis of Condocert’s aforementioned ideas can therefore be compared with a new international situation.1960 is considered to be the year of decolonization, a process, which until then had been legitimized purely as a generous agreement aiming to offer opportunity to societies that were considered the slowest to advance on the path of civilization.

Several countries became independent from that moment and the supposed decolonization process crossed the world. This even changed the relationship of forces in the United Nations plenary session and apparently placed the problems of world inequality and the need for development in what was then called the Third World at a higher level.

The development question took on new shapes and slants a little later in December, 1964 with the creation of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, This organization was created with the objective of attempting to bridge the gap, which was not covered by the organizations that appeared following the Second World War.

Another international milestone in development question took place in 1968, with the creation of the Rome Club. This brought together professionals from various areas and different countries to form a free association of scientists, technocrats and politicians, whose objective was to reflect on and seek solutions to various world problems.

This new forum published a report entitled Growth Limits in 1972, in which it recognizes the finitude of natural resources and the seriousness of the problems that were already devastating the environment and jeopardizing human survival on Earth. Some of the development phenomenon’s new dimensions acquired space and legitimacy in this way.

Also in that year, at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, held in Stockholm, the growing international movement on the topic highlighted the problem of the possible lack of a continual energy supply on the planet. In the following decade, the central countries’ actions extended domination of financial questions on the international development agenda through promoting neo-liberal ideas and practices of exalting the market and reducing the State.

• As a consequence, the Third World stopped gaining space on the world political agenda and now its development controversies did not find the same echo in priorities from the more economically developed countries.
• In general, the Bretton Woods institutions, Organization for Cooperation and Economic Development and World Trade Organization gained relevance in relation to UNCTAD.

This organization was intended to be the main negotiation forum for a new international economic order in the 1970s (Almeida, 1994). The World Commission for Environment and Development published a report entitled Our Common Future in 1987, also known as the Bruntland Report, which was an instrument used to spread the recently created concept of sustainable development,

In the 1990s, the United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development (Eco-92), held in Rio de Janeiro, brought the topic back to the international political agenda. It now dealt with advance as a much broader concept of development, adding environmental preservation and rational use of natural resources as imperative in resolving social and economic growth problems.

Despite conflicts of interest at this conference, a long-term action programme was prepared, which had ample potential for international impact: Agenda 21. This agenda launched some of the bases to be practised and, in global terms, the new concept of sustainable development.

1. Eco-92 results unfolded in terms of measurement tools from August 1994, with the Conference and Workshop on Indicators of Sustainability taking place.
2. According to Hart (1994), although some methodology conception initiatives already existed to apply measurement tools, the CWIS enabled some advances, among which the following are highlighted: a) recognition of different sustainability definitions; b) need for an appropriate methodology for effective sustainability indicator use and c) observation of governmental and private interests on the theme.

Also in that decade, institutions such as the World Resources Institute and World Bank promoted the spread of a green economy (green national accounting). This suggested methodological alterations that incorporated variables related to the use of natural resources (forests, rivers, lakes, etc) in the National Accounts System and, consequently, GDP calculation.

To measure the ‘green economy’ in 1995, the World Bank carried out an evaluation of 192 countries and concluded that the physical capital, also measured by conventional GDP, on average corresponded to only 16% of the total wealth produced by these nations. However, human capital reached 64% and, natural capital, on average, represented 20% of the total.

According to Marzall and Almeida (1998), from this perspective, some European countries’ GDP began to reflect a decrease in natural resources and the costs of pollution generated. Between the end of the decade and start of the new millennium, globalization became the most important phenomenon in debates and reflections on international problems of a political, economic, social, cultural and environmental order.

1. With the objective of clarifying some contemporary questions on the concept of development, the next item brings some relevant definitions and then presents a structured analysis of the actual predominant currents when approaching development.
2. CONTEMPORARY SENSES OF DEVELOPMENT
3. Rostow’s seminal work (1971) reclaims Social Darwinism to explain development as a process of evolutional succession in stages, where human societies leave a rudimentary model until they arrive at a western industrialized civilization consumption model, which is considered unique and universal.

In Ribeiro’s approach (2005, p.11), the sense of the word development, in various areas of knowledge, converges to “a state, process, well-being, progress, economic and human growth or ecological balance”. The South Commision (1990, p.10) defines the term as “a maturing and development process of self that frees the population from fear and exploitation”.

• Both understandings seem to diverge and advance in relation to the idea by the most traditional students of the theme to whom development is usually seen as a phenomenon that fundamentally interests developed countries (Ribeiro, 2005).
• An international institutional vision such as that of United Nations Development Programme (1991, p.77), on the other hand, also suggests an interpretation of what development is: “expanding the range of choices for the population that allows development to become more democratic and participative.(.) access to ( sic ) income.

participation in decisions and enjoyment of human, economic and political liberties”. The three definitions presented so far are linked to models identified from three predominant currents when approaching the concept of development. The first, and more usual, deals with the term as a synonym for economic growth.

The second denies that the term is appropriate and says that its use does not go beyond mere illusion, ideological manipulation, belief or myth. The third, and most difficult and challenging way, however, “tries to explain that development is not chimerical and also cannot be belittled as economic growth” (Veiga, 2005, p.17).

Each one of these schools of thought are described succinctly as follows: Development as Economic Growth From an economic perspective, Schumpeter (1984, 1985, 1989) cannot be left unmentioned. He used the term development as evolution, unfolding, revelation and innovation,

For this school, it seems that there is no need for a development theory, applying modern economics to the concept, which is an antihistorical and universally valid discipline being sufficient. According to Veiga (2005, p.80): “The market fundamentalists implicitly consider development as something redundant.

Development would come as a natural consequence of economic growth, thanks to the trickle-down effect”. Until several decades ago, some of the representative principles from the economic school of thought considered that growth would be capable of promoting society’s development ( ),

Supposedly with this, directly or indirectly solving problems arising from the most varied dimensions, mainly those related to poverty reduction of nations and regions. Facing the impossibility of population control, growth policies would be an alternative to combat poverty. Contemplated for centuries (Smith & Ricardo, 1978), these policies still find support in recent literature on development (Bustelo, 1999; Preston, 1996) and are based on the idea that an economy, as it grows, makes for greater availability of resources for the population, thus benefiting the poorest.

The authors who form part of this current of thought defend the idea that in urbanized modern societies, a good part of well-being is associated to income that people have in order to access goods and services to be acquired in the market. This is a positioning that directly reflects in the formulation of social and environmental policies.

However, despite the theoretic importance of this line of thought, the World Bank recognizes that only obtaining economic growth in itself does not guarantee poverty reduction. Development as Fiction In the discourse by authors forming part of this second current, the critique that development cannot be reduced to a quantitative understanding of the world is present.

Rivero (2002) defends the idea that those who believe in development ignore the historical-cultural processes, society’s non-linear progress, ethical approaches and even dispense with ecological impacts. Another point that characterizes the authors forming part of this current scepticism is related to the fact of believing that a reduced, or almost non-existent, possibility exists of peripheral countries rising in the rigid world capitalist hierarchy.

According to Rist (2001), critical reflection has room for an economic vision of development when considering that societies form part of the same species, whose time elapses in the same rhythm for all: how would it be possible for a society that started its development later on, to reach those that are already at an advanced development stage? Regarding use of the term development, critics converge in this way in understanding that imagining it as a simple asynthotic representation of growth is not appropriate, since this reasoning connects a natural to a social phenomenon in a simplistic form.

Rist (2001) confirms this, saying that instead of facilitating the phenomenon’s comprehension, the metaphor obscures it, naturalizing history, It would be as if each village was destined to become a great city or each animal species was destined to transform into another, as this presents greater evolutive success.

• With the triumph of the Darwinist perspective in the 19 th century, Social Evolutionism came to be inserted into this debate until a new paradigm was established in the following century, where society would have the possibility of reaching perfection,
• Acceptance of this paradigm in the collective imaginary implied the acceptance of a supposed primacy of western superiority above other civilizations, among other things.

In this way, at the heart of this concept would be the idea that a natural history of humanity exists and that, therefore, the development of societies, wealth and knowledge would correspond to a natural self-dynamic principle ( ), The approximation of development theories with Darwinist ideas allowed for the legitimization of colonisation mainly in course in Africa and Asia at the end of the 19 th century on a political plane.

It was a time in which this movement had the justification of providing colonized societies with the conditions to become advanced, in accordance with criteria established by this domination process. The benefits of this intervention materialized the idea that human nature is implied in social nature,

In direct opposition to this vision, Furtado (1974, p.87) and others, defend the proposition that dependent countries would always be underdeveloped: “the transition of underdevelopment to development is hard to conceive, within the setting of dependency”.

• Faced with the rejection of belief in development, part of this current’s authors prefer to use the term economic development to the detriment of the more wide-ranging term.
• Perhaps as a product of these currents’ evident disagreement, a third school appeared and is discussed as follows.
• The ‘Alternative’ Route

The third route brings together part of the authors from the sceptical current who believe that the multidisciplinary concept of development is complementary to the unidisciplinary idea of economic development, Veiga (2005, p.81), for example, considers that Furtado has the best conception of the concept: Economic growth such as we know it has been basing itself on preserving the elites’ privileges that satisfy their enthusiasm for modernization; now development is characterized by its underlying social project.

Having resources to invest is far from being a sufficient condition for preparing a better future for the mass population. However, when the social project prioritises effective improvement of this population’s living conditions, growth metamorphasizes into development. For this current, although economic growth can be transformed into development, there is no semantic equality between the terms.

For development to take place, it is necessary that economic growth is thought of in the scope of a social project connected to society’s well-being. In view of the fragmentation of Social Sciences and the theoretical gap existent in the distinct development approaches, three basic principles are commonly attributed to the concept: efficiency, equity and liberty.

Each one of these qualities, even if they are conceptually separate, is associated to three distinct planes: efficiency has an economic dimension in view, equity a social and liberty a political purpose (Universidade Estadual de Campinas, 2005). What is realized, however, is that to understand development as the defenders of the alternative route desire, an integrated and multidisciplinary view is necessary.

Study of the phenomenon requires a new paradigm and, therefore, construction of new analytical categories, which integrate the contribution of other fields of science.

1. The following section provides a brief description of these theoretical currents in the light of the still emerging concept of sustainability.
2. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
3. The term sustainable development appeared in the late 1970s and was definitely consolidated in 1987 by the aforementioned Brundtland Commission. This commission prepared the most broadly accepted definition of sustainable development:

Sustainable development is a transformation process in which the exploitation of resources, direction of investments, orientation of technological development and institutional change are reconciled and reinforces present and future potential, in order to attend to needs and future aspirations (.) it is that which attends to present needs without compromising the possibility of future generations attending their own needs (Becker, 1993, p.49).

Since then, this definition became the starting point for the inspirational theoretical mark of subsequent work (Matos, 1997). Due to the increase of world political interest in environmental questions and incitement of social-environmental conflicts, there has been increased motivation for debate on the theme in the last few decades.

As Sachs (2004) argues, it is in this context that the proposal of Sustainable Development appears as a desirable and possible alternative to promote social inclusion, economic well-being and preservation of natural resources. Although a broad acceptance of the term sustainable had existed in the international community, it is also true that there is no consensus on a clear and unique definition for the concept.

From an environmental perspective, the notion of sustainability “originates from theorizations and ecological practices that try to analyze the temporal evolution of natural resources, taking its persistence, maintenance or capacity of returning to a presumed state of balance after some type of disturbance as a basis” (Raynaut, Lana, & Zanoni, 2000, p.74).

According to Raynaut (1997, p.370), use of this notion could lead to interpreting a history that does not fit in with other behaviour that is not “the immense reproduction of an impossible balance” of nature and society. Veiga (2005) brings together answers to the question that by stating that it is sustainable in three distinct groups: 1 – Those that believe that economic theories could be perfected to respond to the environmental problem; 2 – Those that believe it is possible to reconcile economic growth and environmental conservation and 3 – Those that study the complementarities between economic development and development,

The ambiguity and lack of clarity, which are attributed to the sustainable development concept in Almeida’s (1999) view, complicates the concept’s operationalization, according to this author. For him, this difficulty has contributed to a worldwide and generalized acceptance of the principle of cultivating a sustainable character to development.

In his perception, this would be a theoretical impossibility. For others, with the example of Naredo (1987), sustainability merely requires a standard of life within the limits imposed by nature. Using an economic metaphor, therefore, it should live within the capacity of natural capital.

Sustainable development, like any other conventional economic imperative, presupposes joining the maximization of economic production with social (minimizing current and future human suffering) and ecological (protecting the ecosphere) imperatives (Wackernagel & Rees, 1996). Therefore, to understand the close relationship between sustainable development and themes of economic growth and the environment, it is fundamental to turn to the objects of study of at least three fields of knowledge:,

economic, social and human behaviour;, human geography and regional sciences;, biological, physical and chemical sciences. For Veiga (2005, p.187) “It is evident that these three scopes are related, interact and overlap, mutually affecting and conditioning each other”.

Confirming Veiga’s ideas, Sunkel (2001, p.296) considers that “the evolution and transformation of society and the economy in the development process alter the natural world in various ways. This reciprocal relationship is materialized, articulated and expressed through concrete forms of territorial ordering”.

It is in this same perspective that Sachs (2004) makes some basic principles of this new developmental vision clear:

• . satisfying basic needs;
• . solidarity with future generations;
• . participation by the population involved;
• . preservation of natural resources and the environment in general;
• . preparation of a social system that guarantees employment, social security and respect for other cultures; and

, education programmes. Other authors expand the range of analytical dimensions for sustainable development. For example, Darolt (2000) also analyses the question of sustainability, however, adding the sophistication of a division into five sub-dimensions: socio-cultural, technical-agronomic, economic, ecological and political-institutional.

1. On the other hand, the work of Camino and Müller (1993) also points to the expansion of sustainability’s scope and includes: social justice, economic viability, environmental sustainability, democracy, solidarity and ethics.
2. In another approach, Lopes (2001) suggests that a multi-dimensional study should be turned to in the debate on developmental sustainability, focusing on the interconnections between social, economic and environmental dimensions and these with other dimensions, such as political, cultural, institutional and democratic.
3. Well-being as a Variable Objective of Development

As observed, the majority of approaches presented here consider the relationship and interaction between the parts of the whole and between the whole and its environment as a secondary element. However, this seems more evident in those approaches that suppose the existence of social, economic and environmental systems as separated and independent instances.

Definition of the dimensions adopted in analysis by the above-mentioned authors is, therefore, quite idiosyncratic, converging on some points and diverging on others, with the selected dimensions related to and derived from the context and objectives of each study. Therefore when discussing sustainable development, it is possible to identify a clear need for a multi-dimensional approach that considers the concept’s operationalizaton, focusing on the interconnections between the more traditionally considered group of dimensions (social, economic and environmental) with those that emerge as a product of the concept’s growing diffusion by distinct fields of knowledge (political, cultural, institutional etc).

In this way, the viabilization of convergence metrics should be sought in a principle that permits the harmonization of concerns with people’s well-being and the environment. In this sense, we see that despite originally being used in human development studies, use of the term well-being is relatively recent in work on sustainability.

Work such as that by Hodge, Holtz, Smith and Baxter (1995), Imbach, Dudley, Ortiz and Sánchez (1997) and Prescott-Allen (1997, 2001) brings as a hypothesis underlying the idea that sustainable development is something that takes place through a combination of human and the ecosystem’s well-being. People live in and form part of the ecosystem and, consequently, analysis of the well-being of both cannot be carried out separately, i.e.

the well-being of the natural environment does not make sense without human dimensions (political, economic and social) and humanity’s well-being cannot be disassociated from the environment. The term well-being, used in the sphere of sustainable development, is dealt with by Holtz (1995) from the dimensions: Economic, Human Development, Quality of Life, Health and Happiness.

The first three dimensions are quite well-known in the literature on the subject and its indicators which are accepted around the world, for example: i) Income; ii) Human Development Index and iii) Quality of Life Index, However, the author deals with the Happiness and Health dimensions in a subjective manner.

In turn, discussion on well-being seems to maintain a certain affinity with Sen’s (1976) proposed analysis of poverty, when focusing on capacities. In this approach, the author points out that it is relevant for people to have certain means available to achieve their objectives of well-being.

1. He also defends the idea that these means could be physical conditions of life, human capital, political freedom, social rights, self-respect and wealth.
2. Whoever is deprived of the means that are considered basic is therefore classified as poor because he is not capable of satisfying his needs in the way that he desires.

This criterion values the importance of people’s freedom to decide on the use of the means that they have at their disposal in a way that is appropriate for them. Critics of this way of considering poverty basically relapse on two difficulties: defining what the minimum capacities are and evaluating the extent of freedom necessary for its use.

1. For Ribeiro (2005, p.6) “the seduction implicit in discussing development is belief in the possibility of eliminating poverty”.
2. Faced with the definitions of development and sustainability presented, it could be said that sustainable is development that provides or allows for the condition of the harmonious maintenance of man’s well-being (economic, social and political) and the environment (ecosystem and space) to be attained.

Based on this referential and recognizing the importance of adhering to concept indicators, as well as the relevance of a multidimensional approach to the phenomenon, the main indicators and development indices available in literature are critically presented as follows.

1. DEVELOPMENT METRICS AND THEIR DYNAMICS Contemporary society produces and stores data and information at a rate that was unimaginable until recently.
2. Evolution of information technology noted in the evolution of computer packages and, mainly, the volume and availability of data offers an unequalled possibility to calculate a large number of indices.

These allow for comparisons between countries, States, local authorities or even census units (usually much smaller than neighbourhoods). Facing this reality, it is important to emphasize the absolute necessity of coherence between the theoretical approaches and modelling implicit when constructing any indicator.

The approach used in this research also aims to allow for reflection on the sources and variables used in constructing such indices, as well as the statistical models and measurements used in them. Various important pieces of work that deal with measuring development currently do this considering monitoring cases of ‘accelerated social change’ and, parallel to an almost colonial concept of well-being.

The purpose of a large part of these development indicators is not only to show the relationship between facts and changes in a succinct form but also to subsidize the monitoring of the transformation processes of an economic, political, social, environmental, nature, etc.

The first studies on such indicators appeared in the United States during the 1960s. The great difficulty found at that time, however, was the insufficiency of data and lack of more robust methodologies to measure social phenomena. The initial failure of those studies was attributed to the lack of “statistics, statistical series and all other forms of evidence” (Bauer, 1996, p.1 as cited in Noll & Zapf, 1994, p.1).

In Brazil however, social indicators gained importance in the 1970s, when the Social Development Council proposed the “construction of a social indicator system for the periodic production of information, attempting to consolidate and articulate various methodologies, including those recommended by the UN” (Santagada, 1993, p.250).

• The various national and international efforts at metrics development still lacked solutions to problems of methodological and theoretic order in common in the 1980s, which contributed to a period of stagnation in this field of knowledge.
• At that time, many of the more industrialized countries diverted their attention from social policies, to the benefit of growing economic orientation of a more conservative character.

The fall of the Iron Curtain, the emergence of the European Union (among other political movements in the 1990s), allied with the need to monitor social transformations resulting from then, led to the resurfacing of interest in and possibilities for applying new metrics to subsidize decision-making by governments and public organizations.

Noll and Zapf (1994, p.13) see this period as being the “revival of social accounting and social modelling” necessary in order to arrive at explanatory models for the “linkages between different components and elements within a larger system”. For Beck (1997), the 1990s are the beginning of reflexive modernization and concepts of wellbeing and quality of life are reconsidered and related to new development ideas.

It is in this decade that synthetic well-being indicators appeared, such as the Human Development Index and Index of Sustainable Development, mainly linked to greater public understanding and therefore for management/manipulation of so-called public opinion,

Faced with the complexity that the development theme presents, it can be seen that no group of indicators, however exhaustive that they may be, could measure and translate the phenomenon in its entirety. However, paths, proposals and methodologies can be perceived that allow for a better approximation with reality.

Trzesniak (1998, p.163) and others, defend the idea that “building good indicators is not trivial but can and must be done”. In this author’s understanding, the heart of this discussion would therefore be in making people aware of the conscious use of indicators and not merely denying their validity or using them in a naïve perspective.

As can be seen, discussions on development constitute a difficult and controversial field, which is open to multiple understanding and conceptions. Apart from the multiplicity of definitions on the phenomenon, the field of study also covers various ways of measuring and dealing with expressions of development and should adapt them to distinct realities and conceptualizations.

A conceptual and methodological debate is essential for producing metrics for any phenomenon, as the conception of different models implies different indicators (Maxwell, 1999). On the other hand, to measure development, the use of concepts, which accounts for their subjective, complex and multidimensional condition, is important and therefore does not cast aside social, economic, political and environmental knowledge.

• Based on these principles, this leads to an analysis of the most important development metrics as follows.
• ANALYSIS OF THE MAIN DEVELOPMENT INDICATORS A brief survey on some of the questions that involve the concepts and forms of measuring development is made in this part of the paper, without intending to exhaust discussion.

Although the analysis proposed in this research is focused on a reflection of theoretical-conceptual aspects that permeate the construction of indicators, it is important to highlight that the use of indicators should also be based on technical and pragmatic criteria such as those defended by Tironi, Silva, Silva, Vianna and Médici (1991), Soares and Quintella (2002), Jannuzzi (2001) and Trzesniak (1998).

1. Among the main criteria observed are the following indicator characteristics: relevance, intensity grading, univocity, standardization, traceability, stability, representativity and indicator simplicity.
2. As already mentioned, there are various practical and conceptual problems related to the processes and tools for measuring development.

Initially, it was decided to point to some limitations of a more objective nature. The most important are availability, consistency and compatibility of data, as well as correct use of analytical techniques considered by financial, human and temporal resources involved.

1. Apart from the above-mentioned problems, the importance of cultural ties that condition the decisionmaker’s perspective and, eventually, its public during the respective decision-making processes and metric interpretation should also be highlighted.
2. Faced with such a challenge, each indicator or index was qualitatively analyzed using a theoretical-conceptual and methodological approach.

This research centred on an analysis of 23 of the most important international indices or indicator systems, as well as 20 Brazilian indices or indicator systems, which are most widely known by the general public. This started with a systematic alignment study of these indicators with their respective theoretic referential.

• To select the indices and indicator systems listed, a non-probable sample survey was carried out by trial, considering the following criteria: indicator adherence to the development concept such as the well-being of man (economic, social and political) and the environment (ecosystem and space); international acceptance and recognition; number of countries covered by the index and, finally, the historic moment in which the index was made public. Among the work that fits into the established conditions, the following can be highlighted:
• International Indicators
• Twenty-three internationally recognized indicators were selected for analysis ( ), listed in where the analysis dimensions contained in them are highlighted.
• Main National Indicators
• Twenty Brazilian indicators were selected based on the same criteria but exchanging international acceptance for national acceptance, as shown in and analyzed because of the dimensions contained in them ( ),

Analysis of the development indices and selected indicator systems’ dimensions shows limitations regarding aspects considered relevant for this research. It should be highlighted that from the forty-three indicators analyzed in and, only four consider all of the developmental dimensions (environmental, economic, political and social) that are advocated in the literature reviewed. Even more surprising is the fact that the majority of them do not give references regarding the theoretical approach considered in its modelling, indicator selection, agglutination methods and, fundamentally, propositions related to the political dimension. This last item is absolutely predominant in the case of Brazilian indices. The diversity of proposals, is, in itself a reason for the consensus that it is difficult to measure development. However, as we have seen, apart from the great variety, there is also wide disagreement in relation to defining the concept. Even more serious is the significant absence of information (perhaps not just by chance) on the methodological choices intrinsic to each one of the metrics. The knowledge supplied by these development indices and indicator systems has the potential of objectively contributing to the process of organising an action agenda for political authorities. Nevertheless, it should also be a reason for concern, as it conceals the idiosyncrasies of each social group responsible for and interested in preparing and disseminating these metrics. Each social group tends to establish distinct social relationships and interacts with the environment in different ways; the indiscriminate adoption of international solutions for measuring development, without due criticism, could have a supposed uniformity of standards and well-being of societies as a premise, even in the hypothesis that this is not deliberated or consciously adopted. The rapid dissemination of development measurement proposals appears to be strengthened by adopting numbers (indices and indicators) and their respective aura of infallibility ( ) and universality, apart from simplified methodologies, which are sometimes incomplete and only rarely refer to the theoretical approaches adopted in them. All of these factors have corroborated a supposed and abstract ideological neutrality from establishing development rankings. The indistinct adoption of indices or indicator systems will, in this way, not only have an interpretative function but also a strong forming influence. It will be able to contribute to the summary elimination of endogenous characteristics of people or regions and directly affect cultural diversity. It is clear that before adopting any development indicator, it is fundamental to previously know about the concept and methodologies adopted in its construction. However, a large part of the indicators (almost all of those presented here) are a result of proxies of income, socio-economic and environmental indicators. In other words, the most usual metrics are frequently a reunion of elements from distinct currents of thought and are therefore eventually incompatible (This hypothesis will be investigated in detail during the continuation of this research and will be shown in the next article). An evaluation of adherence to the criteria adopted in this research for the forty-three development indicators leads us to observe that there are also various practical and conceptual problems related to the processes and measurement tools most usually employed when studying development. A multidimensional and interdisciplinary approach, based on the studied authors, allowed for the identification of analysis dimensions common to all of the schools. These common dimensions are: Social, Economic, Political and Environmental. Analysis of these four dimensions provided an evaluation of adherence for the indicators studied, representing the process of accelerated social change in search of a state of well-being. This indicated obvious limitations for thirty-nine of these. FINAL CONSIDERATIONS According to the analysis that was carried out, the large majority of the main development indices studied only partially consider dimensions advocated in literature. The majority of them only respond to the social and economic dimensions and only observe some facets of the phenomenon that they aim to measure. As previously mentioned in Section 6 above, although the analysis in this research is focused on a theoretical-conceptual approach, it is important to highlight that the use of indicators should be based on technical and pragmatic criteria. In order to contribute to the understanding of such aspects, a second paper discussing the limits and possibilities of development indexes and indicator systems is under preparation. This second paper will shed some light upon the four selected indicators considering all of the dimensions (environmental, economic, political and social) that are advocated in the literature reviewed. In order to do this, the internal consistency of those indicators will be evaluated, analyzing the adequacy and premises of their mathematical models as well as their relevance, intensity grading, univocity, standardization, traceability, stability, representativity and simplicity. Inspired by reflections on Development Theory, therefore, the present paper sought to offer a differentiated approach through dialogue with distinct schools of thought. This exercise led to the identification of the main differences and similarities in development approaches and brought them together by current of thought. It was also noted that the schools converge in accepting the noun ‘wellbeing’ as a desirable state of harmony both for the environment and man. It was also seen that the developmental vision of a society cannot remain restricted to an operative and purely descriptive concept. This is related to induced hypotheses that culminate in a model of cultural standards that end up being strange to the societies in which they are applied. It is important to emphasize that, even so, the development indicators of a wider theoretic scope must be viewed not only as tools for eventual or figurative use but as important elements to substantiate decision making in the public sphere. Therefore, choice of a development indicator to subsidize governmental decisions may represent adopting a mimetic and sometimes coercive model, potentially leading its adopters to consolidate foreign dependences as a necessary step to benefit from international development financing. These, in turn, are the very antithesis of development and in this way can inhibit the structural transformations of many economies and their societies. In this way, the indices and system indicators prescribe norms and procedures for what is considered the normal development route. It is therefore concluded that a critical, inquisitive and interdisciplinary view is necessary to study and instrumentalize development through synthetic metrics. In turn, this paradigm demands the construction of analytical categories that integrate contributions from different fields of knowledge. Finally, some evidence was given that construction of a good development indicator is rarely easily understood: in order for it to describe the complexity of the phenomenon, it apparently requires a correspondingly high level of internal complexity. It is necessary for scientists from the social, economic and environmental areas, supported by the technological infrastructure that is widely available in their respective areas of knowledge, to take on the responsibility of preparing explicit constructs. These should be simultaneously more eclectic and rigorous in terms of their methodological base and greater care should also be taken with the use and communication of results obtained by existing metrics. NOTES

1 An inflection point on the growth curve for adaptation to natural laws or God’s plan.

2 Rousseau glorifies the values of natural life and attacks civil society’s vices. The good savage myth is associated to the idea of the native’s greater perfectibility and purity of his natural state, in opposition to the falsehood and artificiality of civilized man.

3 civilization was used up until the First World War to represent the westernization process mainly promoted by European countries.

4

5 Introdução ao desenvolvimento, Enfoque Histórico-Estrutural. Rio de Janeiro: Paz e Terra, development, seen in this perspective, is a myth, a fantasy, something unattainable in outlining a system that destroys natural resources, which worsens disparities in income and also tends to produce a damaging cultural homogenization.

6 Apart from the experiences analyzed, the following indicators should also be quoted: World Value Survey from 1981 (World Value Survey (2006). Documentation of the values surveys, Retrieved July 10, 2006, from German socio-economic panel study, Retrieved July 30, 2005, from Poverty index, Retrieved July 10, 2005, from Anuario estadístico, Retrieved June 18, 2005, from ).

7 Apart from the work presented here, the following should also be mentioned: The Well-Being Index (Tolosa, H.C., & Rocha, S. (1993). Núcleo-periferia metropolitana: diferenciais de renda e pobreza. In J.P. dos Reis Velloso & R.C. de Albuquerque (Orgs.). Pobreza e mobilidade social, Rio de Janeiro: Editora Nobel); Basic needs index (Albuquerque, R.C. de (1995). Estratégia de desenvolvimento e combate à pobreza. Estudos Avançados, 9 (24). Retrieved June 18, 2005, from Pobreza e mobilidade social, São Paulo: Nobel); Quality of Life (Almeida, A.C.M. (1997). A qualidade de vida no estado do Rio de Janeiro, Niterói: Eduff) and Economic and social development index (Superintendência de Estudos Econômicos e Sociais da Bahia. (2000). Índices de desenvolvimento econômico e social dos municípios baianos, Retrieved July 28, 2005, from ).

8 Travelling through education: uncertainty, mathematics, responsibility, Rotterdam: Sense Publishers, classifies belief in the infallibility of quantification and in turn, of mathematics as an ideology of certainty, which represents a dogmatic element and is shown through a supernatural reverence for numbers.

2. Received 12 February 2008; received in revised form 28 April 2008.

* Corresponding author: Jair Soares Jr. Núcleo de Pós-Graduação em Administração (NPGA), Universidade Federal da Bahia (UFBA), Av. Reitor Miguel Calmon, s/n, 3º andar, Canela, Salvador/BA, 41110-903, Brazil.

: Development: an analysis of concepts, measurement and indicators
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What is an example of concept learning?

An example for concept-learning is the learning of bird-concept from the given examples of birds (positive examples) and non-birds (negative examples). We are trying to learn the definition of a concept from given examples.
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What are concepts and examples?

Measurement & Measurement Scales Concepts and Constructs The first step in the measurement process is to define the concepts we are studying. Researchers generate concepts by generalizing from particular facts. Concepts are based on our experiences. Concepts can be based on real phenomena and are a generalized idea of something of meaning.

Direct Observation: We can measure someone’s weight or height. And, we can record the color of their hair or eyes. Indirect Observation: We can use a questionnaire in which respondents provide answers to our questions about gender, income, age, attitudes, and behaviors.

Constructs: Constructs are measured with multiple variables. Constructs exist at a higher level of abstraction than concepts, Justice, Beauty, Happiness, and Health are all constructs. Constructs are considered latent variable because they cannot be directly observable or measured.

Number of items purchased in the past Monetary value of past purchases Frequency of past purchase occasions The likelihood of future purchases The likelihood of recommending the brand to a friend or family member The likelihood of switching to a competitive brand

An attribute is a single feature or dimension of a construct. Measurement: Measurement is the assignment of numbers or symbols to phenomena. Measurement requires a scale, A scale provides a range of values—a yardstick—that corresponds to the presence of the properties of the concept under investigation.

A scale provides the rules that associate values on the scale to the concept we are studying. We can classify the values derived from measurement into two broad categories: 1) Variables and 2) Constants, Variables: Variables are measurements that are free to vary. Variable can be divided into Independent Variables or Dependent Variables,

A dependent variable changes in response to changes in the independent variable or variables. Constants: Constants, on the other hand, do not vary. In statistics and survey research, responses are typically described as random variables. The value of a random variable varies by chance or in a hit-or-miss or haphazard manner.

• This means the respondents’ responses to a survey cannot be predicted with absolute certainty.
• For example, when people are asked whether they intend to purchase a new product, or whether they approve or disapprove of a particular public policy there is uncertainty about what the responses will be.
• In physics, on the other hand, the speed of light in a vacuum—186,000 miles per second—is a constant.

It does not vary. A variable can be transformed into a constant when the researcher decides to control the variable by reducing its expression to a single value. Suppose a researcher is conducting a test of consumers’ taste preference for three brands of frozen pizza.

There are a number of variables in this test: 1) Respondents’ ratings of the taste of each brand of pizza, 2) The manner in which is each pizza is presented, the type of the plates and table cloths used, and 3) The manner in which each brand is prepared. To get an accurate measure of the first variable—respondents’ ratings of the taste of the three pizza brands—the researcher will hold the second and third variables constant.

By serving all three pizzas on the same kind of plates with the table dressed in the same manner, preparing the pizzas in identical ways, and serving them at identical temperatures, the research controls for these variables. In doing so, the researcher has removed, or controlled for the affect of the second and third variables on respondents’ taste preferences.
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When can concept development be used in teaching?

Real World Examples: Concept Development In our previous “Real World Examples” post, we explored with a little cookie baking fun! For this post, we will move from the kitchen to the great outdoors and study the art of planting to kick-off our final domain, Instructional Support! Instructional Support looks at how we help children learn to solve problems, reason, and think; how teachers use feedback to expand and deepen skills and knowledge; and finally, how teachers help children develop more complex language skills.

• We start our domain journey with the Concept Development dimension.
• Concept Development focuses on strategies the teacher uses to promote children’s higher-order thinking skills and cognition.
• It is not rote teaching.
• Instead, it is the method a teacher uses to get children to think about the how and why of learning.

For adults, Concept Development may look and sound more like talking ourselves through the learning process. Here is one example that many can relate to during the springtime months; planting! We will explore how two adult siblings learn more about planting by beautifying their neighborhood park.

Analysis and Reasoning The story begins when siblings decide to take a walk to their neighborhood park. As they approach the park, conversation ensues. “Wow, look at all the dead plants and bushes. I wonder what happened? They were all alive last year.” (Evaluation). “Look, the plants on the other side of the park they have survived and had the same structure and leaves.

According to the internet, they are a type of rose-bush. See the picture”? (Classification/Comparison). “I wonder what we can do to keep the park looking nice and the plants alive?” (Problem Solving). “I think that a partial-sun bush might work better over on this side of the park.” (Prediction).

Creating The conversation continues. “Well, what kind of bushes might be partial sun bushes? I think that boxwood, azalea, and gardenia plants might work.” (Brainstorming). “Okay, it looks like Boxwood would be a good fit for this space. Now, where exactly should it go and what equipment might we need?” “It looks like we will need a shovel, tape measure, scissors, stakes, soil conditioner or compost, hammer, and work gloves.” (Planning).

Fast forward a couple of days; “Now that we have all of the equipment let’s begin digging and planting!” (Producing). Integration As the siblings prepare the ground and begin digging one says, “I read an article about how neighborhood parks increase a sense of community and when there is greenery it can help reduce stress, especially living in the city as we do.

1. I am excited to be planting more green plants in our park!” (Connecting Concepts).
2. I agree, it feels good to give back to our community.
3. Do you remember in school, we would learn how to plant a tree in the spring? This project reminds me of planting the tree.
4. They told us that the roots should be covered but not all of the tree trunk.

The directions say something similar for this hedge and its root ball.” (Integrates with Previous Knowledge). Connections to the Real World “I wonder how we might be able to do this at home even though we do not have a yard. I bet we can plant a partial shade bush in a planter using the same equipment!” (Real world application) “I remember when grandma would plant her azaleas in a planter and keep them on her balcony, the butterflies loved the flowers and I think that having the same kind of bush would enhance our own balconies!” (Related to adult lives).

1. Through the process of planning and planting, they learned a new concept about plants and bushes.
2. This process is similar to the methods educators use when promoting Concept Development in the classroom.
3. By the siblings using higher order thinking skills instead of someone telling them what to do they were able to analyze, create and make connections to their lives while also integrating the knowledge they already learned about planting.

Remember to rely on your curiosities to help develop questions. If you are curious about something, your students will be too! : Real World Examples: Concept Development
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Why is concept development necessary and who benefits from this?

Concept development and testing is a crucial stage in the new product or service development. It takes place early on in the process and helps to identify key perceptions, user needs and wants associated with the product or service.
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What are the four concept of development?

Four Main: Theories of Development: Modernization, Dependency, World-Systems, and Globealization.
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What are key concepts in development?

Development is a process that creates growth, progress, positive change in economic, environmental, social and demographic component without damaging the resources of the environment.
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Who introduced the concept of development?

The concept of Human Development was introduced by Dr. Mahbub Ul Haq.
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What are the key concepts in development answer?

1 Crore+ students have signed up on EduRev. Have you? What Development Promises: Different Peoples & Goals

Different people can have different developmental goalsWhat may be development for one may not be development for the other person. It may even be destructive for the other.

Economic Development of India Income and Other Goals

Development is the sum total of income plus quality of life. Besides seeking more income one way or another, people also seek things like equal treatment, freedom, security, respect for others. Different people have different goals in their life. What may be development for one may not be developed for another. This can be understood by the following: Example: To get more electricity, an industrialist may want more dams. But this may submerge the land and disrupt the lives of people who are displaced, such as tribes.One common thing among all people is the desire for more income. With this income, they buy goods and services for their daily needs. Quality of life depends on non-material things also. Example: A job may give you less pay but may offer regular employment that enhances your sense of security.

National Development

Ideas of development differ at an individual and national level. Example: A landless rural labourer may desire more days of work and better wages at the individual level, but at the national level, he may want a good education and health facilities in the local area.

How to Compare Different Countries or States?

The average income can be calculated by dividing national income by the population. It is also called per capita income.

Gini coefficient of India and other countries according to the world bank (2014), Higher Gini Index means more income inequality

The standard of living of people in a country depends on their per capita income. Countries with higher per capita income are more developed than others with less per capita income.Education and health also play an important role in the country’s development. To know about other criteria we should be familiar with some terms: (a) Infant Mortality Rate (IMF): It indicates the number of children who die before the age of one year, as a proportion of 1000 live children born in that particular year. (b) Literacy Rate: It measures the proportion of the literate population in the 7 and above age group. (c) Net Attendance Ratio: It is the total number of children of age group 6-10 attending school as a percentage of a total number of children in the same age group.The human development index is the quality of life index prepared by UNDP. It has mainly three indicators: (a) Life Expectancy at Birth: It denotes the average expected length of life of a person at the time of birth. (b) Gross Enrollment Ratio: It shows the enrollment ratio in primary schools, secondary schools and in higher education. (c) Per Capita Income: It is calculated in dollars for all countries so that it can be compared. Adding all the three indicators and dividing by 3, gives the human development index: LE = Life expectancy GER = Gross enrollment ratioHuman Development Report published by UNDP is useful for comparison between different countries regarding the educational level of their people, their health status and real per capita income.

Question for Key Concepts: Development Try yourself: What does UNDP stand for?

A. United Nations Degree Policy B. United Nations Development Policy C. United Nations Development Programme D. None of the above

Income and Other Criteria

When we think of a nation or a region, besides average income, public facilities are equally significant attributes. Public Facilities: These are the services provided by the government to its citizens. Some of the important public facilities include infrastructure, sanitation, public transport, health care, water, etc.Public facilities are those which are provided by the government to satisfy the collective needs of the people. Example: Schools, hospitals, community halls etc. It is the best and the cheapest way to provide these goods and services collectively.

Sustainability of Development Sustainable development is a process that fulfils the needs of the present generation, without causing any harm to the ability of the future generations to meet their own needs. Achieving Sustainability will enable the earth to continue supporting human life

It requires the preservation of stock of resources including exhaustible natural resources and environmental resources.Recent studies show that groundwater in India is exhausted because of overuse.1/3 rd of the country is overusing its groundwater reserves.Another area is the exhaustion of natural resources. The resources of crude oil would last only for 43 years.

Question for Key Concepts: Development Try yourself: Pick out the cause (from below) that enhances environmental degradation:

A. Planting of trees. B. Prevention of factory wastes getting mixed up with river water. C. Ban on use of plastic bags. D. Allowing increase in the level of exhaust fumes emitted by cars, buses, trucks, etc.

Frequently Asked Questions Q.1: What is the main criterion used by the World Bank in classifying different countries? Ans: The World Bank uses average income or per capita income as a criterion for classifying different countries.Q.2: What do final goods and services mean? (2014) Ans: The various production activities in the primary, secondary and tertiary sector produce large number of goods and services for consumption and investment are final goods and services.Q.3: “What may be development for one may not be development for the other.” Explain with a suitable example.
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What is an example of concept learning?

An example for concept-learning is the learning of bird-concept from the given examples of birds (positive examples) and non-birds (negative examples). We are trying to learn the definition of a concept from given examples.
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What is a concept give an example?

Measurement & Measurement Scales Concepts and Constructs The first step in the measurement process is to define the concepts we are studying. Researchers generate concepts by generalizing from particular facts. Concepts are based on our experiences. Concepts can be based on real phenomena and are a generalized idea of something of meaning.

Direct Observation: We can measure someone’s weight or height. And, we can record the color of their hair or eyes. Indirect Observation: We can use a questionnaire in which respondents provide answers to our questions about gender, income, age, attitudes, and behaviors.

Constructs: Constructs are measured with multiple variables. Constructs exist at a higher level of abstraction than concepts, Justice, Beauty, Happiness, and Health are all constructs. Constructs are considered latent variable because they cannot be directly observable or measured.

Number of items purchased in the past Monetary value of past purchases Frequency of past purchase occasions The likelihood of future purchases The likelihood of recommending the brand to a friend or family member The likelihood of switching to a competitive brand

An attribute is a single feature or dimension of a construct. Measurement: Measurement is the assignment of numbers or symbols to phenomena. Measurement requires a scale, A scale provides a range of values—a yardstick—that corresponds to the presence of the properties of the concept under investigation.

1. A scale provides the rules that associate values on the scale to the concept we are studying.
2. We can classify the values derived from measurement into two broad categories: 1) Variables and 2) Constants,
3. Variables: Variables are measurements that are free to vary.
4. Variable can be divided into Independent Variables or Dependent Variables,

A dependent variable changes in response to changes in the independent variable or variables. Constants: Constants, on the other hand, do not vary. In statistics and survey research, responses are typically described as random variables. The value of a random variable varies by chance or in a hit-or-miss or haphazard manner.

1. This means the respondents’ responses to a survey cannot be predicted with absolute certainty.
2. For example, when people are asked whether they intend to purchase a new product, or whether they approve or disapprove of a particular public policy there is uncertainty about what the responses will be.
3. In physics, on the other hand, the speed of light in a vacuum—186,000 miles per second—is a constant.

It does not vary. A variable can be transformed into a constant when the researcher decides to control the variable by reducing its expression to a single value. Suppose a researcher is conducting a test of consumers’ taste preference for three brands of frozen pizza.

• There are a number of variables in this test: 1) Respondents’ ratings of the taste of each brand of pizza, 2) The manner in which is each pizza is presented, the type of the plates and table cloths used, and 3) The manner in which each brand is prepared.
• To get an accurate measure of the first variable—respondents’ ratings of the taste of the three pizza brands—the researcher will hold the second and third variables constant.

By serving all three pizzas on the same kind of plates with the table dressed in the same manner, preparing the pizzas in identical ways, and serving them at identical temperatures, the research controls for these variables. In doing so, the researcher has removed, or controlled for the affect of the second and third variables on respondents’ taste preferences.
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What are the types of concept development?

20+ Concept Development Techniques

Backward Invention	Brainstorming
Concept Testing	Counterfactual Thinking
Creativity Of Constraints	Design Concept
Divergent Thinking	Feasibility Study
First Principles	Idea Generation

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What are the three concept of development?

Development: an analysis of concepts, measurement and indicators ARTICLES Development: an analysis of concepts, measurement and indicators Jair Soares Jr. I, ; Rogério H. Quintella II

• I E-mail address: Escola de Administração, Universidade Federal da Bahia Salvador, BA, Brazil
• II E-mail address: Escola de Administração, Universidade Federal da Bahia Salvador, BA, Brazil
• ABSTRACT

This paper presents the result of a comprehensive analysis of the main forms of development measurement. Recognizing the level of complexity that the subject involves, aspects related to interpretations and dominant ideologies in development/growth concepts are shown initially.

The second part of this work constitutes a critical analysis of forty-three of the most well-known national and international indicators used to measure this phenomenon. It is imagined that this analysis can show the state of the art for constructing development indicators. The development process covers a complexity of relationships.

Its analysis, therefore, cannot be restricted only to the economic dimension because, as a rule, the question is presented both in the media and a considerable part of specialized literature. Emphasis on this dimension has historic origins, which have already shown the fragility of this approach.

• Ey words: development; development indicators; index; well-being.
• HISTORIC DETERMINANTS OF DEVELOPMENT: FROM THE 17 TH TO 19 TH CENTURY The concept of development is almost as old as civilization.
• Its extensive use in western societies from Greco-Roman civilizations to the late 19 th century as a generic construct that designates the most varied aspects related to humanity’s well-being, however, made the concept come closer to that of a doctrine.

For this present study’s purposes, a temporal cut was chosen from 17 th century illuminist ideas and its metamorphoses until current times. At the end of that century, the predominant idea of development was dependent on natural and positive phenomena, with its expansion only contained by conscience of limit ( ),

Following a long dispute between those called the Modern and Ancient, ending with victory by the Modern, Leibniz (1646-1716) inaugurated the concept of infinite progress. Other modern thinkers such as Condorcet, Kant, Hegel and Marx in turn conceived and interpreted progress in a distinct manner from that resulting from the idea of conscience of limit or, in other words, are aligned with the potentially infinite concept of progress.

In these authors’ works, it is also possible to note a certain proximity with Augustinian thinking, of conceiving history as a totality, a firm march of civilization, a continual, albeit inconstant and non-linear process, in the direction of a common well-being.

In Rist’s words: “a constant evolution, based on the belief of human perfectibility and motivated by the incessant search for well-being” (Rist, 2001, p.70). In the mid 18 th century, radically opposing the Rousseaunian vision of the good savage ( ), Buffon (1707-1788) defended the idea that there is a general prototype for each species in nature and that this is perfected because of the climate and habits of the society in which it is inserted.

In his work Natural History, the author defends the idea that civilization will arrive at the European and affirms: “Because of their superiority, civilized people are responsible for the coming world” (Buffon as cited in Duchet, 1984, p.54). In this way, Buffon almost gives the force of law to what he perceives as a historic reality.

Also in the 18 th century, the Marquis of Condorcet (1743-1794), launched the bases of thinking that would predominate in the second half of the 20 th century, in defending the idea that Europeans would end up respecting the independence of their ex-colonies and, then, should contribute to them through civilizing their people ( ) (Rist, 2001, p.68).

Another paradigm of development, however, had already reached its peak in the 19 th century, under the form of Social Evolutionism. The term development, in this new paradigm, prevailed on concepts such as modernization or liberation, Such predominance seems to result from the need for a broader concept to represent the multiple dimensions necessary for humanity’s well-being.

• An apparent alignment of modernity theories can now be highlighted in the sense of perceiving social groups as a unique species and therefore presenting similar development paths.
• However, recurrent analogy with the natural development processes does not explain and is not even able to adequately deal with the cultural multiplicity present in societies, particularly in the 20 th and 21 st centuries, as will be discussed later on in this paper.20TH CENTURY DEVELOPMENT: THE PERSPECTIVE OF INTERNATIONAL AGENCIES The growing diffusion of development concepts and policies permits the last decades to be nominated here as the era of development.

The origin of this era, in which we supposedly still live, can be located at the end of the first half of the 20 th century, possibly in North American President Harry S Truman’s international policy, when he decided to highlight the importance of extending the technical help offered to some Latin American and other less-favoured nations: I believe that we should make available to peace loving peoples the benefits of our store of technical knowledge in order to help them realize their aspirations for a better life.

And, in cooperation with other nations, we should foster capital investment in areas needing development (Truman, 1949). The Marquis of Condocert’s aforementioned ideas can therefore be compared with a new international situation.1960 is considered to be the year of decolonization, a process, which until then had been legitimized purely as a generous agreement aiming to offer opportunity to societies that were considered the slowest to advance on the path of civilization.

Several countries became independent from that moment and the supposed decolonization process crossed the world. This even changed the relationship of forces in the United Nations plenary session and apparently placed the problems of world inequality and the need for development in what was then called the Third World at a higher level.

The development question took on new shapes and slants a little later in December, 1964 with the creation of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, This organization was created with the objective of attempting to bridge the gap, which was not covered by the organizations that appeared following the Second World War.

Another international milestone in development question took place in 1968, with the creation of the Rome Club. This brought together professionals from various areas and different countries to form a free association of scientists, technocrats and politicians, whose objective was to reflect on and seek solutions to various world problems.

1. This new forum published a report entitled Growth Limits in 1972, in which it recognizes the finitude of natural resources and the seriousness of the problems that were already devastating the environment and jeopardizing human survival on Earth.
2. Some of the development phenomenon’s new dimensions acquired space and legitimacy in this way.

Also in that year, at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, held in Stockholm, the growing international movement on the topic highlighted the problem of the possible lack of a continual energy supply on the planet. In the following decade, the central countries’ actions extended domination of financial questions on the international development agenda through promoting neo-liberal ideas and practices of exalting the market and reducing the State.

As a consequence, the Third World stopped gaining space on the world political agenda and now its development controversies did not find the same echo in priorities from the more economically developed countries. In general, the Bretton Woods institutions, Organization for Cooperation and Economic Development and World Trade Organization gained relevance in relation to UNCTAD.

This organization was intended to be the main negotiation forum for a new international economic order in the 1970s (Almeida, 1994). The World Commission for Environment and Development published a report entitled Our Common Future in 1987, also known as the Bruntland Report, which was an instrument used to spread the recently created concept of sustainable development,

1. In the 1990s, the United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development (Eco-92), held in Rio de Janeiro, brought the topic back to the international political agenda.
2. It now dealt with advance as a much broader concept of development, adding environmental preservation and rational use of natural resources as imperative in resolving social and economic growth problems.

Despite conflicts of interest at this conference, a long-term action programme was prepared, which had ample potential for international impact: Agenda 21. This agenda launched some of the bases to be practised and, in global terms, the new concept of sustainable development.

Eco-92 results unfolded in terms of measurement tools from August 1994, with the Conference and Workshop on Indicators of Sustainability taking place. According to Hart (1994), although some methodology conception initiatives already existed to apply measurement tools, the CWIS enabled some advances, among which the following are highlighted: a) recognition of different sustainability definitions; b) need for an appropriate methodology for effective sustainability indicator use and c) observation of governmental and private interests on the theme.

Also in that decade, institutions such as the World Resources Institute and World Bank promoted the spread of a green economy (green national accounting). This suggested methodological alterations that incorporated variables related to the use of natural resources (forests, rivers, lakes, etc) in the National Accounts System and, consequently, GDP calculation.

• To measure the ‘green economy’ in 1995, the World Bank carried out an evaluation of 192 countries and concluded that the physical capital, also measured by conventional GDP, on average corresponded to only 16% of the total wealth produced by these nations.
• However, human capital reached 64% and, natural capital, on average, represented 20% of the total.

According to Marzall and Almeida (1998), from this perspective, some European countries’ GDP began to reflect a decrease in natural resources and the costs of pollution generated. Between the end of the decade and start of the new millennium, globalization became the most important phenomenon in debates and reflections on international problems of a political, economic, social, cultural and environmental order.

1. With the objective of clarifying some contemporary questions on the concept of development, the next item brings some relevant definitions and then presents a structured analysis of the actual predominant currents when approaching development.
2. CONTEMPORARY SENSES OF DEVELOPMENT
3. Rostow’s seminal work (1971) reclaims Social Darwinism to explain development as a process of evolutional succession in stages, where human societies leave a rudimentary model until they arrive at a western industrialized civilization consumption model, which is considered unique and universal.

In Ribeiro’s approach (2005, p.11), the sense of the word development, in various areas of knowledge, converges to “a state, process, well-being, progress, economic and human growth or ecological balance”. The South Commision (1990, p.10) defines the term as “a maturing and development process of self that frees the population from fear and exploitation”.

Both understandings seem to diverge and advance in relation to the idea by the most traditional students of the theme to whom development is usually seen as a phenomenon that fundamentally interests developed countries (Ribeiro, 2005). An international institutional vision such as that of United Nations Development Programme (1991, p.77), on the other hand, also suggests an interpretation of what development is: “expanding the range of choices for the population that allows development to become more democratic and participative.(.) access to ( sic ) income.

participation in decisions and enjoyment of human, economic and political liberties”. The three definitions presented so far are linked to models identified from three predominant currents when approaching the concept of development. The first, and more usual, deals with the term as a synonym for economic growth.

The second denies that the term is appropriate and says that its use does not go beyond mere illusion, ideological manipulation, belief or myth. The third, and most difficult and challenging way, however, “tries to explain that development is not chimerical and also cannot be belittled as economic growth” (Veiga, 2005, p.17).

Each one of these schools of thought are described succinctly as follows: Development as Economic Growth From an economic perspective, Schumpeter (1984, 1985, 1989) cannot be left unmentioned. He used the term development as evolution, unfolding, revelation and innovation,

1. For this school, it seems that there is no need for a development theory, applying modern economics to the concept, which is an antihistorical and universally valid discipline being sufficient.
2. According to Veiga (2005, p.80): “The market fundamentalists implicitly consider development as something redundant.

Development would come as a natural consequence of economic growth, thanks to the trickle-down effect”. Until several decades ago, some of the representative principles from the economic school of thought considered that growth would be capable of promoting society’s development ( ),

Supposedly with this, directly or indirectly solving problems arising from the most varied dimensions, mainly those related to poverty reduction of nations and regions. Facing the impossibility of population control, growth policies would be an alternative to combat poverty. Contemplated for centuries (Smith & Ricardo, 1978), these policies still find support in recent literature on development (Bustelo, 1999; Preston, 1996) and are based on the idea that an economy, as it grows, makes for greater availability of resources for the population, thus benefiting the poorest.

The authors who form part of this current of thought defend the idea that in urbanized modern societies, a good part of well-being is associated to income that people have in order to access goods and services to be acquired in the market. This is a positioning that directly reflects in the formulation of social and environmental policies.

However, despite the theoretic importance of this line of thought, the World Bank recognizes that only obtaining economic growth in itself does not guarantee poverty reduction. Development as Fiction In the discourse by authors forming part of this second current, the critique that development cannot be reduced to a quantitative understanding of the world is present.

Rivero (2002) defends the idea that those who believe in development ignore the historical-cultural processes, society’s non-linear progress, ethical approaches and even dispense with ecological impacts. Another point that characterizes the authors forming part of this current scepticism is related to the fact of believing that a reduced, or almost non-existent, possibility exists of peripheral countries rising in the rigid world capitalist hierarchy.

According to Rist (2001), critical reflection has room for an economic vision of development when considering that societies form part of the same species, whose time elapses in the same rhythm for all: how would it be possible for a society that started its development later on, to reach those that are already at an advanced development stage? Regarding use of the term development, critics converge in this way in understanding that imagining it as a simple asynthotic representation of growth is not appropriate, since this reasoning connects a natural to a social phenomenon in a simplistic form.

Rist (2001) confirms this, saying that instead of facilitating the phenomenon’s comprehension, the metaphor obscures it, naturalizing history, It would be as if each village was destined to become a great city or each animal species was destined to transform into another, as this presents greater evolutive success.

With the triumph of the Darwinist perspective in the 19 th century, Social Evolutionism came to be inserted into this debate until a new paradigm was established in the following century, where society would have the possibility of reaching perfection, Acceptance of this paradigm in the collective imaginary implied the acceptance of a supposed primacy of western superiority above other civilizations, among other things.

In this way, at the heart of this concept would be the idea that a natural history of humanity exists and that, therefore, the development of societies, wealth and knowledge would correspond to a natural self-dynamic principle ( ), The approximation of development theories with Darwinist ideas allowed for the legitimization of colonisation mainly in course in Africa and Asia at the end of the 19 th century on a political plane.

It was a time in which this movement had the justification of providing colonized societies with the conditions to become advanced, in accordance with criteria established by this domination process. The benefits of this intervention materialized the idea that human nature is implied in social nature,

In direct opposition to this vision, Furtado (1974, p.87) and others, defend the proposition that dependent countries would always be underdeveloped: “the transition of underdevelopment to development is hard to conceive, within the setting of dependency”.

• Faced with the rejection of belief in development, part of this current’s authors prefer to use the term economic development to the detriment of the more wide-ranging term.
• Perhaps as a product of these currents’ evident disagreement, a third school appeared and is discussed as follows.
• The ‘Alternative’ Route

The third route brings together part of the authors from the sceptical current who believe that the multidisciplinary concept of development is complementary to the unidisciplinary idea of economic development, Veiga (2005, p.81), for example, considers that Furtado has the best conception of the concept: Economic growth such as we know it has been basing itself on preserving the elites’ privileges that satisfy their enthusiasm for modernization; now development is characterized by its underlying social project.

• Having resources to invest is far from being a sufficient condition for preparing a better future for the mass population.
• However, when the social project prioritises effective improvement of this population’s living conditions, growth metamorphasizes into development.
• For this current, although economic growth can be transformed into development, there is no semantic equality between the terms.

For development to take place, it is necessary that economic growth is thought of in the scope of a social project connected to society’s well-being. In view of the fragmentation of Social Sciences and the theoretical gap existent in the distinct development approaches, three basic principles are commonly attributed to the concept: efficiency, equity and liberty.

1. Each one of these qualities, even if they are conceptually separate, is associated to three distinct planes: efficiency has an economic dimension in view, equity a social and liberty a political purpose (Universidade Estadual de Campinas, 2005).
2. What is realized, however, is that to understand development as the defenders of the alternative route desire, an integrated and multidisciplinary view is necessary.

Study of the phenomenon requires a new paradigm and, therefore, construction of new analytical categories, which integrate the contribution of other fields of science.

1. The following section provides a brief description of these theoretical currents in the light of the still emerging concept of sustainability.
2. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
3. The term sustainable development appeared in the late 1970s and was definitely consolidated in 1987 by the aforementioned Brundtland Commission. This commission prepared the most broadly accepted definition of sustainable development:

Sustainable development is a transformation process in which the exploitation of resources, direction of investments, orientation of technological development and institutional change are reconciled and reinforces present and future potential, in order to attend to needs and future aspirations (.) it is that which attends to present needs without compromising the possibility of future generations attending their own needs (Becker, 1993, p.49).

1. Since then, this definition became the starting point for the inspirational theoretical mark of subsequent work (Matos, 1997).
2. Due to the increase of world political interest in environmental questions and incitement of social-environmental conflicts, there has been increased motivation for debate on the theme in the last few decades.

As Sachs (2004) argues, it is in this context that the proposal of Sustainable Development appears as a desirable and possible alternative to promote social inclusion, economic well-being and preservation of natural resources. Although a broad acceptance of the term sustainable had existed in the international community, it is also true that there is no consensus on a clear and unique definition for the concept.

From an environmental perspective, the notion of sustainability “originates from theorizations and ecological practices that try to analyze the temporal evolution of natural resources, taking its persistence, maintenance or capacity of returning to a presumed state of balance after some type of disturbance as a basis” (Raynaut, Lana, & Zanoni, 2000, p.74).

According to Raynaut (1997, p.370), use of this notion could lead to interpreting a history that does not fit in with other behaviour that is not “the immense reproduction of an impossible balance” of nature and society. Veiga (2005) brings together answers to the question that by stating that it is sustainable in three distinct groups: 1 – Those that believe that economic theories could be perfected to respond to the environmental problem; 2 – Those that believe it is possible to reconcile economic growth and environmental conservation and 3 – Those that study the complementarities between economic development and development,

The ambiguity and lack of clarity, which are attributed to the sustainable development concept in Almeida’s (1999) view, complicates the concept’s operationalization, according to this author. For him, this difficulty has contributed to a worldwide and generalized acceptance of the principle of cultivating a sustainable character to development.

In his perception, this would be a theoretical impossibility. For others, with the example of Naredo (1987), sustainability merely requires a standard of life within the limits imposed by nature. Using an economic metaphor, therefore, it should live within the capacity of natural capital.

1. Sustainable development, like any other conventional economic imperative, presupposes joining the maximization of economic production with social (minimizing current and future human suffering) and ecological (protecting the ecosphere) imperatives (Wackernagel & Rees, 1996).
2. Therefore, to understand the close relationship between sustainable development and themes of economic growth and the environment, it is fundamental to turn to the objects of study of at least three fields of knowledge:,

economic, social and human behaviour;, human geography and regional sciences;, biological, physical and chemical sciences. For Veiga (2005, p.187) “It is evident that these three scopes are related, interact and overlap, mutually affecting and conditioning each other”.

Confirming Veiga’s ideas, Sunkel (2001, p.296) considers that “the evolution and transformation of society and the economy in the development process alter the natural world in various ways. This reciprocal relationship is materialized, articulated and expressed through concrete forms of territorial ordering”.

It is in this same perspective that Sachs (2004) makes some basic principles of this new developmental vision clear:

• . satisfying basic needs;
• . solidarity with future generations;
• . participation by the population involved;
• . preservation of natural resources and the environment in general;
• . preparation of a social system that guarantees employment, social security and respect for other cultures; and

, education programmes. Other authors expand the range of analytical dimensions for sustainable development. For example, Darolt (2000) also analyses the question of sustainability, however, adding the sophistication of a division into five sub-dimensions: socio-cultural, technical-agronomic, economic, ecological and political-institutional.

1. On the other hand, the work of Camino and Müller (1993) also points to the expansion of sustainability’s scope and includes: social justice, economic viability, environmental sustainability, democracy, solidarity and ethics.
2. In another approach, Lopes (2001) suggests that a multi-dimensional study should be turned to in the debate on developmental sustainability, focusing on the interconnections between social, economic and environmental dimensions and these with other dimensions, such as political, cultural, institutional and democratic.
3. Well-being as a Variable Objective of Development

As observed, the majority of approaches presented here consider the relationship and interaction between the parts of the whole and between the whole and its environment as a secondary element. However, this seems more evident in those approaches that suppose the existence of social, economic and environmental systems as separated and independent instances.

Definition of the dimensions adopted in analysis by the above-mentioned authors is, therefore, quite idiosyncratic, converging on some points and diverging on others, with the selected dimensions related to and derived from the context and objectives of each study. Therefore when discussing sustainable development, it is possible to identify a clear need for a multi-dimensional approach that considers the concept’s operationalizaton, focusing on the interconnections between the more traditionally considered group of dimensions (social, economic and environmental) with those that emerge as a product of the concept’s growing diffusion by distinct fields of knowledge (political, cultural, institutional etc).

In this way, the viabilization of convergence metrics should be sought in a principle that permits the harmonization of concerns with people’s well-being and the environment. In this sense, we see that despite originally being used in human development studies, use of the term well-being is relatively recent in work on sustainability.

Work such as that by Hodge, Holtz, Smith and Baxter (1995), Imbach, Dudley, Ortiz and Sánchez (1997) and Prescott-Allen (1997, 2001) brings as a hypothesis underlying the idea that sustainable development is something that takes place through a combination of human and the ecosystem’s well-being. People live in and form part of the ecosystem and, consequently, analysis of the well-being of both cannot be carried out separately, i.e.

the well-being of the natural environment does not make sense without human dimensions (political, economic and social) and humanity’s well-being cannot be disassociated from the environment. The term well-being, used in the sphere of sustainable development, is dealt with by Holtz (1995) from the dimensions: Economic, Human Development, Quality of Life, Health and Happiness.

The first three dimensions are quite well-known in the literature on the subject and its indicators which are accepted around the world, for example: i) Income; ii) Human Development Index and iii) Quality of Life Index, However, the author deals with the Happiness and Health dimensions in a subjective manner.

In turn, discussion on well-being seems to maintain a certain affinity with Sen’s (1976) proposed analysis of poverty, when focusing on capacities. In this approach, the author points out that it is relevant for people to have certain means available to achieve their objectives of well-being.

He also defends the idea that these means could be physical conditions of life, human capital, political freedom, social rights, self-respect and wealth. Whoever is deprived of the means that are considered basic is therefore classified as poor because he is not capable of satisfying his needs in the way that he desires.

This criterion values the importance of people’s freedom to decide on the use of the means that they have at their disposal in a way that is appropriate for them. Critics of this way of considering poverty basically relapse on two difficulties: defining what the minimum capacities are and evaluating the extent of freedom necessary for its use.

For Ribeiro (2005, p.6) “the seduction implicit in discussing development is belief in the possibility of eliminating poverty”. Faced with the definitions of development and sustainability presented, it could be said that sustainable is development that provides or allows for the condition of the harmonious maintenance of man’s well-being (economic, social and political) and the environment (ecosystem and space) to be attained.

Based on this referential and recognizing the importance of adhering to concept indicators, as well as the relevance of a multidimensional approach to the phenomenon, the main indicators and development indices available in literature are critically presented as follows.

• DEVELOPMENT METRICS AND THEIR DYNAMICS Contemporary society produces and stores data and information at a rate that was unimaginable until recently.
• Evolution of information technology noted in the evolution of computer packages and, mainly, the volume and availability of data offers an unequalled possibility to calculate a large number of indices.

These allow for comparisons between countries, States, local authorities or even census units (usually much smaller than neighbourhoods). Facing this reality, it is important to emphasize the absolute necessity of coherence between the theoretical approaches and modelling implicit when constructing any indicator.

1. The approach used in this research also aims to allow for reflection on the sources and variables used in constructing such indices, as well as the statistical models and measurements used in them.
2. Various important pieces of work that deal with measuring development currently do this considering monitoring cases of ‘accelerated social change’ and, parallel to an almost colonial concept of well-being.

The purpose of a large part of these development indicators is not only to show the relationship between facts and changes in a succinct form but also to subsidize the monitoring of the transformation processes of an economic, political, social, environmental, nature, etc.

The first studies on such indicators appeared in the United States during the 1960s. The great difficulty found at that time, however, was the insufficiency of data and lack of more robust methodologies to measure social phenomena. The initial failure of those studies was attributed to the lack of “statistics, statistical series and all other forms of evidence” (Bauer, 1996, p.1 as cited in Noll & Zapf, 1994, p.1).

In Brazil however, social indicators gained importance in the 1970s, when the Social Development Council proposed the “construction of a social indicator system for the periodic production of information, attempting to consolidate and articulate various methodologies, including those recommended by the UN” (Santagada, 1993, p.250).

• The various national and international efforts at metrics development still lacked solutions to problems of methodological and theoretic order in common in the 1980s, which contributed to a period of stagnation in this field of knowledge.
• At that time, many of the more industrialized countries diverted their attention from social policies, to the benefit of growing economic orientation of a more conservative character.

The fall of the Iron Curtain, the emergence of the European Union (among other political movements in the 1990s), allied with the need to monitor social transformations resulting from then, led to the resurfacing of interest in and possibilities for applying new metrics to subsidize decision-making by governments and public organizations.

Noll and Zapf (1994, p.13) see this period as being the “revival of social accounting and social modelling” necessary in order to arrive at explanatory models for the “linkages between different components and elements within a larger system”. For Beck (1997), the 1990s are the beginning of reflexive modernization and concepts of wellbeing and quality of life are reconsidered and related to new development ideas.

It is in this decade that synthetic well-being indicators appeared, such as the Human Development Index and Index of Sustainable Development, mainly linked to greater public understanding and therefore for management/manipulation of so-called public opinion,

Faced with the complexity that the development theme presents, it can be seen that no group of indicators, however exhaustive that they may be, could measure and translate the phenomenon in its entirety. However, paths, proposals and methodologies can be perceived that allow for a better approximation with reality.

Trzesniak (1998, p.163) and others, defend the idea that “building good indicators is not trivial but can and must be done”. In this author’s understanding, the heart of this discussion would therefore be in making people aware of the conscious use of indicators and not merely denying their validity or using them in a naïve perspective.

• As can be seen, discussions on development constitute a difficult and controversial field, which is open to multiple understanding and conceptions.
• Apart from the multiplicity of definitions on the phenomenon, the field of study also covers various ways of measuring and dealing with expressions of development and should adapt them to distinct realities and conceptualizations.

A conceptual and methodological debate is essential for producing metrics for any phenomenon, as the conception of different models implies different indicators (Maxwell, 1999). On the other hand, to measure development, the use of concepts, which accounts for their subjective, complex and multidimensional condition, is important and therefore does not cast aside social, economic, political and environmental knowledge.

Based on these principles, this leads to an analysis of the most important development metrics as follows. ANALYSIS OF THE MAIN DEVELOPMENT INDICATORS A brief survey on some of the questions that involve the concepts and forms of measuring development is made in this part of the paper, without intending to exhaust discussion.

Although the analysis proposed in this research is focused on a reflection of theoretical-conceptual aspects that permeate the construction of indicators, it is important to highlight that the use of indicators should also be based on technical and pragmatic criteria such as those defended by Tironi, Silva, Silva, Vianna and Médici (1991), Soares and Quintella (2002), Jannuzzi (2001) and Trzesniak (1998).

Among the main criteria observed are the following indicator characteristics: relevance, intensity grading, univocity, standardization, traceability, stability, representativity and indicator simplicity. As already mentioned, there are various practical and conceptual problems related to the processes and tools for measuring development.

Initially, it was decided to point to some limitations of a more objective nature. The most important are availability, consistency and compatibility of data, as well as correct use of analytical techniques considered by financial, human and temporal resources involved.

Apart from the above-mentioned problems, the importance of cultural ties that condition the decisionmaker’s perspective and, eventually, its public during the respective decision-making processes and metric interpretation should also be highlighted. Faced with such a challenge, each indicator or index was qualitatively analyzed using a theoretical-conceptual and methodological approach.

This research centred on an analysis of 23 of the most important international indices or indicator systems, as well as 20 Brazilian indices or indicator systems, which are most widely known by the general public. This started with a systematic alignment study of these indicators with their respective theoretic referential.

• To select the indices and indicator systems listed, a non-probable sample survey was carried out by trial, considering the following criteria: indicator adherence to the development concept such as the well-being of man (economic, social and political) and the environment (ecosystem and space); international acceptance and recognition; number of countries covered by the index and, finally, the historic moment in which the index was made public. Among the work that fits into the established conditions, the following can be highlighted:
• International Indicators
• Twenty-three internationally recognized indicators were selected for analysis ( ), listed in where the analysis dimensions contained in them are highlighted.
• Main National Indicators
• Twenty Brazilian indicators were selected based on the same criteria but exchanging international acceptance for national acceptance, as shown in and analyzed because of the dimensions contained in them ( ),

Analysis of the development indices and selected indicator systems’ dimensions shows limitations regarding aspects considered relevant for this research. It should be highlighted that from the forty-three indicators analyzed in and, only four consider all of the developmental dimensions (environmental, economic, political and social) that are advocated in the literature reviewed. Even more surprising is the fact that the majority of them do not give references regarding the theoretical approach considered in its modelling, indicator selection, agglutination methods and, fundamentally, propositions related to the political dimension. This last item is absolutely predominant in the case of Brazilian indices. The diversity of proposals, is, in itself a reason for the consensus that it is difficult to measure development. However, as we have seen, apart from the great variety, there is also wide disagreement in relation to defining the concept. Even more serious is the significant absence of information (perhaps not just by chance) on the methodological choices intrinsic to each one of the metrics. The knowledge supplied by these development indices and indicator systems has the potential of objectively contributing to the process of organising an action agenda for political authorities. Nevertheless, it should also be a reason for concern, as it conceals the idiosyncrasies of each social group responsible for and interested in preparing and disseminating these metrics. Each social group tends to establish distinct social relationships and interacts with the environment in different ways; the indiscriminate adoption of international solutions for measuring development, without due criticism, could have a supposed uniformity of standards and well-being of societies as a premise, even in the hypothesis that this is not deliberated or consciously adopted. The rapid dissemination of development measurement proposals appears to be strengthened by adopting numbers (indices and indicators) and their respective aura of infallibility ( ) and universality, apart from simplified methodologies, which are sometimes incomplete and only rarely refer to the theoretical approaches adopted in them. All of these factors have corroborated a supposed and abstract ideological neutrality from establishing development rankings. The indistinct adoption of indices or indicator systems will, in this way, not only have an interpretative function but also a strong forming influence. It will be able to contribute to the summary elimination of endogenous characteristics of people or regions and directly affect cultural diversity. It is clear that before adopting any development indicator, it is fundamental to previously know about the concept and methodologies adopted in its construction. However, a large part of the indicators (almost all of those presented here) are a result of proxies of income, socio-economic and environmental indicators. In other words, the most usual metrics are frequently a reunion of elements from distinct currents of thought and are therefore eventually incompatible (This hypothesis will be investigated in detail during the continuation of this research and will be shown in the next article). An evaluation of adherence to the criteria adopted in this research for the forty-three development indicators leads us to observe that there are also various practical and conceptual problems related to the processes and measurement tools most usually employed when studying development. A multidimensional and interdisciplinary approach, based on the studied authors, allowed for the identification of analysis dimensions common to all of the schools. These common dimensions are: Social, Economic, Political and Environmental. Analysis of these four dimensions provided an evaluation of adherence for the indicators studied, representing the process of accelerated social change in search of a state of well-being. This indicated obvious limitations for thirty-nine of these. FINAL CONSIDERATIONS According to the analysis that was carried out, the large majority of the main development indices studied only partially consider dimensions advocated in literature. The majority of them only respond to the social and economic dimensions and only observe some facets of the phenomenon that they aim to measure. As previously mentioned in Section 6 above, although the analysis in this research is focused on a theoretical-conceptual approach, it is important to highlight that the use of indicators should be based on technical and pragmatic criteria. In order to contribute to the understanding of such aspects, a second paper discussing the limits and possibilities of development indexes and indicator systems is under preparation. This second paper will shed some light upon the four selected indicators considering all of the dimensions (environmental, economic, political and social) that are advocated in the literature reviewed. In order to do this, the internal consistency of those indicators will be evaluated, analyzing the adequacy and premises of their mathematical models as well as their relevance, intensity grading, univocity, standardization, traceability, stability, representativity and simplicity. Inspired by reflections on Development Theory, therefore, the present paper sought to offer a differentiated approach through dialogue with distinct schools of thought. This exercise led to the identification of the main differences and similarities in development approaches and brought them together by current of thought. It was also noted that the schools converge in accepting the noun ‘wellbeing’ as a desirable state of harmony both for the environment and man. It was also seen that the developmental vision of a society cannot remain restricted to an operative and purely descriptive concept. This is related to induced hypotheses that culminate in a model of cultural standards that end up being strange to the societies in which they are applied. It is important to emphasize that, even so, the development indicators of a wider theoretic scope must be viewed not only as tools for eventual or figurative use but as important elements to substantiate decision making in the public sphere. Therefore, choice of a development indicator to subsidize governmental decisions may represent adopting a mimetic and sometimes coercive model, potentially leading its adopters to consolidate foreign dependences as a necessary step to benefit from international development financing. These, in turn, are the very antithesis of development and in this way can inhibit the structural transformations of many economies and their societies. In this way, the indices and system indicators prescribe norms and procedures for what is considered the normal development route. It is therefore concluded that a critical, inquisitive and interdisciplinary view is necessary to study and instrumentalize development through synthetic metrics. In turn, this paradigm demands the construction of analytical categories that integrate contributions from different fields of knowledge. Finally, some evidence was given that construction of a good development indicator is rarely easily understood: in order for it to describe the complexity of the phenomenon, it apparently requires a correspondingly high level of internal complexity. It is necessary for scientists from the social, economic and environmental areas, supported by the technological infrastructure that is widely available in their respective areas of knowledge, to take on the responsibility of preparing explicit constructs. These should be simultaneously more eclectic and rigorous in terms of their methodological base and greater care should also be taken with the use and communication of results obtained by existing metrics. NOTES

1 An inflection point on the growth curve for adaptation to natural laws or God’s plan.

2 Rousseau glorifies the values of natural life and attacks civil society’s vices. The good savage myth is associated to the idea of the native’s greater perfectibility and purity of his natural state, in opposition to the falsehood and artificiality of civilized man.

3 civilization was used up until the First World War to represent the westernization process mainly promoted by European countries.

4

5 Introdução ao desenvolvimento, Enfoque Histórico-Estrutural. Rio de Janeiro: Paz e Terra, development, seen in this perspective, is a myth, a fantasy, something unattainable in outlining a system that destroys natural resources, which worsens disparities in income and also tends to produce a damaging cultural homogenization.

6 Apart from the experiences analyzed, the following indicators should also be quoted: World Value Survey from 1981 (World Value Survey (2006). Documentation of the values surveys, Retrieved July 10, 2006, from German socio-economic panel study, Retrieved July 30, 2005, from Poverty index, Retrieved July 10, 2005, from Anuario estadístico, Retrieved June 18, 2005, from ).

7 Apart from the work presented here, the following should also be mentioned: The Well-Being Index (Tolosa, H.C., & Rocha, S. (1993). Núcleo-periferia metropolitana: diferenciais de renda e pobreza. In J.P. dos Reis Velloso & R.C. de Albuquerque (Orgs.). Pobreza e mobilidade social, Rio de Janeiro: Editora Nobel); Basic needs index (Albuquerque, R.C. de (1995). Estratégia de desenvolvimento e combate à pobreza. Estudos Avançados, 9 (24). Retrieved June 18, 2005, from Pobreza e mobilidade social, São Paulo: Nobel); Quality of Life (Almeida, A.C.M. (1997). A qualidade de vida no estado do Rio de Janeiro, Niterói: Eduff) and Economic and social development index (Superintendência de Estudos Econômicos e Sociais da Bahia. (2000). Índices de desenvolvimento econômico e social dos municípios baianos, Retrieved July 28, 2005, from ).

8 Travelling through education: uncertainty, mathematics, responsibility, Rotterdam: Sense Publishers, classifies belief in the infallibility of quantification and in turn, of mathematics as an ideology of certainty, which represents a dogmatic element and is shown through a supernatural reverence for numbers.

2. Received 12 February 2008; received in revised form 28 April 2008.

* Corresponding author: Jair Soares Jr. Núcleo de Pós-Graduação em Administração (NPGA), Universidade Federal da Bahia (UFBA), Av. Reitor Miguel Calmon, s/n, 3º andar, Canela, Salvador/BA, 41110-903, Brazil.

: Development: an analysis of concepts, measurement and indicators
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