Development of Well-Being Indicators of People in Phangnga Province

Abstract

The objectives of this research were to examine the components of well-being indicators and to develop well-being indicators by examining the agreement with evidenced-based data of Phangnga people in tourism and general areas. This research is descriptive research which applied both quantitative and qualitative methods. Study samples for quantitative research were persons aged over 15 years old who lived in Phangnga for more than 1 year. By applying the multi-stage random sampling method, a total of the 643 subjects were obtained: 341 in tourism area and 302 in the general area. Structured questionnaire was developed and used for this quantitative study. Statistics applied for data analysis was the structural equation modeling. Study samples for qualitative research were 8 purposively selected policy makers who were involving in the integrated administration process of the province. The results showed that the main indicator components consisted of society and culture, family, health, environment, and good governance. Moreover, sample of Phangnga populations’ well-being indicators that researchers had developed assimi-lated well with the empirical data of the province. The results of this research also indicated that well-being indicators of population who lived in the general area were significantly different from those of the popu-lation who lived in tourism area (p<0.05). The correlation was observed in both qualitative and qualitative analyses.