Use and Abuse of Indicators

Abstract

The goal of the present chapter is to introduce the reader to some criticalities concerned with indicators, which are treated in an organic way in the rest of the book. For the purpose of example, the attention is focused on several popular indicators: the HDI (Human Development Indicator), some air-quality indicators (AQI, ATMO and IQA) and the scoring indicators used for the Olympic decathlon. These indicators are analysed individually, emphasizing their qualities and drawbacks. Additionally, this chapter mentions some indicator properties that are formalized in detail in Chaps. 3 and 4.