2020 SCIENCELINE

Journal of Civil Engineering and Urbanism

Volume 10, Issue 1: 01-12; January 25, 2020

ISSN-2252-0430

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.29252/scil.2020.jceu1

The Effects of Service Provision and Construction Activities in Iranian

Villages on Villagers’ Subjective Perceptions of Rural Life within the

Concept of Quality of Life: The Case of Hamadan Province

Ehsan Rahimianzarif¹, Mojtaba Khanian², Seyedehaida Mirniazmandan³and Marziyeh Salimi²

¹Payame Noor University, Department of Management, PO BOX 19395-3697, Tehran, Iran

²Young Researchers Club and Elites, Hamedan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Hamedan, Iran

³University of Tehran, Department of Architecture, PO BOX 14155-6619, Tehran, Iran

*Corresponding author’s Email: Khanian.mojtaba@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

The concept of quality of life in the rural context has developed and changed to a great extent since its introduction

back in the 1930s. Today, this concept is an important tool in the hands of rural policy-makers and planners for

identification and evaluation of current conditions, assessment of the effects of previously implemented policies and

determining the direction of future policy-making. This concept includes both the objective and subjective

dimensions of rural quality of life. The objective rural quality of life refers to all the facilities and services available

to the residents of a rural settlement. The subjective rural quality of life, however, refers to the perception of these

facilities and services and the overall satisfaction and happiness of the residents. The present study has been

conducted with the aim of analyzing the rural quality of life in Iran. The villages of Hamadan Province, situated

west of Iran, were selected as the study area. This study has analyzed the mentality of the village residents based on

seven objective indices of quality of life using structural equation modeling and the SmartPLS software. The results

indicated that rural housing facilities have been significantly effective in increasing the villagers’ satisfaction and

quality of life. Deviation from traditional rural lifestyles and modernization of the villages were also revealed to be

among the factors which have reduced the villagers’ quality of life.

Keywords: Hamadan; Objective Quality of life; Rural Quality of Life; Structure Equation Models; Subjective

Quality of Life

guidance, education, allocating resources to and

developing services in areas with special needs, guiding

macro- and micro-level decision-making in allocating

resources, etc. The external aspect of quality of life has

become ever more significant with the growing

globalization trend.

INTRODUCTION

Identifying, measuring and improving the quality of life

has been a major goal among researchers, planners and

institutions during the past few decades. Many disciplines

such as sociology, psychology, economics, environmental

science, geography, medicine, etc. have studied quality of

life from different viewpoints. This concept has been one

of the buzzwords in social sciences since 1960s. Back in

those years, it was proposed that economic development

does not necessarily entail improvement of the quality of

life (Das, 2008 ). The concept of “progress”, which was the

most important goal in the area of national development in

the early 20th century and which had a strong economic

flavor, has been gradually replaced by the broader concept

of “quality of life”. In the rural context, the concept of

quality of life gains significance in the rural policy-making

of both developed and developing countries in two

aspects: internal and external. Regarding the internal

aspect, the significance is reflected in topics such as

evaluating the effects of social policies, improving social

services, encouraging public participation, promoting

human rights and equal distribution of resources, research

On the other hand, scientific studies have indicated

that the relationship between economic progress and

quality of life is not linear. The two concepts share the

same course until a specific point, which is the minimum

requirements for living. From this point onward, it cannot

be expected that fulfillment of economic needs contribute

to the improvement of the quality of life since human is a

multi-dimensional and complicated creature and economic

logic cannot single-handedly explain many of its behaviors

(Costanza et al., 2016 ). People are increasing becoming

more aware of the social costs and ecological impacts of

economic growth, and researchers have realized that the

growth of GDP (gross domestic product) is not able to

continuously improve the quality of life (Glatzer, 2006 ).

As a result of this, planners have turned their attention

toward the need for identifying, measuring and improving

the quality of life in specific places or for specific

To cite this paper: Rahimianzarif E, Khanian M, Mirniazmandan SH, Salimi M (2020). The Effects of Service Provision and Construction Activities in Iranian Villages on Villagers’ Subjective

Perceptions of Rural Life within the Concept of Quality of Life: The Case of Hamadan Province. J. Civil Eng. Urban., 10 (1): 01-12. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.29252/scil.2020.jceu1

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Rahimianzarif et al., 2020

individuals and groups. As a special settlement in every

have indicated that quality of life is now an initial concept

in economic studies.

country, a village is an indispensable part of development

and growth. Every country is a car in the global train;

therefore, the issue of rural settlements needs to be studied

at a global scale and be governed by specific policies and

principles. At every country, this is a national issue which

requires international experience sharing (Zakerhaghighi

et al., 2015: Papeli and Yazdi, 2007 ). Acquiring sufficient

knowledge about the services and construction projects,

which have been rendered and implemented in these areas

and evaluating and comparing them with the experiences

of other countries within the concept of quality of life,

seems a necessary course of action (Aram et al., 2019 ).

The cooling effect of large-scale urban parks on

surrounding area thermal comfort. Energies, 12(20), 3904)

The Iranian province of Hamadan, being located in a

mountainous area, has long accommodated many

settlements. Throughout time, these settlements have

become the villages of the province (Serpoush et al.,

2017 ). Currently, Hamadan has more than 1000 human

settlements. During the past three decades, government

and public institutes have implemented various projects

and plans for developing and improving the villages of

Hamadan Province (Kahvand et al., 2015: Rahmani et al.,

2013 ). A review of these projects and plans indicates that

the majority of them have been operationalized based on

the objective indices of quality of life (Khanian et al.,

2019 ). In fact, most of them are related to service

provision and construction. This has resulted in a notable

improvement in the objective aspect of quality of life in

these regions. The residents’ subjective quality of life

(overall satisfaction), however, seems to have had little

improvement considering the high rate of migration from

the villages to the adjacent cities and according to the

conducted field studies.

The concept of quality of life has a few interesting

traits: (a) it only applies to human life; (b) it is rarely used

in the plural form (i.e. qualities of life); (c) it is a general

indivisible term that can have a pure meaning; (d) it can

hardly be categorized separate from and independent of

sociology-related sciences (Dissart and Deller, 2000). In

1983, Liu defined the quality of life as a fancy word to

refer to the old concept of the material and psychological

well-being of people in their living environment. Smith et

al (2007) defines quality of life as social well-being. The

quality of life is a complex and multidimensional concept

about a population’s conditions at a specific geographical

scale (village, city, country, etc.) which includes both

subjective (qualitative) and objective (quantitative) indices

(Hsieh, 2003 ). The definitions of this concept vary greatly

because it is used differently in each discipline; however,

it can be suggested that quality of life generally refers to

the attributes of people’s living environments (such as air

and water pollution, housing problems) and some of the

characteristics of people themselves (such as health and

educational success) (Pacione, 1986 ).

Based on the above-said definitions, the keywords in

defining the quality of life can be narrowed down to:

objective facts, subjective perception, well-being,

enjoyment, physical environment and life satisfaction. So

far two approaches have been adopted by researchers in

conducting their studies on quality of life: the first

approach involves analysis of quality of life-based on

indices extracted throughout time such as statistics related

to the quality of life perception (income, crime rate,

pollution levels, house price, etc.). The second approach

involves modeling the relationship between urban

environment characteristics and the mentality which

individuals form based on the perception of quality of life.

This approach focuses on satisfaction with specific

phenomena and the life in general. It typically involves

data collection via field studies and analysis of the

collected data by such methods as regression analysis or

structural equation modeling (Marans, 2011 ).

Bruce Wick and Duffy have presented three general

viewpoints based on these two approaches: (a) quality of

life from the viewpoint of an individual’s real life

conditions (objective quality of life); (b) quality of life

from the viewpoint of an individual’s satisfaction with life

conditions (subjective quality of life); (c) quality of life

from a combined viewpoint, both real life conditions and

satisfaction with life conditions (Felce and Perry, 1995 ).

The general consensus among researchers about the

quality of life is that it is possible to form a better and

clearer picture of the concept at different spatial and

temporal scales by integrating the objective and subjective

dimensions. Therefore, any comprehensive evaluation of

the quality of life must include both objective and

subjective indices. Such an evaluation is able to draw upon

the advantages of both approaches in order to acquire

In this regard, the present study attempts to answer

this essential question: What critical paths does the

villagers’ perception of quality of life in their villages

follow? In other words, this study aims to analyze the

essential factors which affect satisfaction in villagers. In

order to achieve this aim, the villages of Oshtoran,

Varkaneh, Habashi, Gashani and Heydareh Ghazikhan

were selected for study because of the high number of

construction and service projects implemented in them.

A review of the concept of quality of life, different

approaches to this concept and the factors which affect

it

The quality of life is a global phenomenon which has

become a major point of concern in the 21st century in

both developing and developed countries. Today, studying

quality of life and its impacts on human behaviors have

gained more significance in social and behavioral sciences

(Dissart and Deller 2000; Diener and Suh, 2000; Diener

and Biswas-Diener, 2008 ). In addition to social and

behavioral sciences, this concept has become an important

topic in other areas. For example, Lambiri et al. (2007)

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J. Civil Eng. Urban., 10 (1): 01-12, 2020

more reliable and more credible information about the

with the common concerns of people in their daily lives:

(1) economic dimension, (2) political dimension, (3)

environmental dimension, (4) health and education

dimension, (5) social dimension. In 1991, Maran and

Mohai proposed another model for measuring the quality

of life in which physical health can be associated with

objective attributes. The model has been presented in

Figure 1. According to this model, environmental

attributes affect social quality, personal activities,

satisfaction and physical health in two ways:

quality of life. Despite this, the intensity of the relationship

between subjective quality of life and objective quality of

life is often subject to conflicting arguments. Brereton et

al. (2011), for example, concluded that the relationship

between the two indices is strong. However, the

relationship between the subjective and objective

dimensions has not been clearly determined. The reason

might lie in the above-said issues and the differences

between the places which have been studied.

Environmental amenities 2) Urban amenities, (Maran

and Mohai, 1991). This model assumes that individuals’

perception of environmental and urban amenities affects

the assessment and the manner of using such amenities.

Mendes and Motizuki (2001) studied urban quality of life

in São Carlos using the weighted linear combination

(WLC) method, the ordered weighted average (OWA)

method and fuzzy logic. They reported the results in five

dimensions: commerce and service, crime, environment,

housing and mobility.

A review of the common conceptual models of

measuring quality of life

One of the classical studies on quality of life was

conducted by Liu back in 1976 in the metropolises of the

United States. Liu used physical data in his study as he

believed that psychological data were not appropriate for

quantification. As a result, the indices of his study were

objective. The physical data related to the general quality

of life consist of five dimensions which together shape the

concept of quality of life. These dimensions majorly deal

Figure 1. A model of the relation of resources, recreational activities and environmental quality to individual well-being,

physical health and community satisfaction (Marans and Mohai, 1991).

3

In the model proposed by Mitchell et al (2000),

quality of life is the product of six components. Health

rests on top of their model which includes both mental and

physical health. The second component is physical

environment which includes the structural-physical and

environmental aspects of the living place as well as factors

such as climate, pollution, inconveniences caused by

environmental hazards, visual quality and landscapes.

Natural resources, commerce and services, which cover

the basic requirements of modern life, together form the

third component of the model. The fourth component

consists of social and political dimensions in the form of

local community development. The fifth component is

individual development and growth, which somehow

results from recreational elements. Last but not least is

security which covers the topics of residence security,

individual economic security, administration of justice,

crime rate and the overall security of the society.

various theories reviewed in the related literature or is a

new framework made for the study at hand. Considering

the practical requirement of this study, the second case,

namely making a new theoretical framework, was the

more appropriate approach. The framework has been

presented in Figure 3.

As it can be seen in the model, the seven indices of

“rural house”, “recreation”, “health”, “safety and

security”, “rural infrastructure”, “rural economy” and

“education” were selected for analysis of their impact on

perception of rural quality of life in the area under study.

The main reasons for choosing these seven indices as

the theoretical framework of this research are as follows:

Rural house: The index of housing is employed for

the quality of rural and urban life in all of the presented

models in previous studies. This is due to the fact that

rural housing has been linked to the villagers' livelihoods,

namely keeping livestock, poultry, and agricultural

products warehouse and buildings are the main destination

for the nation's power supplies (Mirniazmandan and

Rahimianzarif, 2018 ). These issues are the basic reasons

for the importance of this index in studying the quality of

life.

Recreation: According to the lack of urban

recreations in rural areas and considering that the leisure

time variables in the villages are traditional, it can be

stated that the index of recreation can play a considerable

role in determining the quality of the villagers' life (Aram,

Solgi and Holden, 2019 ).

Health: Due to the small population of villages in

Iran, there are no health centers in most of these villages,

and if these centers exist, they do not have the necessary

equipment and infrastructures. Therefore, it seems that this

index can affect the villagers’ quality of life to some

extent.

Figure 2. Components of quality of life (Mitchell, 2000).

Safety and Security: The long distance between

residential areas in Iran and the probability of natural

disasters are the factors that affect the security and safety

of villages in Iran. These issues determine the necessity of

buildings structural optimization against earthquake and

using safety and security indices in the conceptual model

of this research (Mirniazmandan et al, 2018 ).

Rural Infrastructure: It seems that rural

infrastructures including water supply networks,

electricity, gas, telephone, and rural wastewater collection

A conceptual model of the factors affecting rural

quality of life in Iran

Studying rural quality of life is significantly important

because of the problems and difficulties which village

residents have to face. Regarding the various economic

and ecological problems of rural settlements as well as the

growing trend of migration from these settlements to

adjacent cities, this study aims to take effective steps in

rejuvenating these settlements with emphasis on

improving the quality of life, via path analysis of the

subjective perception of objective quality of life. For this

purpose, the theoretical framework of this research was

formed after conducting theoretical studies and reviewing

the related literature.

affect the villagers’ objective quality of life.

Rural Economy: The economy similar to housing

exist in all quality of life models, including rural and urban

spaces, which due to its importance is included in the

present model.

A theoretical framework is a theoretical approach or

outlook which is adopted to analyze an issue referred to in

the study questions. This framework is the result of

studying and reviewing different theories and viewpoints

in the related literature. According to Quivy and

Campenhoudt (2008), this theoretical framework results

from either selecting an appropriate theory from among

Education: Education is one of the most important

criteria in the process of idea training (Rahimianzarif and

Moradi, 2018 ). The quality of education in villages can

play a significant role in promoting and updating the

lifestyle of villagers, which seems to affect their quality of

life.

To cite this paper: Rahimianzarif E, Khanian M, Mirniazmandan SH, Salimi M (2020). The Effects of Service Provision and Construction Activities in Iranian Villages on Villagers’ Subjective

Perceptions of Rural Life within the Concept of Quality of Life: The Case of Hamadan Province. J. Civil Eng. Urban., 10 (1): 01-12. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.29252/scil.2020.jceu1

4

J. Civil Eng. Urban., 10 (1): 01-12, 2020

Habashi is one of the villages of the tourism

destination in Hamedan province that is situated 26 km

west of Asadabad. Its stepped texture at the foot of Mount

Zarileh, the highest mountain of the region, has created a

spectacular landscape. Cultural heritage experts attribute

this village to Medes era due to the similarities between

the structure of vernacular stone and adobe architecture

and the historical remains of this era. The major part of the

tourist attractions of the Habashi village is its natural

landscape. Vast gardens, grasslands, springs and the

hillsides of the surrounding mountains are among the

beautiful promenades of the village. Habashi weather is

mild in the spring and summer, cold in autumn and winter.

In the spring, mountains around the village are covered

with the various wilding plants.

Figure 3. A conceptual model of the factors affecting rural

quality of life (Authors).

The village of Gashani is located 17 km northwest of

Tuyserkan city in Hamedan province. The unique nature

of Gashani with its stepping houses and historical texture

have attracted many tourists. The suitable climatic

conditions and rainfall throughout the year have created

many springs in this village, which are the sources for

irrigation of trees and pastures in this area.

The village of Heydareh Ghazikhan is one of the most

beautiful and touristy villages in Hamedan province with

180 families and a population of 730 people. It is located

35 km away from the provincial capital, Hamedan city.

Most of the people in this village are farmers and ranchers.

The village of Heydareh Ghazikhan has several high

mountains which the most famous one is “Daem Barf”. It

is covered with snow in most months and the snow usually

lasts until the late June and early July. “Daem Barf”

mountain hosts many climbers and tourists every year.

Figure 4 indicate the general physical conditions of these

villages.

Analysis of rural quality of life in the area under

study by the conceptual model of the research

Considering the goal of this research, the five villages

of Oshtoran, Varkaneh, Habashi, Gashani and Heydareh

Ghazikhan in Hamadan Province were selected as the case

for study. The distinctive characteristic of these villages is

the high number of service and construction projects

implemented in them during the past two decades because

of their valuable texture and numerous capacities. Indeed,

valuable contexts plays important role for making a vital

spaces in both urban and rural ares (Khanian et al., 2013 ).

In fact, these five villages were selected by the

Cultural Heritage Organization of Hamedan Province as

the sample villages due to the valuable texture and the

local style of habitation. This selection has led to several

activities in these villages, which are done by

governmental organizations to improve the objective

quality of life. Regarding the fact that comparing the

quality of objective and subjective life is the topic of this

study, these villages can be suitable samples.

The descriptions and the images of these villages are

presented as follows:

Oshtoran is a village in Khorram Rud Rural District

located in the Central District of Tuyserkan County,

Hamadan Province. Khorram Rud was one of the

secondary roads, which was connected to the Silk Road.

At the end of this way, merchants had to unload in the

current place of Oshtoran village for passing the Alvand

Mountain, and after resting and reviving, they used

domestic animals for carrying their loads. This place has

always been a place for unloading and loading as the

current terminals. The documents and stone engravings in

Kofi language, located in the village’s mosque, are the

evidence for the village's rich history.

Varkaneh village in Hamadan has been entered in the

list of national heritage and is considered as the special

touristic area of Iran. Varkaneh village is unique for using

vernacular and local materials, especially the stony

material that its popularity is apparent in the face of the

village. The history of Varkaneh village goes back to more

than 400 years. Its first and oldest neighborhood is Darb

Masjed.

Figure 4. Oshtoran village.

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Rahimianzarif et al., 2020

A 44-item questionnaire (Appendix 1) was created

with regard to each variable based on the conceptual

model of the research. The questions were asked in

layman’s terms to be as much understandable by everyone

as possible.

Regarding the population of these villages, Cluster

sampling model was used for choosing samples, in a way

that 5 percent of the each village’s population was selected

as the research sample that resulted in 200 questionnaires.

Considering the compatibility of the conceptual model

with structural equation modeling and considering the size

of the sample (200), the SmartPLS software was used for

data analysis. The collected data were entered into

SmartPLS upon being prepared by the SPSS 19 software

and measurement of the reliability of the questions

(0.856), and then the required analyses were performed.

Structural equation modeling (SEM) is a general and

reliable multivariate analysis technique in the multivariate

regression family, or more specifically an extension of the

general linear model. This technique allows for

simultaneous testing of regression equations. It is a

comprehensive approach to testing hypotheses about the

relationship between observable and latent variables. The

terms “covariance structure analysis”, “causal modeling”

and “linear structural relations (LISREL)” are also used to

refer to this technique but it is commonly known as

structural equation modeling (Santoso, 2007 ).

Figure 5. Varkaneh village.

The conceptual model of the research was analyzed

by structural equation modeling and the SmartPLS

software. The partial least squares method is one of the

commonly used techniques in social and psychological

studies. Since its introduction back in 1982 by Karl

Jöreskog, covariance-based structural equation modeling

has gained much attention in empirical research. However,

the popularity of LISREL, which is currently the most

well-known tool for performing such analyses, is rooted in

the fact that not all researchers are familiar with the

techniques which can replace structural equation modeling

such as partial least squares.

Figure 6. Habashi village.

In order to analyze the impact of the indices under

study in the selected area by structural equation modeling,

“rural infrastructure”, “education”, “recreation”, “rural

house”, “safety and security”, “rural economy” and

“health” were selected as latent factors. The finalized

model of the research has been presented in Chart. 1.

The validity of the indices used in the questionnaire

was measured by the convergent validity criterion, which

is used specifically in structural equation modeling. The

average variance extracted (AVE) technique was used for

assessment of convergent validity. The results have been

presented in Table 1. The cutoff point for acceptability of

AVE is 0.5 (Hulland, 1999 ). As it can be seen in the

above table, all values are above 0.5 which indicates that

the convergent validity of the research model is

acceptable. The next step was measuring the coefficients

of the paths between latent factors. The results have been

presented in Chart. 2.

Figure 7. Gashani village.

Figure 8. Heydareh Ghazikhan village.

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J. Civil Eng. Urban., 10 (1): 01-12, 2020

Chart. 1. Structural model of the research.

Table 1. Results of AVE for the research variables.

Rural

Infrastructure

Safety and

Security

Rural

Economy

Variable

Education Recreation Rural House

0.588 0.737 0.683

Health

AVE

0.508

0.632

0.587

0.507

Chart. 3. Structural equation modeling with regard to path coefficients and significance level values.

7

Rahimianzarif et al., 2020

As it can be seen in Chart 3, the coefficients are

significant in three paths.

Table 2 indicates the results of path analysis for

testing the research hypotheses. Considering that the

significance values for three hypotheses are less than the

chosen threshold (0.05) and the path coefficients are

positive, it can be concluded that only three hypotheses

proposed in the conceptual model of the research, each of

which includes a separate path, are acceptable and have a

direct relationship with one another. These three paths are

as follows (Table 2):

Chart. 2. Validity of the research model.

Table 2. Path analysis.

Hypothesis

Sig

Path Coefficient

-0.123

Path

Reject

0.248

0.079

0.020

0.001

0.433

0.028

0.081

Rural Infrastructure → Rural Subjective Quality of Life

Education → Rural Subjective Quality of Life

Recreation → Rural Subjective Quality of Life

Rural House → Rural Subjective Quality of Life

Safety andSecurity → Rural Subjective Quality of Life

Rural Economy → Rural Subjective Quality of Life

Health → Rural Subjective Quality of Life

Reject

-0.180

Accept

Reject

0.224

0.299

-0.100

Accept

Reject

0.203

0.157

and rural infrastructure.

A

44-item questionnaire

CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION

(Appendix 1) was made with regard to these seven indices

and was distributed among the residents of Oshtoran,

Varkaneh, Habashi, Gashani and Heydareh Ghazikhan

villages in Hamadan Province. The reason for selecting

these five villages is the high number of service and

construction projects implemented in them because of

their value.

Nowadays quality of life has become an important tool for

evaluation of livability in urban and rural settlements.

Overall, this concept is categorized into two aspects:

objective and subjective. As it was said before, objective

quality of life refers to the amenities and infrastructures of

a settlement which provide a certain degree of welfare for

the residents. Subjective quality of life, on the other hand,

refers to the residents’ perception of the amenities and the

existing conditions of that settlement. Because of the

absence of many welfare indices in rural regions on the

one hand and important identity aspects and strong place

attachment among the residents of these regions on the

other hand, their objective quality of life and subjective

quality of life are intertwined in a complicated manner

(Khanian et al., 2018). Lack of correct understanding of

this complex mechanism may impede all attempts to

improve mental well-being and happiness in rural

residents and consequently trigger migration to cities

(Gheitarani et al, 2019 ).

In this regard, the present research was conducted

with the aim of analyzing the impacts of service provision

and construction projects in Iranian villages on perception

of rural quality of life. For this purpose, first, the various

factors of quality of life were determined by reviewing the

related literature and then a conceptual model of

perception of rural quality of life was created. The model

is based on seven indices: rural house, recreation,

education, rural economy, safety and security, rural health

The results of this study indicate that perception of

rural quality of life in the villages under study is heavily

influenced by the rural house, rural economy and

recreation indices. In other words, any positive change in

these three indices will result in improvement of mental

well-being and happiness in the villagers. No significant

relationship was observed between the other four indices

and perception of quality of life in the area under study.

In addition, a review of the services provided and the

construction projects implemented in these villages

indicates that providing housing facilities and organizing

residential constructions have had an important role in

improving the perception of welfare and quality of life

among the residents. It seems that this factor has decreased

the rate of migration to the adjacent cities and has acted as

a pull factor for the rural population. Overall, the

subjective impact of the rural house was evaluated as

positive.

While rural economy and recreation were identified as

influential factors in perception of quality of life in the

villages under study, they had a negative impact and acted

as a push factor because of the inverse relationship. It

8

J. Civil Eng. Urban., 10 (1): 01-12, 2020

seems that the mechanism of perception of quality of life

comprehensive indices. Applied research in quality of

life, 1(2), 169-188.

Hsieh, C. (2003). Counting importance: The case of life

satisfaction and relative domain importance. Social

Indicators Research, 61, 227–240.

in these villages works in this particular way: if the factor

of rural house outweighs the other two factors, there will

be less migration otherwise the rate of migration to

adjacent cities will increase.

Considering the findings of this study, it can be

concluded that paying due attention to the concept of

place, both at the private scale (houses) and the public

scale (recreation) has had a significant role in improving

the subjective quality of life in the areas under study. In

general, the sense of happiness of the villagers seems to be

dependent on such concepts as place and place identity

while service provision and construction projects have

been driven by the concept of place making.

Jöreskog, K. G., and Sörbom, D. (1982). Recent

developments in structural equation modeling. Journal

of marketing research, 404-416.

Kahvand, M., Gheitarani, N., Khanian, M. O. J. T. A. B.

A., and Ghadarjani, R. A. Z. I. E. H. (2015). Urban

solid waste landfill selection by SDSS. Case study:

Hamadan. Environment

Engineering, 41(2).

Protection

Kamp, I., K, Van, Leidelmeijer, K.,Marsman, G. and de

Hollander, A., 2003, “Urban environmental quality

and human wellbeing: Towards

a

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APPENDIX 1

Rahimianzarif, E., and Moradi, M. (2018). Designing

Integrated Management Criteria of Creative Ideation

Based on Fuzzy Delphi Analytical Hierarchy Process.

International Journal of Fuzzy Systems, 20(3), 877-

900.

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Prioritize and location finding land for housing

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Research, 3(1), 148-160.

Dear Villager

This questionnaire is designed to conduct a research

project to assess the quality of life in the villages of

Hamedan province. Given the fact that the results of the

questionnaire will be used to transfer your views to the

authorities and managers, please answer the following

questions carefully.

This questionnaire will take you up to 10 minutes.

Please check the answers to the questions in the

appropriate place. Thanks in advance for your cooperation.

Questionnaire Code:

Respondent:

Date:

Santoso, S. (2007). Structural Equation Modeling. Elex

Media Komputindo.

Serpoush, B., Khanian, M., and Shamsai, A. (2017).

Hydropower plant site spotting using geographic

How satisfied are you with the residential situation?

The Level of satisfaction with the size of your residential unit

Very low

Low Middle

High

Very High

The level of satisfaction of the type of construction and design of your own

housing

Very low

Low Middle

The degree of satisfaction of the facilities and facilities of your residential unit

(heating and cooling)

Very low

Low Middle

High

Very High

The degree of satisfaction with the quality of renovation and the strength of your

residential unit

The degree of satisfaction of neighborly relations in your place of residence

Very low

Low Middle

High

Very High

The degree of satisfaction with the facilities and government support for building

housing

Overall, how satisfied are you with your housing situation?

How satisfied are you with the education situation?

Satisfaction of the quality of schools in your village

Very low Low Middle

High

Very High

10

J. Civil Eng. Urban., 10 (1): 01-12, 2020

Satisfaction with access to educational centers in your village

Very low Low Middle

High

Very High

Satisfaction level of job training and the degree of training compliance with your

job

Overall, how satisfied are you with your education’s feature?

Very low Low Middle

How satisfied are you with the status of facilities, equipment, facilities and services in the countryside?

(infrastructures)

Satisfaction with access to drinking water

Satisfaction with the access to electricity

Satisfaction of access to phone and mobile phone

Satisfaction with sewage system

Very low Low

Middle

High

Very High

Satisfaction with access to supply and sale centers for daily needs (bakery,

groceries, vegetables and, fruits)

Very low Low

Middle

High

Very High

Satisfaction rate of lighting and light of streets and rural spaces

Very low Low

Middle

High

Very High

Overall, how satisfied are you with the status of rural amenities and services?

How satisfied are you with the employment situation and economic conditions?

Satisfaction level of your income

Very low Low

Middle

High

Very High

Satisfaction of your living expenses

Satisfaction with your occupational safety status

Satisfaction with the number of hours worked per week

Satisfaction level of employment at the village level

Overall, how satisfied are you with employment status and economic conditions?

How satisfied are you with the recreation?

Satisfaction rate of the number of recreation centers in your village

Very low Low

Middle

High

Very High

The degree of satisfaction with the situation and the possibilities of open-air rural

areas for spending leisure time in your village

Very low Low

The degree of satisfaction with sport facilities and services in the village

Very low Low

Middle

High

Very High

The degree of satisfaction with social entrainment in your villages public spaces

The degree of satisfaction with restaurant and café in your villages

The degree of satisfaction with green spaces

Overall, how satisfied are you with the entertainment facilities in your village?

To what extent are you satisfied with the health conditions?

The degree of satisfaction with existing health and medical care (social security,

...)

Very low Low

Middle

High

Very High

Satisfaction rate of health care costs

Very low Low

Middle

High

Very High

Satisfaction with access to health Centers

The degree of satisfaction with access to a specialist physician?

Satisfaction with your mental health, happiness

Overall, how satisfied are you with your health?

To what extent are you satisfied with the security and safety situation?

Satisfaction with security related to crime (addiction, street harassment, theft, etc.)

in your village

Very low Low

Middle

High

Very High

The degree of satisfaction with the safety of women and children in your village

Very low Low

Middle

High

Very High

The degree of satisfaction with the safety of old age people in your village

11

Rahimianzarif et al., 2020

The degree of satisfaction with the performance of security and police centers

Satisfaction with safety of road and street traffic accidents

Very low Low

Middle

High

Very High

Satisfaction with safety from earthquake and natural disasters

Overall, how satisfied are you with your safety and security situation?

Overall satisfaction of life

In general, and with all the previous questions, how satisfied are you with your life

in your village?

Very low Low

Middle

High

Very High

Overall, what has changed the quality of your life over the past four years?

Very low Low

Middle

High

Very High

How much do you expect your life to be better in the future?

Personal Characteristics

Marital status:

Work place

Gender:

Age:

Village:

Housing ownership status:

What is the approximate area of your property?

Education level:

12