Data At Work: Research Project

Lorie Okada, a Ph.D. student studying clinical psychology, used the 2024 Quality of Life Dashboard to explore local data on worker well-being for her research and conference presentations. By looking at a range of job characteristics, she identified which factors mattered most to state workers here in Hawaiʻi.

Lorie used the Dashboard's tools to look at job factors grouped under Wages & Growth and Freedom & Purpose, then narrowed her results to focus specifically on state employees. The data showed that having the freedom to decide how they do their work and feeling good about their chances of promotion were the two biggest factors in workers' overall job satisfaction — with support from supervisors also playing a meaningful role.

These findings gave Lorie a big-picture view of how satisfied state workers are with their jobs, and helped her spot which areas were worth a closer look. From there, she was able to narrow in and develop specific research questions to build a fuller picture of what drives job satisfaction — questions that are now shaping her future research. The Dashboard provides access to local insights for everyone, from researchers to curious residents, to explore and learn about the quality of life in their community.