Monitoring for Values and How They’re Working Out

How to discover the values of a large user-base, and monitor whether a changing product, space, ritual, etc supports them.

Intellectual Background

Our metrics, surveys and evaluation techniques descend from the capability approach, a human-values based evaluation methodology pioneered by Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum, and used by the World Bank and in other large scale projects. But we address some problems with the capability approach: it's imprecise notion of values ("capabilities and functionings"), and its tendency to assume universal human values.
Our general approach to understanding social issues—in terms of social practices and breakdown in the viability of the relevant values—comes more from sociology and political theory (especially the tradition of pragmatists like Charles Taylor) than from critical tech or media theory. To this common sociological lens, we add more technical work on the evolution of norms (by Karl Opp, Simon DeDeo, and many others).
The social science above has been given a stronger foundation based on recent work on agency and choice which is clearer about human values and their role in behavior, choice, and reasons. This is based on work by philosophers David Velleman, Ruth Chang, Isaac Levi, and Elizabeth Anderson.

For more, see the bibliography over at Operationalizing Metaethics .