In 1985, Sen made a plea that wellbeing not be considered in isolation from human
agency (Sen 1985b). At present, the explosion of research on empowerment in
development similarly draws attention to the need for increases in wellbeing to be in
part generated by and sustained by the communities in question. Measures of
empowerment and opportunity structure, such as Alsop and Heinsohn propose,
would contribute clarity regarding the exterior environment. Measures of individual
autonomy, such as Ryan and Deci have developed, could potentially provide
accurate domain-specific measures of autonomy. The methods by which this data
would be combined for comparative purposes, and the accuracy of the proposed
indicators, are still appropriately the subjects of ongoing empirical research. However these streams could be the building blocks for a methodological sidecar that would
expand the functioning measures with key aspects of individual freedom.