Generally speaking, there are four stages in constructing an index such as the CSGR Globalisation Index, or the well-known UNDP Human Development Index  (HDI).

1. First, a judgement is made about the “relevant variables” that should enter the index.
   

2. Second, quantitative i.e. numerical measures of these variables are found – here, data constraints are important. 
   

3. Third, these quantitative measures are normalised, to deal with the problem that different variables are typically measured in different units and therefore may have very different average numerical values.
   

4. Fourth, an average or weighted average of the normalised variables is calculated, which gives a numerical score for each country in each year. 
   

5. Fifth, the numerical scores  are used to determine country rankings.

In our case, this five-step procedure is slightly more complex, as we first construct three separate sub-indices of globalisation (economic, social, and political) following steps 1-5. The country rankings derived from these indices are reported separately on our website. We then calculate the simple unweighted average of these three sub-indices to give an overall globalisation index; the country rankings derived from this overall globalisation index are  reported, along with the rankings from the separate economic, social, and political dimensions, giving four rankings in all.