European Values Study
The European Values Study (EVS) is a large-scale, cross-national and longitudinal survey of moral, religious, political
and social values. The survey was designed to investigate the nature and inter-relationship of value systems, their degree of homogeneity, and the extent to which they are subject to change across time.
To date there have been 3 waves, the first carried out in 1981, the second in 1990 and the third in 1999/2000.
The 1981 survey was carried out in ten member states of the European Community. After the initial fieldwork the survey
was carried out in a further 16 countries (Argentina, Australia, Chile, Canada, Finland, Hungary, Iceland, Japan, Malta,
Mexico, Norway, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden, United States and parts of the Soviet Union). The 1981 data are held at
the UK Data Archive (UKDA) but are temporarily unavailable whilst errors in the data are being corrected. The 1990 survey was carried out in all European countries as well as the United States and
Canada. The 1990 data are held at Steinmetz Archive of the Netherlands Institute for Scientific Information Services
(NIWI). The third EVS was carried out in Europe and the data are held at the at the Central Archive for Empirical Social
Research (ZA), Germany.
Further information can be found on the EVS web site.
ACCESS
Users registered with ESDS (see Registration help) can request the data via
European Values Studies datasets. As the various waves of the data are not all held within just one European Archive, the access conditions and supply of
data and documentation vary for each wave:
1981 data can be downloaded, or requested on CD, by any registered user for not-for-profit purposes.
The 1990 data can be requested by UK residents for not-for-profit purposes on CD or via ftp/web download.
The 1999-2000 data are available to UK residents for not-for-profit purposes on a CD that contains all country datasets,
the integrated dataset and the database system ZA CodebookExplorer. The data are also available to analyse and download
online at ZA Online Study Catalogue (ZACAT). Data
analysis and downloading require online registration with ZACAT and there is no restriction upon who can register.
Non-UK users should access the 1990 and 1999-2000 data through their own national archive, or direct from the archive
that holds the data. UK commercial users should contact the archive that holds the data.
Some of the data are also available to analyse and download online at
the The Values Surveys
Database.
Data format: All datasets are available in SPSS format and other formats may also be available.
User guides/questionnaires are freely downloadable:
Cost: If data are requested on portable media
e.g. CD, handling and postage and packaging fees will apply.
See Charges.
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