The European Values Study (EVS) is a large-scale, cross-national, repeated cross-sectional survey research programme on how Europeans think about family, work, religion, politics and society. The survey, which has been conducted every nine years since 1981, provides insights into the ideas, beliefs, preferences, attitudes, values, and opinions of people living in Europe. This record concerns British participation in the fifth wave, EVS 2017, which was carried out in conjunction with the seventh wave of the World Values Survey.The European Values Study (EVS) is a large-scale, cross-national, repeated cross-sectional survey research programme on basic human values. It provides insights into the ideas, beliefs, preferences, attitudes, values and opinions of citizens all over Europe. It is a unique investigation into how Europeans think about life, family, work, religion, politics and society. The EVS started in 1981, when a thousand citizens in each of the European member states of that time were interviewed using standardized questionnaires. The survey has been repeated every nine years in an increasing number of countries. The fourth wave in 2008 covered no fewer than 46 European countries, from Ireland to Azerbaijan and from Portugal to Norway. The fifth wave in 2017 is being run in cooperation with the World Values Survey (which grew out of the EVS) and will extend to scores of countries around the world. This grant will support British participation in the 2017 EVS/WVS survey. The central research question is whether values are changing in modern European society, to what extent and in what direction. Values are basic convictions that are prior to, and help to organize, more particular attitudes, actions and moral judgments. The question of how and why values are changing is important because values determine what people care about, with potentially profound impact on society and politics. The questionnaire covers topics that include national identity, culture, diversity, insecurity, support for democracy, tolerance of foreigners and ethnic minorities, support for gender equality, the role of religion, the impact of globalization, attitudes towards the environment, work, family, politics, subjective well-being, and so on. The questionnaire also contains items on issues of personal and civic ethics, from smoking indoors to suicide. The overarching topic of the current EVS wave is 'Social Solidarity and European Identity'. Many of the items replicate those from previous surveys, thus enabling analysis of change over time on the key dimensions. With the addition of the new wave, the EVS/WVS study will be a unique source of trend data for the past four decades. The range of potential research questions that can be addressed by scholars and research users is very wide, involving any of the topics covered, using either this dataset on its own or in conjunction with previous waves, and looking either at Great Britain alone, comparisons within Europe, or global cross-national comparisons. The EVS allows researchers to investigate whether economic harmonisation is accompanied by cultural and ideological integration. Three and a half decades on from the first survey in 1981, the questions are as important as ever. The benefits of transnationalism are disputed; the impact of globalisation in an open market has been strongly felt, and debates continue over the nature of national identity and the consequences of cultural diversity. Support for both the European project and the development of multicultural societies has wavered, divided to some extent along social fault lines defined by region, generation, education and class.
Computer-assisted personal interviews, following selection of addresses via multistage random sampling.
