European Values Systems Study Group (EVSSG) carried out the first EVS surveys in several Western European countries in 1981. The World Values Surveys series was started when the original EVS study evoked such interest that it was replicated in 14 additional countries. EVS and WVS surveys have been carried out in several waves.
Structurally, the international surveys of the World Values Survey (WVS) series resemble the Eurobarometers and the ISSP surveys. Citizen activities, attitudes, and basic values in different countries are studied with integrated, structured surveys.
European Values Study group is responsible for the EVS data collection. The planning of the WVS has been carried out by the World Values Survey network. FSD collections cover Finnish data from 1996 onwards.
The European Values Study is a population-level study charting Finnish moral views, religious and social attitudes, and values. The 2017 EVS survey focused on equality between groups of people, tolerance, religious behaviour, democracy, and citizenship.
First, the respondents were asked what they considered to be the most important things in their lives, and how they perceived their happiness and health. The respondents' participation in association work was also queried as well as trust in and prejudice against different groups of people. Next, the respondents were presented with a set of attitudinal statements concerning work which charted, for instance, the most important aspects of work and views on unemployment.
The next questions covered the respondents' religious behaviour, relationships and family life. They were asked whether they belonged to a religious community and whether they had religious habits, such as praying or going to the church. The respondents' views were charted on factors affecting the success of a relationship, work division and equality between genders, and trust in the institution of marriage. They were also asked which characteristics they considered important in a good child.
The respondents' political attitudes and behaviour were examined next with questions concerning participation in politics, responsibilities of the individual and of the society, the free market, and the future of society. The respondents' trust in different institutions in society was also charted, and views on the state of democracy were examined. For instance, the respondents were asked what they considered the essential features of democracy and how well democracy functioned in Finland at the time of the survey.
Finally, questions charted the respondents' values with questions concerning, for instance, the acceptability of prostitution or death penalty, regional identity and how it is defined, behaviour in elections, and attitudes toward immigrants. The respondents were also presented with attitudinal statements regarding environmental issues, authorities' access to citizens' personal information, social responsibility of relatives, friends and unknown people.
Background variables included age, gender, marital status, country where R was born, number of children, education, economic activity, income, and parents' educational background. Background information concerning the respondents' spouses was also collected.
Two samples were selected for face-to-face interviews and an internet questionnaire. The face-to-face interviews (CAPI) were collected as a two-stage stratified sample. The first stage included selecting 100 postal codes as a proportional stratified sample based on information obtained from Statistics Finland. Stratification of postal codes was carried out according to major region (NUTS2) and statistical grouping of municipalities (urban, semi-urban, rural). The number of postal codes selected from each stratum was proportionate to the population. In the second stage, 14 respondents were randomly drawn from each selected postal code. Contact details were obtained from the Finnish Population Register Centre. The sample for the internet survey (CAWI) was selected using systematic random sampling based on information obtained from the Population Register Centre. Some persons contacted for the internet survey were sent a mail-in questionnaire. A total sample size of 1,200 respondents was targeted: 660 persons face-to-face and 540 persons for the internet survey. Ultimately, 388 face-to-face interviews were conducted, 667 persons responded to the internet questionnaire and 144 persons responded using a paper questionnaire (total number of respondents 1,199). Data collection times were: CAPI 27 December 2017 - 10 July 2018; CAWI 24 November 2017 - 10 July 2018.