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 2018-2019 EVS survey charted the views and attitudes of Swedish-speaking Finns and was conducted in Swedish. The survey focused on equality between groups of people, tolerance, religious behaviour, democracy and citizenship. Data collection was funded by Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland. The survey is equivalent to the 2017 European Values Study (Finnish Data: FSD3213), except for some questions specifically directed at Swedish-speaking Finns (q63-q66), which focus on health services, living abroad and the use of Finnish and Swedish.
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 as well as 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, the respondents' values were examined 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 and social responsibility of relatives, friends and unknown people.
Background variables included the respondent's age, gender, marital status, country of birth, number of children, level of education, economic activity, income and parents' educational background. Background information concerning the respondents' spouses was also collected.
The total sample size was 3,600 persons, of which 1,315 persons responded to the survey. All respondents had the possibility to respond either to an online questionnaire or a paper questionnaire. Movie tickets were raffled among the participants.