EVS - European Values Study 1981 - Integrated Dataset

The online overview offers comprehensive metadata on the
EVS datasets and variables.

The variable overview of the four EVS waves 1981, 1990, 1999/2000, and 2008
allows for identifying country specific deviations in the question wording
within and across the EVS waves.

This overview can be found at:
<a href=http://info1.gesis.org/EVS/Variables/ target=_blank>Online Variable Overview </a>.

Moral, religious, societal, political, work, and family values of
Europeans.

Themes: Feeling of happiness; state of health; ever felt: very excited
or interested, restless, proud, lonely, pleased, bored, depressed,
upset because of criticism; when at home: feeling relaxed, anxious, happy,
aggressive, secure; respect and love for parents; important child
qualities: good manners, politeness and neatness, independance, hard
work, honesty, felling of responsibility, patience, imaginantion,
tolerance, leadership, self-control, saving money, determination
perseverance, religious faith, unselfishness, obedience, loyalty;
attitude towards abortion; way of spending leisure time: alone, with
family, with friends, in a lively place; frequency of political
discussions; opinion leader; volentary engagement in: welfare service
for elderly, education, labour unions, polititcal parties, human
rights, environment, professional associations, youth work,
consumer groups; dislike being with people with different ideas;
will to help; characterisation of neighbourhood: people with a ciminal
record, of a different race, heavy drinkers, emotionally unstable
people, immigrants or foreign workers, left-wing or right-wing
extremists, people with large families, students, unmarried mothers,
members of minority religious sects or cults; general confidence;
young people trust in older people and vice versa; satisfaction with
life; freedom of choice and control; satisfaction with financial
situation of the household; financial situation in 12 months; important
values at work: good pay, not too much pressure, job security, a
respected job, good hours, opportunity to use initiative, generous
holidays, responsibility, interesting job, a job that meets one´s
abilities, pleasant people, chances for promotion, useful job for
society, meeting people; look forward to work after weekend; pride in
one´s work; exploitation at work; job satisfaction; freedom of decision
taking in job; behaviour at paid free days: find extra work, use spare time
to study, spend time with family and friends, find additional work to
avoid boredom, use spare time for voluntary work, spend time on
hobbies, run own business, relaxing; fair payment; preferred management
type; attitude towards following instructions at work; satisfaction
with home life; sharing attitudes with partner and parents: towards
religion, moral standards, social attitudes, polititcal views, sexual
attitudes; ideal number of children; child needs a home with father and
mother; a woman has to have children to be fulfilled; sex cannot
entirely be left to individual choice; marriage as an out-dated
institution; woman as a single parent; enjoy sexual freedom; important
values for a successful marriage: faithfulness, adequate income, same social
background, respect and appreciation, religious beliefs, good housing,
agreement on politics, understanding and tolerance, apart from in-laws,
happy sexual relationship, sharing household chores, children, taste
and interests in common; accepted reasons for divorce; main aim of
imprisonment; willingness to fight for the own country; fear of war;
expected future changes of values; opinion about scientific advances;
interest in politics; political action: signing a petition, joining in
boycotts, attending lawful demonstrations, joining unofficial strikes,
occupying buildings or factories, damaging things and personal
violence; prefence for freedom or equality; self-positioning on a
left-right scale; basic kinds of attitudes concerning society;
confidence in institutions: churches, armed forces, education system,
the press, labour unions, the police, parliament, the civil services,
major companies and the justice system; living day to day because of
uncertain future; party preference and identification; regularly reading
of a daily newspaper; frequency of TV watching; opinion on terrorism;
thinking about meaning and purpose of life; feeling that life is meaningless;
thoughts about dead; good and evil in everyone; regret having done something;
worth risking life for: country, another´s life, justice, freedom,
peace and religion; attitude towards good and evil and religion and truth;
religous denomination; church attendence; self placement as religious person;
churches give answers to: moral problems, problems of family life, spiritual needs,
importance of religion in the future; believe in: God, life after
death, soul, hell, heaven, sin, re-incarnation and devil; personal God
vs. spirit or life force; importance of God; comfort and strength from
religion; moments of prayer or meditation; applying of the ten
commandements to the interviewee himself and to most people; feel in
touch with someone far away; seen events that happened far away; feel
in touch with someone dead; feel close to a powerful life force;
altered outlook on life through transcendental experience; relationship
between the parents and relationship between interviewee and his mother
and father; strict education through the parents; moral values:
personal attitudes and expected attitude of most people towards
unjustified claiming of government benefits, avoiding fare on public
transport, cheating on taxes, accepting a bribe, homosexuality,
prostitution, abortion, divorce, euthanasia, suicide, joyriding, taking
soft drugs, lying, adultery, sex under the legal age of consent,
political assassination, buying stolen goods, keeping money that one
finds, fighting with the police, hit-and-run driving, strikebreaking,
killing in self-defence; consumption of alcohol; illegal drug-taking
and alcoholism as a serios problem in the respondent´s country;
proud of nationality.

Demography: sex; year of birth; age; marital status; number of
children; size of household; number of people in the household aged 18
and older; number of people in the household at different age groups;
living with parents; house or apartment; employment status; profession of
chief wage profession; seize if department; member of a labour union;
socio-economic status of interviewee; income; size of town;
type of habitat; ethnic group.

Additionaly encoded: country; region; confidence of the
interviewee during the interview; weight.