Dataset version: Release v3.0.0 as of November 2011, Study No. 4438, doi:10.4232/1.10791
Documentation: Update, November 2011

Access to data and documentation

Data and Documentation: Overview of data and documentation provided on the Integrated Dataset
Participating countries and country-information: Overview of documentation provided on the national datasets

Participating countries and study design

The 1981 survey was conducted by the European Values Systems Study Group (EVSSG) in 1981 when citizens of the European Member States of that time and of further countries were interviewed. The national datasets were combined into an international dataset including altogether 16 countries: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany West, Great-Britain, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Malta, The Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Norway, Spain, Sweden, USA.
For an overview of countries participating in several EVS waves, click here.

Nationally representative samples were selected. The target number of interviews in each country was set at 1000, with an additional booster quota sample of 200 young adults aged 18-24. Personal interviews with standardized questionnaires were conducted between 1981 to 1984.

The origin of the EVS project

The EVS was an initiative of Jan Kerkhofs from the Catholic University of Leuven (Belgium) and Ruud de Moor from Tilburg University (The Netherlands). They established the European Value Systems Study Group Foundation, located in Amsterdam. The Board of the Foundation was chaired by Ruud de Moor (Tilburg University) and members were Jan Kerkhofs (Catholic University of Leuven), and Joseph Bröllman, a lawyer in Amsterdam.

A steering group and a technical group were established. The steering group consisted of Heinz Maier-Leibnitz, K. Foster, Jacques Rabier, Pierre Delooz, Mark Abrams, Jan Kerkhofs and Ruud de Moor. The technical group carried the responsibility for developing a questionnaire and conducting the fieldwork. This group consisted of Gordon Heald (director of Gallup in London), Meril James (Gallup London), Elisabeth Noelle-Neuman and Renate Köcher (both Institut für Demoskopie in Allensbach), Jean Stoetzel and Hélène Riffault (Faits et Opinions, Paris), Juan Linz (Yale University, US and Data sa, Madrid), and Steve Harding (at that time teaching at Nene College, Northampton).

For more information on survey design and standards of EVS 1981, go to Methods and sample.