The Chinese Value Survey: An Interpretation of Value Scales and Consideration of Some preliminary Results

The Chinese Value Survey (CVS) was developed by Bond and his colleagues as a complement to survey instruments constructed by research workers such as Rokeach (1973) and Schwartz (1992). It was designed to be used with people living in geographical regions where Eastern life values are pre-eminent. Preliminary studies have been carried out using this instrument with university students from ethnically Chinese backgrounds studying in three Australian universities. Data were examined using principal components analysis rotated to orthogonal structure. Initial results indicate that of the 40 values measured, 39 neatly form four factors, which are renamed to suit their content. This analysis makes interpretation of the values held by students from an ethnically Chinese background more accessible. Background literature The Chinese Value Survey (henceforth referred to as the CVS) was developed by Bond and a group of research workers known collectively as the Chinese Culture Connection in response to their perceived need to measure and evaluate cultural values within the setting of a Chinese social value system that is derived from the Confucian ethos. Value perceptions from those who were ethnically Chinese which were obtained by Bond and his colleagues seemed very different from those obtained in previous studies. This is especially evident in Chinese students ’ responses i