Validation by Means of Method Variation: A CFA-Approach to the SSA-Value-Typology of Schwartz

Hans Waege, Jaak Billiet, and Stefaan Pleysier

General values belong to the traditional topics of survey research. Since the beginning of the nineties, the work of Schwartz is becoming one of the main standards in this field. In order to construct his value typology, Schwartz uses Smallest Space Analysis. However, this technique does not allow testing theories, whereas Schwartz does formulate a theory that can be tested in the framework of a CFA-model. In this study, we have used a dataset of members of the Christian Workers Movement in Flanders (N = 2,070). It is shown that these data do not fit the theoretical value typology of Schwartz. Both the different types of values and the dimensions cannot be found in the data. The article concludes with a taxonomy of values and suggestions for the operationalisation of values in surveys.