Ronald Inglehart, director of the World Values Survey, is quoted here as saying that new values emerge when “younger generations are socialized under significantly different conditions from those that shaped earlier generations.” The author of this piece claims that although WVS data indicate significant recent changes in specific values for several countries, these changes are likely a reflection, at least in part, of respondents making different interpretations of questions that have changed translations in subsequent waves. Calling the WVS “the world’s greatest cross-national social science collaboration,” the author nonetheless notes the value of “removing the noise of bad data” emanating from mistaken translations, and revisiting some analyses.

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