comparative value priorities of chinese and new zealand

MULTIDIMENSIONAL SCALING SMALLEST SPACE ANALYSIS
Schwartz’ theoretical cultural value dimensions were based on visual inspection of the
spatial plots from Multidimensional Scaling Smallest Space Analysis, guided by a priori
criteria, primarily from Rokeach’s dimensions (Schwartz, 1992; Schwartz and Sagiv,
1995). Schwartz selected items and dimensions that, in the large majority of samples,
the items that operationalise each value occupied a distinct region in the space, with no
substantial empty spaces between regions. I will test the hypothesis,
Hypothesis: SVS Value Structure: The Multidimensional Scaling
Smallest Space Analysis value structures for the SVS and LBDQXII
New Zealand and Guangzhou City sample data will not differ from
Schwartz’ theoretical model.
Cohen (2000), using Smallest Space Analysis, derives “facets” of items defining value
dimensions around a “core value” dimension. SSA analysis of various sets of SVS data,
from Guangzhou for example, and also from Oman (Ibrahim Alkindi, post-graduate
student, Griffith University, 2008, personal communication) indicate that the core and
peripheral value structure may fit better than a circumplex in some countries with
societal cultures similar to China and Oman. Additional analyses need to be carried out
to investigate this possibility. Figure 5.12 can be interpreted as a value structure of a
core of Confucian Values: Benevolence, Universalism, Self-Direction, Achievement,
and Maintaining Face, with Power, Hedonism, and Tradition as peripheral values. As
noted above, the operationalisation of Tradition in the SVS items is problematic. As
noted in Chapter 3, Spini (2003), for twenty-one national samples, found Hedonism to
not have metric equivalence across nations and configural equivalence was impossible
to evaluate due to too few items in the scale. For further inspection of validity, I now
inspect the SSA for the two samples in this study.
Smallest Space Analysis for the SVS Sample Data
The SSA plots in the figures below depict diagrams replicating Schwartz’ statistical
technique, comparing actual to theoretical relative placements of the dimensions in 2dimensional
space.
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