comparative value priorities of chinese and new zealand

for example, Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity. Hypotheses and theories are used
to make predictions to be tested.
Laws can also be used to develop theories when applied to situations that are more
general. The law of gravitational attraction can lead to theories of how gravity works,
what causes it, and how it behaves. The effects of gravitational attraction are a critical
part of the general theory of relativity. The law is used and expanded in the theory to
include complex interactions in situations involving gravity, space, and time. An
accepted difference between a law and a theory is that a theory is more complex than a
law and is dynamic. Theories can change and evolve with new evidence, and, though it
rarely happens to properly developed theories, be replaced by a new theory. A law
typically describes a single action, whereas a theory explains a group of related
phenomena.
A theory is the eventual result of a series of rigorous tests of hypotheses. Note that
theories do not become laws. Scientific laws must exist prior to the start of using the
scientific method because, as stated earlier, laws are the foundation for all science.
Laws Related to this Research Project
Laws relating to culture are,
� Specific, unique societies exist and their uniqueness is recognisable by external
observers of societies.
� Cultural value dimensions exist and the behaviours that reflect them are
recognisable as fitting into a value category by observers of a society.
Some projects that are purported to have developed theories of cultural value
dimensions based upon these laws are Hofstede (1980, 2001), Schwartz (1992, 1994),
Inglehart (1997), and the GLOBE project (House et al., 2004), hypotheses arising from
these laws include,
� Cultural value dimensions can be defined as clusters of behaviours;
� Cultural value dimensions can be measured;
� Societies with different languages have different cultural values.
These hypotheses have been thoroughly tested by the four research streams, and the
founders have developed and published theories. I will employ Schwartz’ theory in this
project, operationalised by the Schwartz Values Survey.
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