Values: The ITC International Handbook of Testing and Assessment

The concept and measurement of values undergoes continued development and change. Yet several issues persist. Are people aware of their values, or are values unavailable to conscious awareness? Shouldvalues be measured directly because people can articulate them, or indirectly because people have no access to them? Can these views be reconciled? While tracing the development of values theory through the approaches of Allport and Vernon, Rokeach, and Schwartz, this chapter examines these and other questions that values researchers confront. Is there a comprehensive set of human values and how could one discover it? To what extent are people’s values organized into meaningful systems and on what bases? What different methods are there to measure values in adults and children? What assumptions do these methods make about the nature of values? What are the advantages and disadvantages of rating versus ranking techniques? What new directions is value measurement taking?