"The World Values Surveys were designed to test the hypothesis that economic and technological changes are transforming the basic values and motivations of the publics of industrialized societies. The surveys build on the European Values Study (EVS) first carried out in 1981." -Source: Who We Are: History of the World Values Survey Association (WVSA)

Please note that each World Values Survey (WVS) is a cross-sectional, nationally representative, in-country survey that is categorized into a wave (or round) based on which rules and procedures a country implementing a WVS followed. This allows for surveys with the same wave designation to be cross-nationally comparable. This WVS was conducted using WVS-4 (or wave 4) rules and procedures.