Surveys of intergenerational values transmission measurement: Review of outboard literature

Abstract

The goal of this article was to reveal the perspectives of the intergenerational transmission measurement for Russian survey research based on the analysis of the English-language scientific publications. Intergenerational values transmission measurement is a crucial tool for the investigation of social dynamics. In addition to this, it could be applied for anti-stigmatization of the people, who belong to different generations and affect agist public prejudices. However, this tool is not yet widely used in Russian social research practice. In this article to shed the light on intergenerational transmission of values promise for the Russian quantitative research on families, I analyze the validity and reliability issues that typically emerge in foreign studies. The analysis is based on criteria of research quality suggested by E. Drost. As a literature review methodology is used narrative literature review approach. My analysis demonstrates that the pivotal threats for the intergenerational transmission of values research lie in the survey setting; the choice of the scales for values measurement; the size, and composition of the sample; the number of times, and periodicity the values measurement. The construct validity and reliability issues seem to be the most manageable and treatable. At the same time, the serious threat come from the validity of statistical conclusions and external, internal validity. These problems reduction is an acute methodological challenge that could hinder the methodology wide application on Russian-speaking samples. The paper could be of interest to family, childhood, and aging students.