Key Research Questions:

1. Do the parents, worldwide have certain preferences and aspirations about values and norms which they would like to see in their children

2. What is the hierarchy of those values in other words, how do parents rank them in order of importance?

3. Is the preferences of parents belonging to different civilizations similar or different from each other? What are the similarities and differences in parental preference of worldwide Christian, Muslim and A Religious (no religion) parents?

Research Findings

1. Based on the statistical analysis of survey data, the following values emerged as the top 10 aspire to teach their children at home. In order of their worldwide, priority these values are: (‘I Cherish my children to be’)

1 Good Mannered ------------------------ (79%)

2 Responsible ------------------------ (67%)

3 Tolerant ------------------------ (65%)

4 Hard Working ------------------------ (65%)

5 Independent ------------------------ (54%)

6 Thrifty ------------------------ (43%)

7 Religious ------------------------ (41%)

8 Obedient ------------------------ (41%)

9 Un-selfishness ------------------------ (34%)

10 Imaginative ------------------------ (24%)

Question: Here is a list of qualities that children can be encouraged to learn at home. Which, if any, do you consider to be especially important? Please choose up to five.

2. There is a notable difference in the structure of values held by parents belonging to different civilizations. Alongside these differences, these are notable similarities just as well. Consequently, we have grouped the ten values into three value clusters: Contentions (showing sharp difference); Consensual (showing very small difference) and Dialectical (showing moderate difference). The grouping of ten values into three clusters was carried out by applying hierarchical cluster analysis to group the values based on their similarities.

The Dendrogram of the cluster analysis shown in figure 1 represents the minimum distance between imagination and unselfishness, followed by thrift for saving money and independence. These four values are classified as modern values preferred by the parents to learn at home. Religious faith and obedience having low distance seem to be like each other. These two values are classified separately as traditional values based on domain knowledge. Good Manners and feelings of responsibility, tolerance and hard work found to be similar to each other are classified as social values.

Figure 1. Cluster analysis of characteristics that children should be encouraged to learn at home. Dendrogram of the characteristics in 1980-2020 (Dendrogram using Average Linkage Between Groups)

3. The three-value cluster was then broken down with respondents belonging to various civilizations of the world. Of interest were civilizations which turned out to be vastly spread out across the globe. These included Christians (spread out with at least one million adherents in 112 countries of the world; Muslims (in 74 countries); and Areligious adherents (No Religion) spread out in 44 countries of the world. Details on the size and structure of various civilizations at global as well as regional levels can be seen at (Gallup and Gilani Barometer). This is a dashboard developed by Gallup and Gilani Research Institute, titled Global Barometer of Facts about world-wide civilizations.

4. Each of the three-civilization includes large sample size in our research data acquired from the world value Survey (Christians: 194,205 respondents; Muslim 98,394; Areligious: 74,347 individuals). We then dis-aggregated results to analyze the association between civilizational belonging and value clusters.

5. The findings of our analysis establish the following relationships.

Table # 1. Civilizations Wise Normative norms and Values Cluster

6. In order to build an index of civilizational affinities, we computed value gaps of three combinations and from it developed the relevant indexes. Affinity Index was computed subtracting 100 minus civilizations gap. A higher index shows a higher similarity between civilization and low score show difference between civilizations.

Table # 2: Civilizations Wise Norms Gap and their Affinity Index

Table # 3. Civilizations Wise Norms Gap and their Affinity Index in Euro-America

Table # 4. Civilizations Wise Norms Gap and their Affinity Index in Afro-Asia

7. Conclusion:

i. Christian-Muslim Affinity Index was 85.13 on a scale of 1-100. This is the global index value based on values aspired by parents of their children, meanwhile, Christian-Areligious Affinity Index is 66.42 on a scale of 1-100 for traditional norms. Christian-Muslim Affinity Index was 97.59 for modern norms and 99.73 Social Norms. Similarly, Christian-Atheist Affinity index is 99.73 points and 96.23 points for social norms.

ii. The value of affinity indexes between Muslims and Christians is a higher value affinity between Christian and the adherents of Areligious (No Religion) Civilization.

iii. Our regional analysis shows that the value gap between Christians and their A-religious fellow citizen is less pronounced in Euro-America than in Afro-Asia. However, in both Euro-America and Afro Asia Christian nationals have a higher value affinity with their Muslim fellow nationals the Areligious national of the respective societies.

8. Future Research:

The Christian-Muslim Values Affinity Index may change over time in either direction. If similar worldwide data were available for the period after 2020, our research should be able to determine the change at both global and regional levels.

Tabulation Section

Table # 5. Meta Zone Wise Civilizations with their footprint in Millions

Table # 6. Meta zone Wise Civilizations with Share of population (Row%)

Table # 7. Meta Zone Wise Civilizations with Share of the Population (Col%)

Table # 8. Ten Regions Wise Civilizations with Global footprint in Millions

Table # 9: Ten Regions Wise Civilizations with share of the population (Row%)

Table # 10. Ten Region Wise Civilizations with share of population (Col%)

Table # 11. Number of countries more than one million adherents of Civilizations

Research Methodology: Data

The data for this research paper is taken from the World Value Survey (WVS) dataset. The data comprises responses to nationally representative surveys of 293 countries (102 unduplicated countries). The countries were collectively interviewed during the period 1980-2020 through WVS calls ‘Waves’ spread over a given number of years. Altogether seven such waves were conducted during the approximately four years over which the data were collected. Some countries were surveyed in all or more than one wave; thus, the country count of 102 countries is a list of the unduplicated count. 423,942 respondents were interviewed in the fourth year and seven waves representing 90% of the world adult population (Globality Index).

Over a period of forty years, a total of (unduplicated) questions were asked; they comprise 938 items, each of which can be considered a ‘variable’ in its own right.

The 938 variable items can be grouped into 9 subject or topical categories, a task which the central team of WVS has carried out and made publicly available through its website. The 128 Variable item graphs include a group on demographic or classificatory variables. All the above details are available in the WVS website section on methodology.

Different researchers have ‘treated’ the WVS survey combined dataset (all seven waves) according to the needs of their own research and have possibly constructed customized data sets to suit their own research needs. One assumes that most of such use the WVS data in their own publications.

According to the WVS website, a total of 30,000 publications have so far appeared and been brought to the notice of the WVS website. Over 60,000 citations for WVS have been reported on google scholar. It is highly probable that many others have based their studies on WVS datasets and are not reflected in the WVS Website provided information on this subject.

The Gallup and Gilani Research Institute’s Research Paper Series are this one among a long list of the illustrious users of the WVS dataset. Below we explain our customization of the WVS dataset.

Gallup & Gilani customization of WVS dataset

The Gallup & Gilani customization of the WVS dataset can be summarized as below:

1. It comprised all data gathered in the seven waves; spanning over the period 1980-2020.

2. The combined dataset can thus be analyzed in any of the 938 unique variable items, grouped into 9 subjects or into topic groups including demographic classificatory variables.

3. In order to quickly examine the sample size for any given (queried) variable item, we have specified a column which lists the number of respondents for the queried variable item.

4. Since many varied items were included in more than surveys, the information on the size of the sample to which they were posed as a question in a specific survey can also be determined.

5. Weighting Scheme for the combined dataset: The Gallup & Gilani customized dataset has kept a provision of weighting the data on the following parameters:

i. Country Level Population (as of the year 2020)

ii. Religious composition of the given country

These weights are applying for the customized data for all seven waves, or any subset of items which might be the subject of a given query.

The weight can be enabled or dis-enabled (or changed) as per requirement. It is abundantly evident that any such ‘treatment’ of the data must be adequately explained in any analysis emerging from the researcher’s analysis.

Dashboard on Paper # 1 (Me and My Children)