ABSTRACT
This chapter evaluates the semantic equivalence of the survey items used in our China and US surveys. Survey interviews have been widely used in studies on values. Semantic equivalence in survey measurement would mean that questions for cross-cultural comparisons carry the same socially understood meaning in each culture. While the researchers eventually wrote and successfully pretested items that covered most of the values in the China survey, certain value concepts simply do not exist in the American culture. Demographic data are routinely gathered in almost any general population survey, but in our study these variables also have clear theoretical relevance to the values that comprise our dependent variables. In the China survey, age was coded into six categories: below 20,20-29,30-39,40-49,50-59, and 60-65. These were arrayed on an ordinal scale from 1 through 6. The China survey used seven categories: never went to school, some elementary school, elementary school graduate, junior high school, senior high school, college, and postgraduate studies.
