Methodology

How Personal Values Map works

Personal Values Map is a self-reflection assessment inspired by Schwartz's Theory of Basic Human Values. It is not an official PVQ or SVS. The 40 items were independently written for this project.

Assessment structure

• Ten value dimensions are represented by four items each, for 40 items in total.
• Each item uses a six-point person-similarity scale, from “Not like me at all” to “Very much like me.”
• There is no neutral midpoint and no reverse-keyed item in v1.
• All 40 items must be answered before results are calculated.
• English is the source item set. Korean is a meaning-equivalent localization rather than a literal translation.

Dimension scores and relative priorities

Each raw dimension score is the mean of its four associated responses. MRAT, or mean response across all items, is the mean of all 40 responses. A centered dimension score is then calculated as raw dimension score - MRAT.

Centering helps the results describe relative priorities within one person's responses rather than how high or low that person tends to use the response scale overall. The displayed Priority Index is clamp(50 + centered score * 10, 0, 100). A Priority Index of 50 is the respondent's own average reference point. The Priority Index is a display transformation, not a percentage, percentile, or population norm.

Presentation bands

To avoid over-interpreting small differences, the results use a 45–55 near-midpoint band as a user-interface presentation rule. Scores below 45 are labeled relatively below the personal midpoint, and scores above 55 are labeled relatively above it. These labels are not validated psychometric cutoffs.

Profile labels use only the presentation bands of the two higher-order value axes. They are simplified labels for usability and reflection, not validated personality types, and they do not change any score or calculation.

Higher-order domains and bipolar displays

Higher-order domains use the mean of the relevant centered dimension scores:

• Openness to Change: Self-Direction, Stimulation, and Hedonism
• Conservation: Security, Conformity, and Tradition
• Self-Transcendence: Benevolence and Universalism
• Self-Enhancement: Achievement and Power

The results show Conservation ↔ Openness to Change and Self-Transcendence ↔ Self-Enhancement as relative bipolar displays. Neither side is better or worse. Hedonism is included in Openness to Change only; it is not duplicated in Self-Enhancement.

Ties and interpretation limits

Dimensions are sorted using a stable technical order when centered scores are exactly tied. That stable order makes the interface predictable, but it does not mean tied values differ meaningfully in rank. If a tie crosses the displayed top-three cutoff, the results explain that the listed values are not meaningfully above the other tied values.

Results are intended for self-reflection, not psychological diagnosis. They do not provide diagnosis, clinical meaning, percentile ranking, population norms, or a claim of independent psychometric validation.

References

These references provide background on the value framework. They do not validate Personal Values Map itself.

• Shalom H. Schwartz (2012). An Overview of the Schwartz Theory of Basic Values. Online Readings in Psychology and Culture.
• Shalom H. Schwartz (2021). A Repository of Schwartz Value Scales with Instructions and an Introduction. Online Readings in Psychology and Culture.
• Lilach Sagiv & Shalom H. Schwartz (2022). Personal Values Across Cultures. Annual Review of Psychology, 73, 517–546.