Determining the Psychometric Properties of the Schwartz Portrait Values Short Form Questionnaire in Farhangian University Students

Values are the core structures of personality and are considered standards to guide thinking and action. Values guide people towards certain positions in social issues and place people in favor of an ideology against others. When people think about their personal values, they think about what is important, good, and worthy for them. According to intrinsic and extrinsic motivational content, Schwartz conceptualized 10 types of personal values. Personal values with an internal orientation (centered on the person) belong to the two dimensions of self–enhancement (universalism and benevolence) and openness to changes (benevolence, self–direction, and stimulation), and personal values with an external orientation (centered on the community) belong to the two dimensions of conversation (stimulation, tradition, and security) and self–transcendence (achievement and power). These values act as guiding principles in a person's life and are considered the building blocks of good life and well–being. Psychosocial researchers have long been interested in finding ways to assess human values. Schwartz and his colleagues have developed various tools to achieve this ambitious goal. One of the most important tools is the short form of the Schwartz Portrait Values Questionnaire. The present study aims to investigate the psychometric properties of the Schwartz Portrait Values Questionnaire short form (PVQ–21, 2001) in Iranian university students.

This research was methodological. The statistical population included all students of Farhangian University in Tehran City, Iran, in the academic year 2021–2022. Considering that the minimum sample size for factor analysis is 6 to 10 times the number of instrument items, in the present study, after removing 35 inaccurate questionnaires, 450 people were included in the study using the available sampling method. The study participants answered the short form of PVQ–21. The content validity of the questionnaire was checked using two indices, content validity index (CVI) and content validity ratio (CVR), with the opinion of ten experts (3 people are PhD in psychometrics, 5 are clinical psychologists, and 2 are PhD students in clinical psychology). Using the Lawshe table, the optimal CVR was 0.62. The value of 0.79 was considered an acceptable value for CVI. The factorial structure, the short form of the Schwartz Portrait Values Questionnaire, was determined using confirmatory factor analysis with the help of LISREL version 8.8 software, and the reliability of the tool was determined using the Cronbach alpha coefficient in SPSS version 24 software. The significance level was set at 0.05.

Content validity was checked with the opinion of 10 experts, and the range of CVR for each statement was between 0.80 and 1. Comparing the obtained values with the Lawshe table for each phrase, the CVR was 0.62, indicating the significance of the presence of phrases in the research tool. The results of the CVI of each phrase were more than 0.79, which showed the simplicity, specificity, and appropriate clarity of each phrase. The factorial structure of PVQ–21 in the students of Farhangian University showed that, in addition to 10 personal values, this tool has four general factors of openness to changes (benevolence, self–direction, and stimulation), self–enhancement (universalism and benevolence), conversation (stimulation, tradition, and security), and self–transcendence (achievement and power). According to the value perspective, Schwartz's personal values were measured. Fit indices, including χ2/df=2/90; MRSEA=0.065; CFI=0.92, and GFI=0.90 were optimally obtained. The Cronbach alpha values were calculated between 0.700 (for self–transcendence) and 0.777 (for self–enhancement).

The findings of this research showed that the short form of PVQ–21 (2001) has good validity and reliability in Farhangian University students, and it can be used to check people's personal values. This questionnaire has good validity and reliability among Iranian students and can be used as a tool for examining one's personal values.