UNS — The Faculty of Psychology at Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS) Surakarta has announced the successful completion of data collection for the 8th Wave of the World Values Survey (WVS) in Indonesia. Spanning five months of intensive fieldwork from August to December 2025, the milestone establishes UNS as the first and only academic institution in Indonesia entrusted as an official Principal Investigator by the Vienna-based World Values Survey Association.
The milestone was presented during a press briefing at the UNS Rectorate Building on Monday (18/5/2026) by WVS Wave 8 Principal Investigator and Head of the UNS Faculty of Psychology Research Team, Dr. Phil. Ayu Okvitawanli, alongside team member Dr. Moh. Abdul Hakim. Dr. Okvitawanli announced that the findings, along with analytical infographics, will be made openly accessible on the faculty’s website.
The nationwide survey utilized face-to-face structured interviews encompassing more than 300 questionnaire items across 14 core thematic pillars. Employing a rigorous multistage random sampling method to ensure national demographic representation, the research team surveyed 2,306 respondents across 247 sub-districts in 18 Indonesian provinces.
“This appointment represents international recognition of the research capacity and scientific rigor upheld by the Faculty of Psychology at UNS,” said Dr. Okvitawanli. “We adhered to exacting methodological protocols because this dataset will be integrated and compared alongside data from 90 other nations, serving as a definitive global scientific benchmark for years to come.”
Initiated in 1981 by the late Professor Ronald Inglehart, the World Values Survey is widely recognized as the world’s largest and most authoritative longitudinal study of human values and cultural change. Over eight iterative waves spanning more than four decades, the project has surveyed over 400,000 respondents across 90 countries. WVS monitors foundational shifts in societal attitudes, including interpersonal trust, democratic governance, religious and familial institutions, civic engagement, environmental protection, and emerging technologies. Indonesia has participated in the WVS framework since Wave 4 (2001), giving the country one of Southeast Asia’s longest uninterrupted historical records of empirical value dynamics.
The Wave 8 dataset carries significant strategic value across academic and public policy arenas. Internationally, it allows for cross-national comparative analyses with ASEAN members, G20 nations, and emerging economies. Domestically, the 2001–2025 longitudinal trajectory provides an empirical lens into Indonesia’s societal transformation over 24 years—spanning the post-Reformasi consolidation, widespread digital transition, the 2008 financial shocks, the COVID-19 pandemic, and subsequent sociopolitical developments. These empirical baselines will provide evidence-based insights for government ministries, legislators, and civil society organizations shaping public policy across education, religious affairs, institutional democracy, and social welfare.
Following the conclusion of fieldwork, the UNS research team has commenced data processing, cleaning, and verification in accordance with WVS Association data quality standards.
The validated national dataset will be submitted to the WVS headquarters in Vienna for inclusion in the global database and subsequent open-access publication on the official World Values Survey website. The research team also plans to publish peer-reviewed papers in high-impact international academic journals and host multi-stakeholder dissemination forums across Indonesia.
Dr. Moh. Abdul Hakim expressed his gratitude to UNS for institutional backing through its international collaboration grant scheme, as well as to partner institutions—Atma Jaya Catholic University of Indonesia and The Education University of Hong Kong—for their active academic collaboration throughout the research lifecycle. UNS PUBLIC RELATIONS
