The New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study

What is the NZAVS?

The New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study (NZAVS) is a 20-year longitudinal national study of social attitudes, personality and health outcomes of more than 60,000 New Zealanders. The study is broad-ranging and includes researchers from a number of New Zealand universities, including the University of Auckland, Victoria University of Wellington, the University of Canterbury, the University of Otago, and Massey University. The NZAVS extends our understanding of how New Zealanders' life circumstances, attitudes, values, and beliefs change over time. The study is university-based, not-for-profit and independent of political or corporate funding. The NZAVS is curated by Professor Chris Sibley.

Mission Statement

The NZAVS is a scientific study led by New Zealanders, for New Zealanders, and about New Zealanders. Broadly stated, the study aims to extend our understanding of how people and their life circumstances change over time. 

The NZAVS aims to track changes in various social psychological and health factors over a twenty year period, from 2009 to 2029. The study aims to provide information about how the personality, attitudes and values of New Zealanders may be changing over time. This is important because we currently know very little about how peoples’ opinions, values and levels of satisfaction with their lives may change gradually over time, and perhaps also change rapidly in response to current events in society. Another key aim of the study is to examine how changes in attitudes and values may relate to changes in health and wellbeing over time. Because the annual survey uses repeat respondents, it can track subtle changes in attitudes and values over time, and is becoming an important tool for researchers.

Read more about how the NZAVS got started, and what we hope to achieve in the future.

Data Access and Funding

The NZAVS is a university-based, scientific not-for-profit study. The NZAVS is not affiliated with or funded by any political organization or government body. Our study is independent of government or corporate interests. Results and publication of all NZAVS data are independent of any specific funding agency, corporate or government body. Research reports using anonymous data from the study may be requested for the purposes of not-for-profit social and health research in New Zealand. A full and complete statement outlining how the NZAVS is funded is available in our FAQ. 

NZAVS Boards

The NZAVS Central Management Team:

• Professor Chris Sibley (Faculty of Science, University of Auckland)
• Dr Danny Osborne (Faculty of Science, University of Auckland)
• Professor Joseph Bulbulia (School of Humanities, Faculty of Arts, University of Auckland)
• Dr Fiona Kate Barlow (Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences, University of Queensland)

The NZAVS Advisory Board:

• Associate Professor Carla Houkamau (Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Auckland)
• Dr Sam Manuela (Faculty of Science, University of Auckland)
• Associate Professor Taciano Milfont (Victoria University of Wellington, Faculty of Science)
• Associate Professor Nickola Overall (Faculty of Science, University of Auckland)
• Dr John Shaver (Division of Humanities, University of Otago)
• Dr Geoff Troughton (Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington)
• Dr Tim West-Newman (Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga)
• Dr Kumar Yogeeswaran (College of Science, University of Canterbury)

The NZAVS Central Management Team is responsible for strategic oversight, design and day-to-day maintenance of the study. The NZAVS Advisory Board represents the different universities and organizations involved in the NZAVS. The board meets once per year with the central management team to advise on long-term planning for the NZAVS. 

A full list of the NZAVS research group, research assistants, and board members is available here. The wider NZAVS research group also includes many other researchers from a diverse range of universities and areas of expertise who contribute to the study.  

Participant Confidentiality

Here at the NZAVS we take our participants’ confidentiality very seriously. All personal details are encrypted and stored separately from questionnaire data. Only Professor Chris Sibley and trusted research assistants working on the NZAVS in secure conditions have access to participants' contact details. Participants’ contact details are used solely for the purposes of contacting them to continue their participation in the NZAVS each year and to provide them with information and feedback about research findings from the NZAVS.

Data Access

A copy of the anonymous data reported in each NZAVS publication is available from Professor Chris Sibley upon request from appropriately qualified researchers. Such data will be provided with the explicit understanding that it is used solely for the purposes of replicating or otherwise checking the validity of analyses reported in scientific papers analysing NZAVS data.

Anonymous data from the study are also available on a case-by-case basis to appropriately qualified researchers for the purposes of developing novel collaborative scientific research. Such requests should also be directed to Professor Chris Sibley. Decisions about the provision of data for the purposes of novel collaborative research will be made in consultation with other members of the NZAVS Central Management Team. Research reports using anonymous data from the study may be requested for the purposes of not-for-profit social and health research in New Zealand. 

Look out for the next NZAVS questionnaire in the mail soon!

We are now collecting data for Wave 13 of the NZAVS. If you have moved in the last year, or haven't heard from us for a while then please get in touch and we will post you a questionnaire (email: nzavs@auckland.ac.nz). You can also complete the quesionnaire online. Thanks for taking part in the NZAVS!

Congratulations to the 2021 NZAVS prize draw winners

TheNZAVS prize draw for 5 x $1000 grocery vouchers was held on October 22, 2021. This year our winners were from Palmerston North, Rangiora, Auckland, Tauranga and Rotorua. Congratulations to the five winners of our latest prize draw, and thanks everyone for completing the latest NZAVS questionnaire! 

Read our latest newsletter

The NZAVS 2020 newsletter provides a snapshot of some of the great work that comes out of the NZAVS each year. The newsletter is for our participants, and lets people learn more about some of the things we have been working on recently. It covers a range of topics, including recent findings on personality, politics, economics, gender, parenting, health and social media use. Thank you to all our participants--you make this research possible!

The NZAVS is 13 years old!

The NZAVS is now entering its 13th year. Our study is now a teenager... A big thank you from all of us here at the NZAVS to the thousands of participants who have completed the questionnaire each year for the last 12 years! It's exciting to think about what the next 7 years may bring for our research project, and what we might discover by looking at change in attitudes and values over this timeframe!

If you are a participant in the NZAVS, and have not yet completed the questionnaire this year, it is available online here.

Wave 12 of the NZAVS Completed

The 12^th (2020) wave of the NZAVS is now complete and the final dataset is being prepared for analysis. Researchers please watch this space, as the dataset shoudl be ready for analysis by December 2021. 

NZAVS Funding

Thank you to the Templeton Religion Trust, who funded data collection for the 10th wave of the NZAVS, and the large-scale booster sample we completed as part of Wave 10. 

Full details for all funding received over the full history of the NZAVS are available here.

The NZAVS 2019 newsletter is out!

The NZAVS 2019 newsletter provides a snapshot of some of the great work that comes out of the NZAVS each year. The newsletter is for our participants, and lets people learn more about some of the things we have been working on recently. It covers a range of topics, including recent findings on personality, politics, economics, gender, parenting, health and social media use. Thank you to all our participants--you make this research possible!

NZAVS 2019 Newsletter (.PDF)

NZAVS position statement on how and why we measure prejudice  

The NZAVS research group have written an open letter outlining how and why we measure racism, sexism and other forms of prejudice in the NZAVS questionnaire. You can read our position statement (PDF) here.

The NZAVS is a university-based, scientific not-for-profit study. The NZAVS is not affiliated with or funded by any political organization or government body. Our study is independent of government or corporate interests. Results and publication of all NZAVS data are independent of any specific funding agency, corporate or government body.

NZAVS position statement on how and why we measure prejudice  

The NZAVS research group have written an open letter outlining how and why we measure racism, sexism and other forms of prejudice in the NZAVS questionnaire. You can read our position statement (PDF) here.

The NZAVS is a university-based, scientific not-for-profit study. The NZAVS is not affiliated with or funded by any political organization or government body. Our study is independent of government or corporate interests. Results and publication of all NZAVS data are independent of any specific funding agency, corporate or government body.

Contact Details

For more information about the NZAVS please contact:

Professor Chris Sibley

Email: nzavs@auckland.ac.nz

Google scholar profile 

List of Chris' publications

Phone: +64 9 923 7498