Abstract

After the critical presentation of three of the main approaches to the study of values (developed by Rokeach, Schwartz and Inglehart), the main theoretical (presence vs. absence of a strong theory about values; content of values; their placement on the means-ends chain; their way of expression; their level of generality) and methodological (quantitative vs. qualitative approach; direct vs. indirect assessment; rating vs. ranking) options among which one have to choose when empirically studying values are presented. The problematic comparison of many researches on values and the ways to manage social desir¬ability are discussed.