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The changing commitment of Ukrainians to "traditional values": the results of a telephone survey conducted on July 6-20, 2022

 

The press release was prepared by Anton Hrushetskyi, the Deputy Director of KIIS

 

During July 6 - 20, 2022, the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) conducted its own all-Ukrainian public opinion survey "Omnibus". By the method of computer-assisted telephone interviews (CATI) based on a random sample of mobile phone numbers (with random generation of phone numbers and subsequent statistical weighting), 2,000 respondents living in all regions of Ukraine (except AR of Crimea) were interviewed. The survey was conducted with adult (aged 18 and older) citizens of Ukraine who, at the time of the survey, lived on the territory of Ukraine (within the boundaries controlled by the authorities of Ukraine until February 24, 2022). The sample did not include residents of territories that were not temporarily controlled by the authorities of Ukraine until February 24, 2022 (AR of Crimea, the city of Sevastopol, certain districts of the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts), and the survey was not conducted with citizens who left the country after February 24, 2022.

Formally, under normal circumstances, the statistical error of such a sample (with a probability of 0.95 and taking into account the design effect of 1.1) did not exceed 2.4% for indicators close to 50%, 2.1% for indicators close to 25%, 1.5% - for indicators close to 10%, 1.1% - for indicators close to 5%.

Under the conditions of war, in addition to the specified formal error, a certain systematic deviation is added. In particular, if back in May, among all the respondents we interviewed, 2.5-4% lived in the territories occupied after February 24 (and this corresponded to the percentage of those who live there, because the generation of phone numbers was random), now due to the occupiers turning off telephone communication we managed to interview fewer respondents living in occupied settlements, in particular, their number is 0.2%. It is important to note that although the views of the respondents who lived in the occupation were somewhat different, the general tendencies were quite similar. That is, the impossibility to interview such respondents now does not significantly affect the quality of the results. There are other factors that can affect the quality of results in "wartime" conditions (see Annex 2).

In general, we believe that the obtained results are still highly representative and allow a fairly reliable analysis of the public moods of the population.

 

Variability in Ukrainians' perception of "traditional values"

 

Consolidation of public support for European integration and Ukraine's acquisition of the status of a candidate for EU accession intensified discussions about the desired values of Ukrainians (especially against the background of the adoption of the Istanbul Convention).

In fact, a real scientific study of values requires painstaking work and the application of complex methods (as, for example, in the European Social Survey or the European Values Survey), and it is impossible to determine with one or a few questions what values Ukrainians share. Our task was to illustrate that in Ukrainian realities discussions about "traditional" values (in general, without details and depth) are context-dependent and depending on their "positioning" different, even opposite results can be obtained.

A split-sample experiment was implemented in the survey. All respondents were asked the same question: "Do you think that in Ukraine it is necessary to encourage the spread and strengthening of...?". The respondent was also offered two options for answers, one of which for all respondents was "modern European / Western values". The second option was different: one half of the respondents was read the option of "traditional Ukrainian values", the other half - "values that are traditional for Eastern Slavs - Ukrainians, Russians, Belarusians". That is, in one case "modern European / Western values" were opposed to "Ukrainian traditional values", and in the other - "traditional values for Eastern Slavs, such as Ukrainians, Russians, Belarusians, values".

As you can see, when "traditional values" are "purely Ukrainian", they definitely win - 78% believe that they should be spread and strengthened. At the same time, 12% support the spread and strengthening of European / Western values. However, if "traditional values" come in the "wrapper" of "common to Eastern Slavs" with mention of Russians and Belarusians, then in this case only 33% prefer them. At the same time, 51% give priority to European / Western values.

 

Graph 1. In your opinion, it is necessary in Ukraine to encourage the spread and strengthening of… ?

 

 

The table below shows the answers for individual categories of the population. As you can see, "pure" "Ukrainian traditional values" absolutely dominate in all regions, gender, age, educational categories.

A more significant differentiation takes place when we talk about "traditional values for Eastern Slavs". First, there are differences by regions. In the West and in the Center, the majority choose "modern European / Western values". In the South, opinions are equally divided, and in the East there are already more people who prefer "traditional values for the Eastern Slavs." The age dimension is also significant: younger respondents prefer "modern European / Western values", while older respondents are more favorable to "traditional Slavic values".

 

Table 1. In your opinion, in Ukraine should be encouraged the spread and strengthening of… ?

  Option ¹1 Option ¹2
% in a row Modern European / Western values Traditional Ukrainian values Difficult to say Modern European / Western values Values that are traditional for Eastern Slavs - Ukrainians, Russians, Belarusians Difficult to say
Macroregion:            
West 9 86 5 64 21 15
Center 14 74 12 53 33 15
South 13 77 11 45 41 14
East 14 79 7 31 44 25
Gender:            
Man 14 76 10 50 33 18
Woman 11 80 9 52 34 14
Age:            
18-29 13 80 8 71 20 9
30-39 12 81 7 55 26 19
40-49 8 82 10 49 36 15
50-59 14 74 11 50 27 23
60-69 15 76 9 35 45 19
70+ 12 76 12 41 50 9
Education            
Complete secondary and lower 12 81 7 47 33 20
Secondary special 9 82 9 50 34 16
Higher 14 75 11 53 32 14

 

 

 

A. Hrushetskyi, comments on the survey results:

 

The process of Ukraine's accession to the EU will be accompanied, among other things, by discussions about values. The adoption of the Istanbul Conventiondemonstrated that even with absolute commitment to European integration, some requirements on this path can cause active discussions in society (it should be remembered that most Ukrainians are ready to sacrifice the speed of accession to the EU, but if Ukraine defends its "interests", which can also be defined as certain values).

The voice of supporters of "traditional values" can be especially loud (which should not be surprising against the background of the power of conservative movements in other countries). However, we see that the "unsuccessful" context - such as the commonality with the "Eastern Slavs" and the mention of Russians - and Ukrainians are ready to reject "traditional values" (this context turned out to be especially irritating for residents of the West/Center and younger Ukrainians) . Rather, this indicates a low crystallization of ideas about "traditional values" and, as a result, raises doubts about the true attachment to them (as well as to "European values").

Therefore, often the current discussions around the values of Ukrainians, which do not include the proper expert depth, may turn out to be simply banal political speculations.

 


           

Annex 1. Formulation of questions from the questionnaire

 

 

ONE HALF OF THE RESPONDENTS:

In your opinion, in Ukraine it is necessary to encourage the spread and strengthening of RANDOMIZATION OF STATEMENT READING

(% among all respondents)

100% in the column Region: where lived until February 24, 2022 Ukraine as a whole West[1] Center South East
Modern European / Western values 12 9 14 13 14
Traditional Ukrainian values 78 86 74 77 79
DIFFICULT TO SAY (DO NOT READ) 9 5 12 11 6
REFUSAL TO ANSWER (DO NOT READ) 0 0 0 0 1

 

 

SECOND HALF OF THE RESPONDENTS:

In your opinion, in Ukraine it is necessary to encourage the spread and strengthening ofRANDOMIZATION OF STATEMENT READING

 (% among all respondents)

100% in the column Region: where lived until February 24, 2022 Ukraine as a whole West Center South East
Modern European / Western values 51 64 53 45 31
Values that are traditional for Eastern Slavs - Ukrainians, Russians, Belarusians 33 21 33 41 44
DIFFICULT TO SAY (DO NOT READ) 15 15 14 14 25
REFUSAL TO ANSWER (DO NOT READ) 0 0 1 0 0



[1] The composition of the macroregions is as follows: Western macroregion – Volyn, Rivne, Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Ternopil, Zakarpattia, Khmelnytskyi, Chernivtsi oblasts; Central macroregion - Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr, Sumy, Chernihiv, Poltava, Kirovohrad, Cherkasy, Kyiv oblasts, Kyiv city, Southern macroregion - Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv, Kherson, Odesa oblasts, Eastern macroregion - Donetsk, Luhansk and Kharkiv oblasts.


3.8.2022
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