# The Values in Crisis Project: A Three-Wave Panel Study in Germany and the United Kingdom

## TL;DR

This study tracks how people's moral values in Germany and the UK changed during the COVID-19 pandemic through a three-wave survey.

## Contribution

The study provides longitudinal data on moral values changes during a global crisis using a panel design in two countries.

## Key findings

- The study measured moral values, personality traits, and social orientations at three pandemic stages.
- Retention rates decreased over time, with new participants added in the final wave.
- The dataset allows for secondary analyses on pandemic-related changes in values and social behavior.

## Abstract

This article introduces the data from the Values in Crisis project conducted in Germany and the United Kingdom. The project seized the COVID-19 pandemic as a natural experiment to investigate whether, how and to what extent people’s moral values change as a result of a disruptive event of massive order and global scale. An online panel survey measured individuals’ experiences with COVID-19, moral values, personality traits and social orientations at three different stages throughout the pandemic: at its onset (Wave 1: April–May 2020), one year later amidst the pandemic (Wave 2: February–March 2021), and two years later towards its end (Wave 3: February–April 2022). The samples for Wave 1 were drawn using quota sampling along gender, age group, level of education, and country region for the population aged 16 and above in Germany (NDE,W1 = 2,005), and 18 and above in the UK (NUK,W1 = 2,033). The samples for Wave 2 consist of re-contacted participants at a retention rate of 63.99% for Germany (NDE,W1–2 = 1,283) and 56.57% for the UK (NUK,W1–2 = 1,150). The samples for Wave 3 comprise of re-contacted participants at a retention rate of 43.74% in Germany (NDE,W1–3 = 877) and 37.73% in the UK (NUK,W1–3 = 767) as well as newly recruited participants (NDE,W3 = 381, NUK,W3 = 461). The data can be used for various secondary analyses on the topics covered in the survey.