Abstract
The main objective of this special issue is to show some data analyses of the East Asia Value Survey conducted by the cross-national survey team centered in the Institute of Statistical Mathematics (ISM) during 2002-2004. This survey is closely linked with the longitudinal survey on the Japanese National Character in the past half-century and the cross-national comparative survey in the past three decades by ISM. Our past data analyses have shown that some stability and some changes of peoples' attitudes and social values. The data analyses on the present survey with those past surveys will be useful for the understandings of the countries and regions under development of international cooperation or unification as the “East Asia Community.”
This is an introductory paper. I will explain about the survey on “Japanese National Character (JNC)” as well as its historical background in Section 1, and explain about the East Asia Value Survey in the relationships with the cross-national comparative survey as an extension of JNC survey in Section 2. Finally, in Section 3, I will briefly explain the significance of development of a Behaviormetric study on civilization as “Data Science”, which is based on the rigorous statistical theory of sampling methods. Also I will explain about our paradigm of survey study, what is called Cultural Manifold Analysis (CULMAN).
Some detailed data analyses on several topics by the other members of the survey and myself will follow this introductory paper.
