About the BEVI

The Beliefs, Events, and Values Inventory (BEVI) is an accessible, adaptable, and powerful analytic tool that can be used as an independent or dependent measure in a wide range of applied settings, evaluative contexts, and research projects. From an applied standpoint, the BEVI helps individuals 1) understand better what they believe and value about themselves, others, and the world at large and 2) reflect upon how such beliefs and values may - or may not - be conducive to learning, personal growth, relationships, and the pursuit of life goals. From the perspective of evaluation and research, the BEVI 1) helps answer questions such as "who learns what and why, and under what circumstances," 2) allows for the examination of complex processes that are associated with belief/value acquisition, maintenance, and transformation, and 3) analyzes the impact of specific experiences that are implicitly or explicitly designed to facilitate growth, learning, or change.

The BEVI is able to move flexibly across these applied, evaluative, and research domains because it is deliberately comprised of four complementary measures that are built into one instrument: 1) extensive demographic and background information, 2) a life history questionnaire, 3) a comprehensive assessment of beliefs, values, and worldviews, and 4) qualitative "experiential reflection" items. As a result, the BEVI allows for sophisticated analyses of the relationships among interacting variables and processes so that multifaceted questions can be asked and answered, such as How are specific life events or background variables associated with specific ways of seeing self, others, and the world at large? or How do such interactions mediate or moderate the likelihood of learning or growth when exposed to experiences that are different to what one is accustomed? In short, the BEVI seeks to understand "who the person is" prior to participating in a learning experience, "how the person changes" as a result of the experience, and how these factors interact to produce a greater or lesser likelihood of learning and growth.

Development of the BEVI

In accordance with appropriate psychometric standards and processes (e.g., Robinson, Shaver, & Wrightsman, 1991, 1999), the BEVI has been in development since the early 1990s. Preliminary items for the BEVI were derived primarily from actual belief-value statements (e.g., from adolescent/adult clients and student-trainees). Since then, the BEVI has been revised and refined through multiple processes of analysis (e.g., item analysis with 22 clinical researchers, supervisors, and practitioners; review by subject matter experts in the field of international education; subject to two separate factor analyses; approval by multiple Institutional Review Boards). In addition to extensive and ongoing review of relevant empirical findings and theoretical perspectives, the BEVI also has been studied in a wide range of research projects and programs since the 1990s (e.g., Bolen, Shealy, Pysarchik, & Whalen, 2009; Deardorff, Pysarchik, & Yun, 2009; Hayes, Shealy, Sivo, & Weinstein, 1999; Isley, Shealy, Crandall, Sivo, & Reifsteck, 1999; Patel, 2008; Patel, Shealy, & De Michele, 2007; Pysarchik, Shealy, & Sternberger, 2007; Pysarchik, Shealy, & Whalen, 2007a; Pysarchik, Shealy, & Whalen, 2007b; Reisweber, 2008; Shealy, 2000a, 2000b, 2004, 2005, 2006a, 2006b, 2007a, 2007b, 2009, 2010, in press; Shealy & Bhuyan, 2009; Shealy, Burdell, Sivo, Davino, & Hayes, 1999; Shealy, Sears, Sivo, Allessandria, & Isley, 1999; Shealy & Bhuyan, 2009; Spaeth & Shealy, 2010; Sternberger, Pysarchik, & Shealy, 2009; Sternberger, Pysarchik, Yun, & Deardorff, 2009; Stanley, Shealy, Cobb, & Sternberger, 2009; Williams & Shealy, 2004). Please see BEVI Resources for a complete list of references.

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EI Theory, EI Self, and BEVI

The BEVI is grounded in mature and robust theoretical and empirical literatures, including a comprehensive review of research related to the constructs assessed by this instrument. The specific conceptual framework for the BEVI is called Equilintegration or EI Theory, which integrates a wide range of empirical findings and theoretical perspectives over the past several decades in order to "explain the processes by which beliefs, values, and ‘worldviews’ are acquired and maintained, why their alteration is typically resisted, and how and under what circumstances their modification occurs" (Shealy, 2004, p. 1075). By way of introduction to this theoretical framework, it may be helpful to review the first four hypotheses and principles of EI Theory (Shealy, 2004, 2005, 2006, in press).

Concomitant with EI Theory, the BEVI is "designed to identify and predict a variety of developmental, affective, and attributional processes and outcomes that are integral to EI Theory" (Shealy, 2004, p. 1075). For example, the BEVI: 1) provides a systematic basis for understanding beliefs and values associated with related programs of inquiry (e.g., ethnocentrism, religious tolerance, partisanship, gender-based policies/practices) in order to explore what might be termed "the psychology of reductionism"; 2) establishes a theoretical and methodological "bridge" between qualitative (e.g., content/discourse based) and quantitative (e.g., factor analytic) approaches; 3) serves as an experimental measure (e.g., Does Sociocultural Openness predict behavior toward different ethnic groups or genders in an interview paradigm?); 4) provides a means to study simultaneously a range of interrelated affective, attributional, and developmental constructs and processes (e.g., How might religious or political orientation relate to Emotional Attunement, Gender Traditionalism, and Negative Life Events?); and 5) is suitable for assessment at the individual, group, and organizational level through personalized reports and customized analysis options.

Finally, the Equilintegration or EI Self represents in pictographic form the integrative and synergistic processes by which beliefs and values are acquired, maintained, and transformed as well as how and why these are linked to the Formative Variables, Core Needs, and Adaptive Potential of the self (Shealy, in press). Informed by decades of scholarship in a range of key areas (e.g., "needs-based" research and theory; developmental psychopathology; social cognition; affect regulation; theories / models of "self"), the EI Self seeks to illustrate how the interaction between our "core needs" (e.g., for attachment, affiliation) and "formative variables" (e.g., caregiver, culture) results in "beliefs and values" about self, others, and the world at large that we all internalize over the course of development and across the life span.

EI Theory, the EI Self, and the BEVI provide an integrative model, framework, and method that are relevant to a very wide range of research programs and applied activities. For example, informed by the basic principles and hypotheses of EI Theory – and in the context of the conceptual framework, structural elements, and dynamic processes illustrated by the EI Self – the BEVI serves as a kind of "MMPI of justification systems" (Henriques, 2005, p. 136), by facilitating a way to access, operationalize, and study 1) the various Versions of Reality (VORs) that human beings are capable of constructing (at the level of the "Ectoself"), 2) how a range of interacting Formative Variables (e.g., life history, demographic variables) influence the acquisition, maintenance, and modification of such systems and processes, which are 3) ultimately related to the Core Needs and Adaptive Potential of the "Endoself." In addition to assessing international learning processes and outcomes, the BEVI has been and/or is currently being used in a variety of other research and applied projects (e.g., as a pre-post measure to assess belief/value change across a range of didactic and experiential interventions; to assess student development in a "global citizenship" course; in diversity and multicultural training workshops; in a variety of theses and dissertations).

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BEVI Structure, Scales, and Reliability

The BEVI¹ consists of four interrelated components: 1) a comprehensive set of demographic/background items that may be modified for particular projects (65 on the current version of the BEVI), 2) a life history questionnaire, which is built into the measure, 3) two validity and eighteen "process scales" (comprised of 336 items total), and 4) three qualitative "experiential reflection" items. As a web-based inventory, the BEVI typically requires between 35 and 45 minutes to complete. Prior to a brief description of the scales, a few key points are in order. First, BEVI items are answered on the basis of a Likert-type scale with four possible options (strongly agree, agree, disagree, strongly disagree). Second, items are deliberately balanced to minimize social desirability and other response-set confounds (e.g., Robinson, Shaver, & Wrightsman, 1991, 1999). A third point warrants particular emphasis at the outset: the BEVI is not designed to appraise the debatable correctness or incorrectness of individual responses (i.e., whether specific beliefs are right, wrong, true, or false) but rather to investigate how overall response patterns predict various processes and outcomes, from the beliefs and values associated with ethnocentrism, religious tolerance, partisanship, and gender-based practices and policies, to issues of openness, self-access, and emotional attunement.

Based upon factor analytic and correlation matrix data, the 18 scales of the BEVI are organized under a series of nine headings – as noted in Roman numerals below – which correspond with the basic EI theoretical framework of this measure. Reliabilities for each scale are listed in parentheses; "PF" (Primary Factor) and "SF" (Secondary Factor) designations and the accompanying numbers refer to whether the scale was extracted as a "primary" or "secondary" factor, and in which order of extraction (primary factors were derived via a Schmid- Leiman transformation, which essentially is a factor analysis of a factor analysis). The scales that are listed underneath each numbered scale are presented in descending order of magnitude from correlation matrix findings (e.g., the correlation of each scale by all other scales). Note that validity scales, demographic / background items, and three qualitative items also are incorporated into the following BEVI structure.

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BEVI Validity

Evidence of validity is indicated by a number of studies demonstrating that the BEVI is able to predict group membership across a wide range of demographic variables, including gender, ethnic background, parental income, political orientation, and religious orientation as well as other categorical variables (cf., Isley et al., 1999; Hayes et al., 1999; Shealy et al., 1999; Shealy et al., 1999; Shealy, 2000a, 2000b, 2004, 2005, 2006, in press). For example, in a study comparing Mental Health Professionals and Evangelical Christians on the BEVI, Hayes (2001) found that "…the instrument accurately classified Evangelical Christians and Mental Health Professionals, with 95% of originally grouped cases correctly classified, which strongly suggests that the BEVI can validly discriminate between these two groups" (p. 102). In another study examining environmental beliefs and values in general, and the reported degree of concern about global warming, Patel (2008) found the following:

…women, Democrats, and atheists or agnostics with a lower "need for control," lower "self access," and a relatively lower degree of "separation-individuation" are most likely to express environmental concerns whereas Republican men who are Christians with a higher "need for control," higher "self access," and a relatively higher degree of "separation-individuation" are the least likely to express environmental concerns….EI theory, the EI Self, and the BEVI offer a promising theoretical framework, model, and method for predicting and explaining who is and is not concerned about the environment by illuminating the underlying affective, attributional, developmental, and contextual processes that mediate and moderate why such belief/value processes and outcomes occur in the first place (pp. 43, 46-47).

As a final example, in a study comparing the BEVI and the Intercultural Development Inventory, Reisweber (2008) concluded the following:

…it is both compelling and consistent with an EI framework that the BEVI was able to identify in advance which students would be more or less likely to increase their intercultural awareness by the end of that academic year. Specifically, students who reported lower Naïve Determinism and more Gender Stereotypes at the beginning of the academic year were statistically more likely to demonstrate an increase in intercultural awareness after living for nine months in an international residence hall. Furthermore, students with a higher degree of Negative Life Events and Emotional Attunement, as measured by the BEVI, also demonstrated greater and more accurate intercultural sensitivity, as measured by the IDI (pp. 79-80).

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Forum BEVI Project

In 2007, the Forum BEVI Project (www.forumea.org/research-bevi.htm) was launched. The following colleges, universities, and study abroad providers – all members of the Forum on Education Abroad (www.forumea.org/index.cfm) – participated in both a "pilot" and "formal" phases of this project: Brethren Colleges Abroad, Dickinson College, IES Abroad, International Studies Abroad, James Madison University, Michigan State University, Saint Mary’s College, Saint Olaf College, University of South Carolina, University of Texas, and Wells College. The "pilot phase" was completed in 2009, and included administration of the BEVI to nearly 2,000 international learning participants in the U.S. and internationally. Statistical analysis narrowed the original number of factors on the BEVI from 40 to 18; nearly 60 items also were eliminated during the subsequent review process. Norms are now established for each of these "scales" (i.e.,factors), with most reliabilities above .80 or .90 (no scale has a reliability of less than .75). Three new qualitative items were integrated into the BEVI prior to the pilot phase, which allow for complementary types of analyses. Institutions and organizations that are members of the Forum on Education Abroad automatically receive a 25 percent discount on BEVI Certification Training (see BEVI Workshops).

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¹The Beliefs, Events, and Values Inventory (BEVI) is a copyrighted inventory. The BEVI and BEVI items, item content, or scales may not be modified, copied, disseminated, or published, in whole or part, without the written and express permission of Craig N. Shealy, Ph.D.

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