by Rishubhav
Some of you have probably seen this already, but some have not so I'll post it here. It's a test that asks you many questions about your political orientation, and then spits out where you are on a "political compass" that has social libertarian/authoritarian on one end and economic liberalism/conservatism on the other. I'm -1.00,-4.41 (to see this plotted on the chart go to here and replace the numbers with the desired coordinates), which puts me as an economic leftist and social libertarian, as I'd thought. Take it and post your positions!
Friday, August 1, 2008
The Political Compass Test
Labels: political compass, rishubhav
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11 comments:
I'm sorry to say that this test is filled with loaded questions like, "If economic globalisation is inevitable, it should primarily serve humanity rather than the interests of trans-national corporations." I mean, seriously. I can't agree or disagree when that's not the point. Here's a better one:
"Military action that defies international law is sometimes justified."
The question should be, "is there such a thing as international law?"
A better one:
"Those with the ability to pay should have the right to higher standards of medical care."
It's like asking someone, "Do you think it's okay that you beat your wife?"
This quiz is obviously writen by someone who has an agenda.
I disagree. As a Democrat, there were several questions I disagreed with on principle.
It is impossible to write a set of questions that will adequately capture various people's opinions. It's trying to gauge more than whether you are pro/against Universal health care.
I took the test and lined up exactly with the Dalai Lama. Interesting.
I received the same score as Young Sentinel.
Its true that there are some loaded/unclear questions on the test, but as youngsentinel pointed out, developing a question set that will measure everybody's political alignment will be hard. If I were making the questions I'd make the questions you get based on previous answers - i.e first you would get "is there such a thing as international law?" then "Military action that defies international law is sometimes justified."
Part of the time you also have to figure out what they're trying to get from the question. For example in the healthcare question I answered agree, because they were trying to get at the basic question of whether you prefer universal healthcare where everyone recieves the exact same treatment, or more free-market healthcare. I agree that the question was badly worded, but the test does provide a fairly accurate measurement of where you lie
I also recieved the same score as the Young Sentinel.
Economic Left/Right: -5.38
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -6.26
Economic left/right: 3.5
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: 4.77
I got:
Economic Left/Right: -4.38,
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian:-6.41. (Link.)
I thought page 5 of the test, which contained questions about religious and moral beliefs, was almost entirely irrelevant to the notion of a "political compass". It may reflect some personal beliefs that may traditionally align with so-called "conservative" or "liberal" values, I don't believe that it reflects much to do with a political ideology.
I got:
Economic Left/Right: -6.88
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -7.33
That puts me a ways further down left than most people here. Interesting. This explains some of my disgust with the presidential candidates.
Also interesting is the Moral Politics test (http://www.moral-politics.com/). It's completely different, and in fact placed me in a completely different region. If you take it, definitely use the "hints". I scored -4.5 on Moral Order and 5.5 on Moral Rules, making me an "international socialist".
I think if the Political Compass had "hints", answers might well change.
Yes, that might be a fascinating sociological experiment. See how people's answers change when given hints. Most kids I know wouldn't have a clue how to answer a number of those questions.
These tests can also be manipulated. There was one during the Democratic primary (put out by a clever Obama supporter) that polled you and then told you that your ideology most matched Obama's. I wonder how many people's votes were changed by that.
The "hints" are really just extensions of the question, they clarify the questions that in this test can be unclear as Jeremy pointed out.
I guess if you're gullible enough to make your voting decisions based on an online test you have it coming to you. That kind of stacked quiz is basically just a rather insidious and creative advertisement...
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