I ran some tests on the, uh, test, to gauge its honesty. I originally posted this on RB.net
One way to test that is to give completely random answers for one test, then try to answer another test run with blatantly authoritarian/rightish answers, and see how things end up in each case. In fact, I'll do that now.
TEST A (RANDOM):
TEST B (RANDOM):
TEST C (STRONGLY AGREE to all statements):
TEST D (STRONGLY DISAGREE to all statements):
TEST E (Answering as RIGHT-AUTHORITARIAN):
Interesting results. The two random results (A & B) might indicate that the test is slightly skewed to the Left. It would probably take more "random" tests from others to find out, because I am not certain I didn't influence the "randomness" of the test in some ways. Tests C & D in my opinion seem to indicate the underlying logic to the test and insinuate the test is for the most part true to its methodology. Test E was merely me trying to be a Christo-Fundie "Welfare Queen-hater" type and it seemed to pan out pretty well. What say you?
Cogwheel wrote:eXcommunicate wrote:
Funny how this shows Ron Paul not quite as "libertarian" as some are led to believe. This chart was made by a group affiliated with the Libertarian Party.
Are those actually results of tests taken by the people in question or are they simply someone's assumption of what their answers would be?
This is their page on the subject:
http://www.politicalcompass.org/usprimaries2008
Here is the pertinent section:
"... The Political Compass™ has charted the most prominent names in the 2008 US Primaries. They have been evaluated through scrutiny of public statements, manifestos, interviews and, crucially, voting records. Our apologies for those not included. "
"It is important to recognise that The Political Compass™ is a continuum rather than consisting of hard and fast quadrants. For example, Ron Paul on the social scale is actually closer to Dennis Kucinich than to many figures within his own party. But on the economic scale, they are, of course, far apart. "
"When examining the chart it's important to note that although most of the candidates seem quite different, in substance they occupy a relatively restricted area within the universal political spectrum. Democracies with a system of proportional representation give expression to a wider range of political views. While Dennis Kucinich and Ralph Nader are depicted on the extreme left in an American context, they would simply be mainstream social democrats within the wider political landscape of Europe. Similarly, Hillary Clinton is popularly perceived as a leftist in the United States while in any other western democracy her record is that of a mainstream conservative. "
