More Bush Bashing

Bill Glasheen · Post by **Bill Glasheen** » Tue Aug 02, 2005 8:09 pm

Oh man... I so wanted to post the result so Mike could see.

Bill's Score (P=70%, E=70%)

So, Mike, you were saying...

Thanks, Panther. This illustrates the concept pretty nicely.

- Bill

Gene DeMambro · Post by **Gene DeMambro** » Tue Aug 02, 2005 10:36 pm

My score on this test that appears to be just for fun, and perhaps has not been scrutinized for validity, reliability or generality.......

http://www.self-gov.org/quiz-score/quiz.php

Centrist

But then again, I knew that.

Gene

RACastanet · Post by **RACastanet** » Wed Aug 03, 2005 12:55 am

Libertarian. 80%, 80%.

MikeK · Post by **MikeK** » Wed Aug 03, 2005 2:34 am

You fall exactly on the border of two political philosophies...CONSERVATIVE & LIBERTARIAN

PERSONAL issues Score is 50%.
ECONOMIC issues Score is 90%.

Bill Glasheen · Post by **Bill Glasheen** » Wed Aug 03, 2005 2:36 am

Gene

Even "Centrist" has a range, as does Libertarianism (as you noticed). Care to share your percentages?

I agree that the test probably has some wiggle. However, it really pegged Rich and Mike (as I know them). Sometimes simple is good.

- Bill

Panther · Post by **Panther** » Wed Aug 03, 2005 3:23 am

Gene DeMambro wrote:My score on this test that appears to be just for fun, and perhaps has not been scrutinized for validity, reliability or generality.......

Well actually...

http://www.theadvocates.org/quiz-faq.html

gives lots of details about the quiz. Who, why, how, purpose, etc. And it also discusses validity/questions/criticisms/validity of the quiz with very good explanations and responses to each area.

Gene DeMambro wrote:Centrist

But then again, I knew that.

I didn't post my percentages before, so I will now. 90%, 90% and it's down from 100% not for the usual reasons. IOW, I voted libertarian on the two "test" questions that reduce most scores...

I'm glad to see the percentages listed. I think that's an important part of getting an idea of where someone stands on things. Can't wait to see where you fall in the "Centrist" range Gene... I have a feeling that others might not be surprised, just as you weren't, with that information.

Valkenar · Post by **Valkenar** » Wed Aug 03, 2005 5:40 am

Your PERSONAL issues Score is 100%.
Your ECONOMIC issues Score is 30%.

Liberal.

I amswered "agree" to all the personal ones (with some significant reservations), and "maybe" to 3 of the conomics and "disagree" with the last two.

I have my standard problem with this quiz. Really I want to say "maybe" to all of them because the statements are too black-and-white. For example:

"There should be no laws regarding sex for consenting adults"

I answered "agree", but isn't rape a law regarding sex? How can anything think that law should even "maybe" be repealed? As stated, this question is impossible to answer meaningfully.

"End government barriers to international free trade"

Way too vague and general. What exactly do they mean? Tariffs? Import taxes? Is there anybody who can really agree with removing all laws that may somehow be construed as barriers to free trade (like say, sales of nuclear materials)?

And so on for every question.

I disagreed or agreed with the economics questions mostly because of how they were phrased. I wanted to agree to some, but couldn't because it seemed too iffy and about practical matters, rather than philosophical.

Also, I really think this quiz s very biased in favor of libertarianism, despite their lengthy objection.

Bill Glasheen · Post by **Bill Glasheen** » Wed Aug 03, 2005 3:28 pm

Good points, Justin.

No scientist is without bias; we are all human. That's why the scientific method was developed. It protects us from ourselves, and helps us see the cold, objective, naked truth.

Surveying and testing are serious disciplines. Yes, you are right. These questions tug at you. They are SUPPOSED to. There isn't supposed to be a "correct" answer to any of these - by definition. It's designed to get at your personal biases. And we all need biases to function.

Politics, after all, are a regional/personal thing. Under different circumstances, all our views will change a bit.

I did have one comment though...

Justin wrote: "There should be no laws regarding sex for consenting adults"

I answered "agree", but isn't rape a law regarding sex?

No, because that wouldn't be consenting and/or it wouldn't involve 2 adults.

I'm not surprised at your result, Justin. It pegged you for whom you are. Wear you views proudly.

- Bill

Gene DeMambro · Post by **Gene DeMambro** » Wed Aug 03, 2005 4:51 pm

I do not mind at all, as I have already provided them. Clicking the link I provided will yield my score of 50%/50%.

Simple is good, but would have liked something with more gravitas. Any ideas where we can take such a quiz, and really get a precise score?

Have a nice day

Gene

chewy · Post by **chewy** » Wed Aug 03, 2005 6:09 pm

Personal: 90%
Economic: 60%

http://www.self-gov.org/quiz-score/draw.php?p=9&e=6

ACCORDING TO YOUR ANSWERS,

The political description that
fits you best is...

.
LIBERTARIAN

I was somewhat suprised by my result as I've never thought of myself as libertarian... on the other hand I haven't thought too much about what being a libertarian means. I am not terribly suprised by my "left lean".

As has been pointed out, however, the survey itself is not without its flaws. Too their credit they did allow one to answer "maybe" which helped me through some of the more vague questions.

cheers,

chewy

chewy · Post by **chewy** » Wed Aug 03, 2005 6:28 pm

This one take more time. My only argument is that they don't have a "no opinion" or "indifferent" choice for some of these:

http://www.politicalcompass.org/

It squares well with my results on the other test:

Your political compass
Economic Left/Right: -4.38
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -4.77

Esssentially a moderately left-leaning libertarian.

One more item of note, in case you were wondering where famous political figures would likely fall in the spectrum of politics:

http://www.digitalronin.f2s.com/politic ... lchart.gif

cheers,

chewy

Panther · Post by **Panther** » Thu Aug 04, 2005 6:19 am

I disagree with the way some questions are worded. You have to be very careful when you read them to make sure you don't misunderstand the question. I agree that there needs to be a selection for "don't care" or "no opinion".

Regardless, my score was:

Your political compass
Economic Left/Right: 5.44
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -5.90

Which kinda, sorta squares with my other score. This test says I'm a little more conservative economically and more libertarian socially. I guess that fits, but there were some questions that I could have gone the other way on depending on how I interpret the question. I really don't think this one is any more accurate than the shorter, simpler one... just different.

Valkenar · Post by **Valkenar** » Thu Aug 04, 2005 5:25 pm

Bill Glasheen wrote:Good points, Justin.
No, because that wouldn't be consenting and/or it wouldn't involve 2 adults.

Doh, you're right, that was stupid of me. I'll chalk it up to having a fever and a headache and posting late at night. (I feel better now)

I'm not surprised at your result, Justin. It pegged you for whom you are. Wear you views proudly.

It pegged me because it was obvious what answers give what results and I therefore answered accordingly. I do wear my views proudly, but my problem with the quiz isn't the result, it's with the nature of the quiz, as I stated before.

One thing I didn't point out before is the fact that people's responses are influenced by the format of the question. It's been shown that people are more likely to respond affirmatively to questions that aren't clear-cut. So if you want to remove a little bias from your test you structure the questions so that for any given axis there are as many that are formed positively as there are formed negatively. On this particular test, all agree = 100% libertarian. Now the affirmation effect isn't the most significant form of bias, but it's easily fixed just by rephrasing half the questions so that all "agree" results in a 50/50 centrist.

Bill Glasheen · Post by **Bill Glasheen** » Thu Aug 04, 2005 9:36 pm

Good point.

- Bill

f.Channell · Post by **f.Channell** » Fri Aug 05, 2005 1:55 am

Here's the test that worries me.
www.deathclock.com

F.

More Bush Bashing

my score

another site, more detail