I just looked at this test and had a problem with the very first question. It asks if you are strongly conservative or strongly liberal. What? I’d expect a high percentage of libertarians taking the test.
Other problems: Policies that are pro-immigration: If I believe in some policies that are pro-immigration and some that are not (like if I believe that certain groups of immigrants are bad and others aren’t), what do I answer? Am I supposed to answer the question as if it means “are you in favor of unrestricted immigration?” (which it often means in political discourse) or actually answer what it literally says?
Actually, that’s a general problem with the whole survey. There are questions which might have one meaning literally, but which mean something other than their literal words in political discourse. The global warming question doesn’t say ”… to such a degree that in order to fix it, we should put drastic policies into place”, but that’s what the question usually means. You’re going to end up misdetecting bias when you’ve actually detected ability to read subtext and context.
What am I supposed to answer for questions about subjects on which I have no opinion? There isn’t a “no opinion” answer on the question about whether I support tough on crime policies. And I have no idea how many percentage points renewable energy grew by.
There’s also a problem whcih I’ve seen in lots of other surveys. The survey question consists of a statement followed by the actual question, phrased in a way which indicates that you’re supposed to assume the statement is accurate. What do you do if you don’t consider the statement to be accurate? (“Advocates of American capitalism argue that global technological and economic progress is largely due to American ingenuity.” Literally true since it fails to state how many such advocates, but I don’t believe what it is probably intended to say. “Taxes are much lower in the US than in the average EU country. If lower taxes meant more wealth, you would therefore expect the US to be richer, in the sense of having a higher GDP per capita, than most EU countries.” I would not “therefore” expect any such thing, because I would only expect it if other factors are equal or favorable for the US and the statement hasn’t stipulated that.)
I just looked at this test and had a problem with the very first question. It asks if you are strongly conservative or strongly liberal. What? I’d expect a high percentage of libertarians taking the test.
Other problems: Policies that are pro-immigration: If I believe in some policies that are pro-immigration and some that are not (like if I believe that certain groups of immigrants are bad and others aren’t), what do I answer? Am I supposed to answer the question as if it means “are you in favor of unrestricted immigration?” (which it often means in political discourse) or actually answer what it literally says?
Actually, that’s a general problem with the whole survey. There are questions which might have one meaning literally, but which mean something other than their literal words in political discourse. The global warming question doesn’t say ”… to such a degree that in order to fix it, we should put drastic policies into place”, but that’s what the question usually means. You’re going to end up misdetecting bias when you’ve actually detected ability to read subtext and context.
What am I supposed to answer for questions about subjects on which I have no opinion? There isn’t a “no opinion” answer on the question about whether I support tough on crime policies. And I have no idea how many percentage points renewable energy grew by.
There’s also a problem whcih I’ve seen in lots of other surveys. The survey question consists of a statement followed by the actual question, phrased in a way which indicates that you’re supposed to assume the statement is accurate. What do you do if you don’t consider the statement to be accurate? (“Advocates of American capitalism argue that global technological and economic progress is largely due to American ingenuity.” Literally true since it fails to state how many such advocates, but I don’t believe what it is probably intended to say. “Taxes are much lower in the US than in the average EU country. If lower taxes meant more wealth, you would therefore expect the US to be richer, in the sense of having a higher GDP per capita, than most EU countries.” I would not “therefore” expect any such thing, because I would only expect it if other factors are equal or favorable for the US and the statement hasn’t stipulated that.)