| On the "Political Compass" |
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Group: alt.philosophy · Group Profile
Author: PubliusPublius Date: Sep 12, 2008 01:46
Sean wrote:
> Some propositions are extreme, and some are more moderate.
> That's how we can show you whether you lean towards extremism or
> moderation on the Compass.
You don't "show" anything until you've defined "extreme" and "moderation"
is terms that are measurable, justified the metric, and then shown that the
questionnaire items measure the metric.
> Some of the propositions are intentionally vague. Their purpose is
> to trigger buzzwords in the mind of the user, measuring feelings and
> prejudices rather than detailed opinions on policy.
Then it is not a tool for measurement of political opinions, but of the
popularity of various prejudices.
> Have you ever done an "apptitude test" or a pre-employment personality
> test? Well I have, and the way such things work are in methodical,
> rational, and intelligently created to produce measureable results
> when the ANALYSIS of it is produced. IOW, such funny odd questions
> actually can lead to very accurate results.
>
> The same goes for marketing surveys, and focus groups. It's a proven
> scientific psychological valid approach. This "test" on the site is
> just another example of what happenes every day in the real world of
> business Publius.
Every question item on such tests as the MMPI is carefully constructed and
validated for correlation with the trait the question is intended to
measure, before the question ever appears on the test. Are you claiming to
have similarly vetted the questions on this test, analyzed them for
ambiguities (which can lead to invalid results) etc.? Can you show the
strength of the relationship between the question and the metric?
If not, don't pretend this is a "scientific" test.
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