Record Your Results from Both Surveys

Name______

Ideology Assignment

Now that you have taken the survey and determined where you are on the political spectrum, you can see if your results will hold firm. To do this, please complete the following assignment.

Record your results from both surveys.

-Done, results below.

Ask at least one of your family members to take the online surveys. Record their results.

-Done, results below.

Answer the following questions:

Do the results of the surveys correlate with each other?

My classification of “enterpriser,” compared with my self-identification as conservative/leaning Republican was pretty closely correlated when evaluating the defining values. The question sets were similar in nature in regards to gauging opinion regarding the size of government, foreign policy, regulation of business, and taxation.

How are they different? How can you explain the differences?

Although the second survey was a bit more black and white in the number of choices, the complexity of the questions required a greater level of depth in their consideration. Where the first survey could tell you if you were “left” or “right,” the Idealog survey challenged you consider exceptions to the standard concepts of government involvement being “good” or “bad.” Similar to the last two questions of the tutorial, these types of questions in some cases blurred the lines, and it seems the differences were clearly meant to illustrate that while people can consider themselves to be part of a particular ideology, upon further investigation, you may find that some aspects of a particular party affiliation may simply be pre-conceived notions.

How do your results correlate with your family’s results?

-The results of the survey were interesting. Our answers fell on the “same side” of the spectrum a little greater than half of the questions, though usually we were very close if we did disagree. Our disagreements centered primarily upon issues pertaining to gun control, the environment, and our opinion of large businesses. However, we shared common views in our desire to minimize government interference in people’s lives, issues surrounding fiscal responsibility, and the role of personal responsibility in ensuring success in one’s life.

Does this surprise you?

-I did find some of the results surprising, and did learn something new. It sparked some dialogue that was previously unheard of in our household, but our common interests were such that the discussion was peaceful. What I also found surprising was that in some cases we interpreted the questions differently when it came to the second survey, because in many cases there was the possibility of implied bias or other presumptions. For example, the question relating to immigrants and the country could generate different reactions if they assumed the question to be referring to illegal immigrants. Also, the question pertaining to banning forced prayers in school could have been misinterpreted as an attack on religion, where the key word to me seems to be “forced.” Other questions, such as whether a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between a man and woman had other hidden implications as it relates to government interference, state’s rights, weighed against the opinion of topic of gay marriage.

Does the material correspond to your personal results?

-I found the typology results to be eerily descriptive of me, down to the defining values and even the demographics. The idealog results surprised me a bit as it showed a shift solidly into the libertarian quadrant from my original assessment. Overall, I found the evaluations to be a useful exercise of self-reflection. However, I was much more surprised about my wife’s results, as the assessment placed her in Republican territory despite her more “liberal” views.

Enterpriser

Disaffected