Is Political Compass measuring the right things?
I'm developing a research instrument that classifies people by how they think truth works, what makes power legitimate, and what the purpose of governance is — rather than by policy positions or left/right ideology.
The theory predicts three distinct architectures that cut across the traditional political compass:
- One grounds truth in authority and tradition
- One grounds truth in reason and evidence
- One grounds truth in lived experience and perspective
Each comes with a different theory of legitimate power and a different answer to "what is government actually for?"
The instrument is in early development and I need real respondents to see whether the items sort people the way the theory predicts. It takes about 10 minutes.
If you're the kind of person who thinks the Political Compass doesn't capture something important about how people actually disagree — this is an attempt to figure out what that something is.
https://muldoon.design/playground/rfq-survey
Happy to answer questions about the theory or methodology in comments.