About the 16 Values Test
The 16 values test measures political views across 16 independent dimensions. This page explains exactly how it works — the axes, the scoring formula, and the quality checks behind the questions.
The 16 axes
The axes are organised into four families of four. Each axis has two named poles; your score from 0 to 100 shows which pole you lean toward, with 50 as the exact middle.
Economy
- Equality × Inequality — How strongly you believe economic outcomes should be equalised across society, or left to vary with individual effort and market forces.
- Regulation × Free Markets — The degree to which markets should be supervised and corrected by public rules, or allowed to operate freely.
- Public × Private — Whether key industries and services should be owned and run by the public, or by private actors in competition.
- Welfare × Self-Reliance — The balance you strike between state-provided social support and the expectation that individuals provide for themselves.
State & Power
- Democracy × Autocracy — How directly and broadly you think ordinary people should control political decisions, versus rule by a concentrated elite.
- Authority × Liberty — Whether you consider obedience to established authority necessary for order, or a threat to personal freedom.
- Centralised × Decentralised — Whether political power should be concentrated in a single centre, or dispersed among many independent bodies.
- Federal × Unitary — Whether regions and communities should hold substantial self-government, or be governed uniformly from the centre.
Nation & Society
- Nationalism × Internationalism — How much priority you give to national identity and national interests versus cooperation across borders.
- Tradition × Progress — The value you place on preserving established customs and institutions versus embracing social change.
- Security × Freedom — How much personal freedom you are willing to trade for public safety, surveillance and order.
- Assimilation × Multiculturalism — Whether newcomers and minorities should adopt the dominant culture, or be encouraged to maintain their own.
Values & Worldview
- Science × Faith — How much you trust scientific inquiry and evidence versus religious faith and revelation as guides to truth.
- Techno-optimism × Simplicity — Whether you see technological advancement as a source of progress, or as a force that complicates a good life.
- Individual × Collective — The emphasis you place on individual rights and responsibilities versus the well-being of the group.
- Pragmatism × Idealism — Whether you judge decisions by their practical consequences, or by how well they match principled ideals.
How scoring works
The scoring formula is published in full, because we believe a test you cannot inspect is a test you cannot trust.
- Each answer is weighted: Strongly agree = +1, Agree = +0.5, Neutral = 0, Disagree = −0.5, Strongly disagree = −1.
- Each question maps to 2–4 axes with an effect strength of ±1 to ±5 (for example, “Governments should intervene to reduce income inequality” maps to Equality +4 and Markets −2).
- For each axis, raw score = Σ(answer weight × effect). The raw score is then normalised to a 0–100 scale with 50 as the neutral point, using the axis-specific maximum possible score (Σ|effect|).
How result matching works
After scoring, your 16 axis scores are matched against two sets of reference profiles to answer “what type am I closest to?”. Both sets are published here, so you can check the arithmetic yourself.
- 16 types: every combination of the four axis families leaning left or right (2 × 2 × 2 × 2 = 16 types). Each type has an archetypal 16-axis profile — see the type pages.
- 12 ideologies: well-known positions such as Social Democrat, Libertarian or Conservative, each with a 16-axis profile.
- Matching uses Euclidean distance: distance = √(Σ(scoreᵢ − profileᵢ)²) across the 16 axes. The nearest profile wins; similarity = 100 × (1 − distance ÷ 400), rounded, where 400 is the theoretical maximum distance.
- If two or more profiles tie at the same distance, the one listed first is returned. If every profile ties (for example, all scores are exactly 50), no type is shown for that row.
Matching is an educational approximation based on the 16 axes. A “closest ideology” label describes a position in a profile space — it is not an endorsement of any party, person or policy.
Question quality & item analysis
The initial question pool contains 128 original statements written for this test. Before the final set is used, each question is screened with item analysis: questions with an item–total correlation below 0.30 or a factor loading below 0.30 are dropped. The final test keeps the six highest-quality questions per axis, balanced across both poles.
- equality: 17 questions — 11 toward the left pole, 6 toward the right pole
- markets: 24 questions — 12 toward the left pole, 12 toward the right pole
- ownership: 14 questions — 9 toward the left pole, 5 toward the right pole
- welfare: 19 questions — 11 toward the left pole, 8 toward the right pole
- democracy: 22 questions — 14 toward the left pole, 8 toward the right pole
- authority: 27 questions — 17 toward the left pole, 10 toward the right pole
- centralisation: 21 questions — 10 toward the left pole, 11 toward the right pole
- federalism: 12 questions — 7 toward the left pole, 5 toward the right pole
- nationalism: 17 questions — 11 toward the left pole, 6 toward the right pole
- tradition: 20 questions — 13 toward the left pole, 7 toward the right pole
- security: 12 questions — 8 toward the left pole, 4 toward the right pole
- culture: 12 questions — 7 toward the left pole, 5 toward the right pole
- science: 15 questions — 10 toward the left pole, 5 toward the right pole
- technology: 14 questions — 9 toward the left pole, 5 toward the right pole
- individualism: 10 questions — 6 toward the left pole, 4 toward the right pole
- pragmatism: 15 questions — 10 toward the left pole, 5 toward the right pole
Limitations
This is a self-reflection tool, not a clinical or academic diagnostic. The statements were written with cultural neutrality in mind, but any quiz carries cultural assumptions. Results are descriptive, not endorsements: there is no “good” or “bad” position on any axis. We do not collect, store, or transmit your answers — everything happens in your browser.
Why we publish the formula
Several well-known political tests have been criticised for refusing to publish their scoring or acknowledge cultural bias. We take the opposite approach: open formula, open question selection, honest limitations.