Questionnaire design
The smartwielen questionnaire has been designed by a combined project team of the University of Luxembourg and the Zentrum fir politesch Bildung. In order to guarantee a comprehensive, significant, valid and politically neutral questionnaire, the team consulted with a large number of interest groups and civil society organisations. From mid-February to March 2024, a customised website was put online, allowing anyone who was interested to submit suggestions for statements. Below you will find a detailed description of the questionnaire design approach.
Questionnaire design (PDF, only available in French)
Matching
In order to match the answers/political positions of candidates and voters, smartwielen applies an algorithm based on the Euclidean Distance. Below you find a detailed description of the matching-algorithm.
Positional matching methodology (PDF, only available in French)
smartspider and smartmap
In order to calculate positions of candidates and voters on the six axes of the smartspider graphs and within the two-dimensional political space of the smartmap, smartwielen applies a common and simple calculation method. Below you will find a detailed description of this as well as the complete assignment of statements to the dimensions of the smartspider and the smartmap.
smartspider and smartmap methodology (PDF, only available in French)
smartspider
The smartspider is a graphical visualisation of the political profiles of the candidates/parties and user based on their answers to the questionnaire. Each of the six axes represents a formulated goal in a policy area (e.g., Environmental protection) based on at least 5 statements. Some statements have been assigned to multiple axes and some statements have not been assigned to any of the axes. For each axis a value of between 0 and 100 points can be reached. A value of 100, at the outside edge of the spider, means there is complete agreement with the formulated goal of the corresponding axis. A value of 0, in the middle of the spider, means that there is no agreement with the formulated goal. The more similar the political profiles of a candidate / party and user are, the more their smartspiders will overlap.
Question assignment smartspider (PDF, only available in French)
smartmap
The smartmap is a graphical visualisation of the political profiles of the candidates/parties and user based on their answers to the questionnaire. Each dimension represents about 20 statements. Some statements have been assigned to both dimensions and some statements have not been assigned to either. The more similar the political profiles of a candidate / party and user are, the closer the points marking their positions on the smartmap will be. The horizontal axis represents the classic left–right dimension, which focuses on the role of government intervention in the economy and on liberal-conservative values. The vertical axis represents the European integration dimension, which focuses on the level of economic and political harmonisation of the European Union.
Question assignment smartmap (PDF, only available in French)
