An Introduction
The 4Quad Diagnostic is an instrument based on extensive research, carefully crafted, and adapted from the work of Professor Barry Clark of the University of Colorado, Boulder. The four-quadrant ideology approach rejects the more conventional left-right constraint as it situates respondents in a larger multidimensional political space and allows them to consider their relative position within it. For example, despite their different orientations along the equality-hierarchy dimension, modern liberals and classical liberals have a shared preference for individualism. Similarly, modern liberals and conservatives have a shared preference for community. The upshot is that this framework has the potential to make political discourse more nuanced, richer, and less polarized.
Respondents answer eight questions on different matters of public policy, with four possible answers for each question. The questions concern K-12 schooling, environmental policy, higher education policy, responses to poverty, gender, immigration, the US political process, and financial markets and Wall Street. The possible answers represent four ideological positions: conservative, modern liberal, radical, and classic liberal. Participants indicate how strongly they agree with each answer they choose, from a lot to not at all. After participants take the 4Quad Diagnostic online, they see a four-quadrant screen with each of the four ideological positions. Respondents’ answers are plotted on the screen to show their ideological positions. In a group setting, a facilitator is able to show both the group responses to each question and then a composite of all the responses. Click here to learn more About the Diagnostic…
Click here to view a 4Quad introductory video.