Q&A: What you need to know about CBC's Ontario Vote Compass

CBCNews haslaunched the Vote Compass tool for the Ontario election.

Through a short quiz, the Vote Compass provides readers with a sense of how their views compare with the parties' stances on a range of issues.

CBC News asked Cliftonvan der Linden, the founder andCEO of Vox Pop Labs the company that puts Vote Compass together a few questions about how it works, what's behind the questions, how to use it and more.

CBC: First of all, are you trying to tell me who to vote for?

Cliftonvan der Linden: Vote Compass provides people with a sense as to how their individual political views and values align with those of the political parties.

While policy alignment is an important part of a voter's calculus, it's not the only consideration that one takes into account. Factors like party identification, affinities for party leaders, incumbent performanceand issues of personal significance (not all of which may be captured in Vote Compass) are all taken into account when people cast their ballots.

Vote Compass is neither telling you who you should vote for nor predicting your vote. It is simply a starting point for people to explore the political landscape and get a sense as to how they are generally situated vis--vis the parties.

It is also an opportunity to learn more about the parties and their positions on a wider array of issues than one might normally be exposed to in conventional election coverage.

Who makes Vote Compass?

Cliftonvan der Linden: Vote Compass is made by Vox Pop Labs, which is a social enterprise operated by a small team of social and data scientists. We are an independent, non-partisan organization committed to creating innovative digital products that promote democratic participation and civic literacy.

To date we have run Vote Compass in more than 50 elections worldwide with media organizations including The Wall Street Journal, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Sky News, Grupo Globo, RTL, France24, Television New Zealand and others. But it all started with our partnership with CBC/Radio-Canada more than a decade ago.

How did you come up with the questions in the list?

Cliftonvan der Linden: Our analysts review all the policy statements that the various parties have made since the last election and we use this information to identify issues where the parties diverge in their views.

Then, in partnership with academics who have expertise in the jurisdiction in which we operate a particular instance of Vote Compass, we develop a survey that captures the points of difference between the parties.

We run a series of pilot studies using representative samples of the population of interest (in this case Ontarians) to test and calibrate the survey instrument.

What if I don't know anything about some of the topics Vote Compass is asking me about? Will it still work?

Cliftonvan der Linden: You can always indicate "Don't know" as a response option to any of the questions in the survey and you will still get a result (unless, of course, you give a "Don't know" response to a critical mass of questions). And the Vote Compass results page gives people an opportunity to learn more about the issues that they might not be familiar with.

What should I make of the results? What if I'm aligned with a party I just don't like?

Cliftonvan der Linden:The objective of Vote Compass is to provide Ontarians with a sense as to how their views compare with those of the parties, but as I mentioned previously there are plenty of other considerations that factor into vote choice.

A certain party may have values that are aligned with yours but you may not like the party, the leader, the party's record, your local candidate, etc.

Ultimately it's your call as to how you balance these considerations when you cast your vote. There's no right answer when it comes to striking that balance. What ultimately matters is that you make as informed a decision as you can and that you vote!