How it works

The parties

The ten parties with the most first-preference votes at recent Northern Ireland elections: Sinn Féin, DUP, Alliance, UUP, SDLP, TUV, Green Party NI, People Before Profit, Aontú and the PUP. They appear in random order wherever you’re asked to choose.

The questions

Twenty statements on issues where the parties genuinely disagree. Exactly one is about the constitutional question, and it carries the same weight as every other question. Questions appear in a random order for each person.

Scoring

Answers and party positions use the same five-point scale. For each question, a party scores 100% if its position matches yours exactly and 0% if it’s at the opposite end, with steps in between. Each question is weighted by how much you said it matters (Less ×0.5, Normal ×1, A lot ×2). Skipped questions are left out. Where a party has no clear position on a question, it counts as a 50% match at half weight, so a party can’t come top simply by being compared on fewer questions.

Party positions

Positions are coded from manifestos, public statements, and Assembly and Commons votes (including TheyWorkForYou records). Each has a confidence rating. You’ll see every party’s position, with its basis, once you’ve finished the quiz. We don’t show them beforehand so they can’t shape your answers. Corrections from parties are welcome.

Privacy notice

Who runs this

Where Do I Stand? NI is an independent project run by Aaron Abernethy, Belfast, who is the data controller for the answers collected. Contact details for privacy questions will be published here before public launch.

What we collect

Your answers to the 20 statements, how much each matters to you, your voting intention, and (only if you choose to answer) your age band, gender and community background. We record the date you took part, but not the time.

What we don’t collect

No name, email, IP address, device or browser details, location, cookies or tracking. We don’t keep server logs for this site. Nothing you submit is linked to you or to anything else.

Why, and on what basis

To research how people’s policy views compare with how they vote in Northern Ireland, and to publish overall findings. Because your answers can reveal political opinions and community background, which UK GDPR treats as special category data, we only store them with your explicit consent, given on the start page. You must be 18 or over.

What gets published

Only totals and percentages. Any group with fewer than 10 people is never shown, so no one can be picked out. Individual responses are never published or sold.

How long we keep it

Responses are kept until the research ends, and for no more than three years from the date you took part.

Your rights

Because responses aren’t linked to anyone, we can’t find or delete a specific person’s answers after submission. If you have concerns you can contact us, or complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at ico.org.uk.

Where it’s stored

On Cloudflare’s database service, in its Western Europe region.