How Refractal's quizzes work, and what they cannot tell you
Refractal's quizzes are short reflections designed to give you language for patterns you might recognize. This page explains how they work, what happens to your answers, and what they are not, so you can decide how much weight to give a result.
What the quizzes are
Most of our quizzes are exploratory reflection quizzes. We wrote the questions, dimensions and archetypes ourselves. They are not versions of published psychological tests and they have not been scientifically validated.
Spark is different: it is a timed puzzle game with a confidence twist. It is not an intelligence test and does not compare you with other people.
How results are calculated
In the reflection quizzes, each answer adds weight to one or more dimensions. Your answers form a profile across six dimensions, and we compare that profile with six archetype profiles. You see the closest match as your primary result, the next closest as a secondary pattern, and sometimes a pull from a contrasting archetype.
When two archetypes are nearly tied, we ask extra tie-breaker questions to separate them. In the reflection quizzes, the same answers always produce the same result. Spark also counts how quickly you answer, so its points can vary.
What happens to your answers
- Your answers are sent to our server to calculate your result. They are not saved there.
- Your answers are not sent to our analytics. Analytics records page views and whether a quiz was started or finished, along with which quiz it was.
- Our analytics does not set cookies or store anything in your browser, does not record your sessions, and does not build a profile of you.
- Your result is shown in your browser. You do not need an account, and nothing is shared unless you choose to share it.
If you took a quiz before September 25, 2026, your browser may still hold that earlier result. Clearing your browser's site data for refractal.com removes it.
What a short quiz cannot tell you
- It cannot diagnose anything or assess your mental health.
- It cannot tell you who you are. It reflects how you answered a dozen questions today.
- It cannot assess another person or predict whether a relationship will work.
- It cannot measure intelligence.
Your own experience outranks any result. Keep what fits, question what does not, and pay attention to the specific moments that come to mind as you read it.
Versions and changes
Each quiz has a version. If we change the questions or how results are calculated, we release a new version rather than quietly reinterpreting old results.
Common questions
Why use archetypes if they are not scientific types?
Archetypes are memorable and give you language for a pattern. We use them as a starting point for reflection and try to be clear about their limits.
Do you sell or share my answers?
Quiz answers are not stored, so there is nothing to sell or share. They are sent to our server only to calculate your result.
Who writes the quizzes?
The Refractal team writes and reviews the questions, archetypes and result text, including a review for claims we cannot support.
For reflection and general information. Not medical or mental health advice, and not a diagnosis.