i do not understand how this method works the unity scripting reference simply says:
The value will be in the range -1…1 for keyboard and joystick input. If the axis is setup to be delta mouse movement, the mouse delta is multiplied by the axis sensitivity and the range is not -1…1.
Are you trying to use a joystick like on the xBox gamepad ?
Here is how it works :
on (per example) the vertical axis, 0 is the default position. 1 is the fully top postion, -1 maximum bot position.
If you are just softly pushing your pad, you will not reach the maximal postion and you will be between -1 and 1
There are two other sentences around that one that explain more things. The examples immediately beneath should make it pretty clear how to use it. And there is a lot more information on the page for the Input class as a whole.
If you can ask something a little more specific, we might be able to help you understand it.