Hi all,
We are trying to import/build a survey with Scoring capabilities using the Qualtrics API.
Upon creating each question with the API, we would like to also define the answer choice values used for scoring for those questions. This can normally be done manually for each question by going to Survey Options > Advanced > Scoring, but it would be a lot more efficient if we could do this through the API when we create each question.
How would we do this or is it even possible?
Best answer by r2rajcic
Tested this myself and wanted to add some additional notes to save future readers some time:
The ‘SC_01HL...’ and ‘SC_cV07...’ strings within ‘Grades’ in
The default UI name is “Score” but it will have a scoring category ID tied to it as well, similar to those in the screenshot. I created a question and gave it Score values manually through the UI, then used the Get Questions API call to extract my scoring category ID (each question will have the same ‘GradingData’ piece in the response as well).
Note: If you are building an exam from scratch with the API, you can define your scoring category when you first define the survey using the survey definition and scoring definition schemas (links to the documentation for those schemas are in
Finally, to add answer choice point values with the API, you can insert the ‘GradingData’ Key + value as shown in the screenshot (or captured by your Get Questions API response) into the body of your Create Question post request. You just need to ensure the scoring category ID matches that of an existing scoring category for it to work.
Note: I was not able to find ‘GradingData’ anywhere in the Qualtrics API, neither as an option for the Create Question post request body message, nor as a schema like the scoring definitions schema. I was, however, able to successfully add it to the Create Question Post request just like the other body message options, and validated that it worked by going on the UI and seeing the new question with the uploaded answer choice point values.
Hope this adds some clarity
+49Hi, this might help
See scoring definition section in the survey definition : https://api.qualtrics.com/a8300ef0bcce4-survey-definition
And scoring definition itself : https://api.qualtrics.com/c4466440c8218-scoring-definition
Thank you for linking that documentation
Looking at the Scoring Definition schema, it appears to only let you define the scoring category and category group (plus some other variables) but it does not show that you can specify the numerical value to give to each answer choice for Scoring.
Have we missed something here or misinterpreted how to use the scoring object? If you have an example that would be greatly appreciated!
+49I suggest you build a simple survey and either export the qsf or get it with the Get Survey API to provide you with an example. You’ll want to look for GradingData in the questions definition. You should see something similar to this that should help you build what you want :
"GradingData": [
{
"ChoiceID": "1",
"Grades": {
"SC_0lHL6Wk3TbESpWC": "10",
"SC_cV07JqyAmSIIS1g": "1"
},
"index": 0
},
{
"ChoiceID": "3",
"Grades": {
"SC_0lHL6Wk3TbESpWC": "30",
"SC_cV07JqyAmSIIS1g": "3"
},
"index": 1
},
{
"ChoiceID": "2",
"Grades": {
"SC_0lHL6Wk3TbESpWC": "20",
"SC_cV07JqyAmSIIS1g": "2"
},
"index": 2
}
]
}
Tested this myself and wanted to add some additional notes to save future readers some time:
The ‘SC_01HL...’ and ‘SC_cV07...’ strings within ‘Grades’ in
The default UI name is “Score” but it will have a scoring category ID tied to it as well, similar to those in the screenshot. I created a question and gave it Score values manually through the UI, then used the Get Questions API call to extract my scoring category ID (each question will have the same ‘GradingData’ piece in the response as well).
Note: If you are building an exam from scratch with the API, you can define your scoring category when you first define the survey using the survey definition and scoring definition schemas (links to the documentation for those schemas are in
Finally, to add answer choice point values with the API, you can insert the ‘GradingData’ Key + value as shown in the screenshot (or captured by your Get Questions API response) into the body of your Create Question post request. You just need to ensure the scoring category ID matches that of an existing scoring category for it to work.
Note: I was not able to find ‘GradingData’ anywhere in the Qualtrics API, neither as an option for the Create Question post request body message, nor as a schema like the scoring definitions schema. I was, however, able to successfully add it to the Create Question Post request just like the other body message options, and validated that it worked by going on the UI and seeing the new question with the uploaded answer choice point values.
Hope this adds some clarity
+29
I tried explaining below, but you can probably figure this out just as quickly by experimenting with an example survey where you call Get Questions before adding scoring, then again after adding Scoring + assigning point values with the UI, then one more time after adding a new scoring category also with point values (you should look for “GradingData” in the response each time (hint, it won’t show up until scoring is defined)).
Here is my explanation as I have come to understand it (disclaimer: I am not a Qualtrics expert nor claim to be):
The ‘scoring category id’ variable I am talking about is actually defined in the Scoring definition schema under ScoringCategories > “ID”.
That variable then shows up in the QSF response from the Get Questions API call under the “GradingData” object/element/whatever you want to call it. So you actually want to be looking for “GradingData” if you are calling Get Questions, not the ScoringCategories “ID” variable.
Unfortunately, “GradingData” is not found in the documentation for the Get Questions API call, but if it was it would show up under Responses 200 > Body > result > elements > “GradingData” and it would say it is an ‘array[object]’ where each object looks like:
{
“ChoiceID”: “your_answer_choice_ID_string_used_as_the_key_in_the_Choices object”,
“Grades”: {“ID”: “answer_choice_points_value_as_string_used_for_this_scoring_category”},
“index”: an_integer_index_used_for_ordering_(starts_at_0)
}
Just looking at “Grades” we can tell that GradingData essentially stores for each answer choice:
(think of scoring categories as sets of answer choices who’s points get summed together if they are selected. In the screenshot, each answer choice belongs to two different scoring categories and has a different value that would contribute to the category sum).
Lastly, because “GradingData” does exist as an element in the Get Questions API response, we know it can also be used in the Create Questions request, even though it is not directly documented.
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