Add a new question: Survey matrix

Step-by-step instructions on how to add a new question of the Survey matrix type

Adding a new question is common across all question types. To see how to add a new question, see Add a new question.

Add new survey matrix type question

In the survey matrix type questions, the participants can respond to the question through a survey-like set of choices in a matrix view. You can set up multiple statements and corresponding answering options in the same question, and the participants can select one answer for each line or statement in the question.

To add a new survey matrix type question, follow the steps below.

Select ‘Survey Matrix’ as the question type. The ‘New question’ dialog box opens that shows the question type as ‘Survey Matrix’’.
In ‘Title’, write the title of this question. This title appears in the list of topics.
In ‘Language’, select a language that you want to use in the question.
In ‘Tags’, write one or more tags for this question. These tags can be the keywords for this question that you can use to search a question anytime.
Click on ‘Create’ to save this new question. You can click on ‘Back’ to select another type of question to get started.

When a new question is added to the list of topics, a yellow color icon shows in the topic title. It means that the question is not activated.

Complete the question details and advanced settings

The ‘Question text’ tab

The ‘Question text’ tab is selected by default. Write the question text here.

Text editor for formatting

A text editor is available to format the question content for styling options. Please see Common reference to add a new question: Using text editor, for the detailed instructions.

The menu options

The text editor shows a menu bar where a set of menus show you the basic text editor options, and a few additional and advanced actions to set up the right structure of the questions’ text as required. Please see Common reference to add a new question: Using menus, for the detailed instructions.

Instruction

You have an option to add an instruction for this question. Instructions are common for the same question types. If another ‘Survey matrix’ type question already has one or more instructions in any language, these instructions are available in this new ‘Survey matrix’ type question in the same language, for your use.

Click on the ‘Edit’ icon and the ‘Edit instructions’ dialog box opens.
Click on ‘Add instruction’.
In ‘Language’, select a language for the instruction text.
In ‘Instruction text’ write the content for the instruction.
Click on ‘Save’ to save this instruction.

Follow the same steps to add more instructions and you can select any one instruction, anytime when you edit this question.

The ‘Structure’ tab

The options and choices that you see in this ‘Structure’ tab change depending on the evaluation settings that you select in the ‘Options’ tab. Please check the ‘Options’ tab for how the settings in the ‘Structure’ tab change, later in this article below.

Select the ‘Structure’ tab to write the answering choices for each answer in the question.

Click on any choice and change the text as required.
Click on ‘Add choice’ to add more choices, if required.
Click on the ‘Cross’ icon to remove a choice.

Use the ‘Answers’ tab to add or update the answers.

The ‘Answers’ tab

The options and choices that you see in this ‘Answers’ tab change depending on the evaluation settings that you select in the ‘Options’ tab. Please check the ‘Options’ tab for how the settings in the ‘Answers’ tab change, later in this article below.

Select the ‘Answers’ tab to write down the answer statements. For each statement, you can see the following settings.

Add or edit the answers.
Mark the correct answering choice against which the participants’ response is matched.
Assign the points that the participants score for correct response to each answer.
Rearrange the sequence of answers for a logical order.

Add answers

A few questions are available by default, such as Fact 1, Fact 2 to help you get started.

Click on the ‘Edit’ icon, and the ‘Edit answer’ dialog box appears.
Write the answer which is part of this survey matrix question type. Use the text editor to format the answer, as required. If you want to use images, please see Common reference to add new question: Add and manage images for the detailed instructions.
Click on ‘Apply’ to save the answer.

Follow the same steps to edit more answers.

Set up correct answer choices and marks

For each answer statement, select the correct choice as an answer to the statement. Since this is a survey matrix type question, you can select only one choice as the correct answer. This answer is matched with the participants’ answer for this statement.

For each answer, write the points that the participants score, as:

In ‘Points if correct’, write the points they score if they select the correct answer.
In ‘Points if wrong, write the points they score if they select the wrong answer.

This option disappears depending on the options that you select in the ‘Evaluation settings’, in the ‘Options’ tab, as described later in this article.

Additional options for each question statement

For each answer, you have options to:

Re-order: Click on the up arrow or down arrow icon to change the sequence or order of the answers.
Delete: Click on the ‘Cross’ icon to remove the answer.

Note: At any stage while planning the answers and their settings, click on the ‘Preview’ tab to see how the participants see this question.

Insert new answering statements

Click on ‘Insert answer at the beginning’ to add a new answer at the beginning. Click on ‘‘Insert answer at the end to add a new answer at the end in the list of answers. In either case, use the arrows in each answer block to move these up or down to change the sequence of answers as these should appear in the exam.

The ‘Options’ tab

Evaluation settings

In ‘Evaluation type’, there is an option to set up the point scoring.

When you select an evaluation setting, some of the options change in the ‘Structure’ and ‘Answers’ tabs, correspondingly.

Evaluation Setting: Award points per line

Select ‘Award points per line’ option to award the points for each line in the participants’ response. In this case, the participants score points for their correct response to each line in the question. They score the points based on the points’ settings in the ‘Answers’ tab.

Evaluation Setting: Award points for whole question

Select ‘Award points for whole question’ option to award the points for the whole question. In this case, the participants score points only if they answer the whole question correctly. If the response is wrong even to a single line, they do not score any points.

When you select this option, the ‘Points for correct answer’ and the ‘Points for wrong answer’ appear where you can assign the points for the respective fields.

Since the participants score the points for the whole question, the options to assign the points for each answer disappear from the ‘Answers’ tab.

Evaluation Setting: Award points per selected option

Select ‘Award points per selected option’ option to award the points for only selecting without the condition whether the answer statements are correct or wrong. In this case, the participants can score the points for each option that they select for each statement.

When you select this option, you can see a few changes in the ‘Structure’ and ‘Answers’ tabs, as below.

The ‘Structure’ tab: For each answering choice, you can assign the points that the participants score when they select the corresponding choice. Assign the points in a negative number if you want to assign negative points for selecting the choice. Note that the negative points are scored only for the whole question and not for individual choice in the question. If the settings to assign the negative points in the ‘Options’ tab is not enabled, the participants cannot score negative points for the question.
The ‘Answers’ tab: The options to select which answering choice is correct or wrong disappears.

Points settings

In ‘Negative points possible’: Select ‘Yes’ if the participants can secure negative points for this question and select ‘No’ if the participants cannot secure negative points for this question.
In ‘Define max points for question’: Select ‘Yes’ to set up a max points that participants can score for this question, and select ‘No’ if there is no max points limit.
In ‘Ignore question in result calculation when not answered’: Select ‘Yes’ if you want that the points scored in this question are not included in the exam result, if the question is not answered. For example, if the exam settings mean that an unanswered question invites some negative score. In that case, this setting here in ‘Ignore question in result calculation when now allowed’ enables you to bypass that exam setting.

General settings

In ‘Show info overlay when jumping to the question’, you can add and use information overlays to add additional messages. For example, a tooltip like help text for the participants when they are in an exam. Please see Common reference to add new question: Using info overlays for more details.

Select ‘Show answers as table’ to show the question statements in a tabular view. If you do not select this option, the participants see the answer options as drop-down lists.

Select ‘Show question text in split panel (not available in preview)’ to show the question text in a column view when the participants answer this question. Select ‘show in left panel’ or ‘show in right panel’ to show the question in the left side or right side column of the answer space, respectively.

The other tabs

For the instructions on the other details in the ‘Options; tab, the ‘Feedback’ tab, the ‘Media/Resources’ tab, the ‘Information’ tab, the ‘Topics’ tab, and the ‘Preview’ tab, please see Add a new question for details.

Save options

Click on ‘Save’ to save these details in the question. When you use the ‘Save’ option, the question does not impact the exam if it is added to an exam. In a way, the question is saved as a draft and you can add it to an exam, anytime.
Click on ‘Save and activate’ to save the question, and to activate it. This means that the question is locked now and is ready to be added to an exam. If you make any changes in the question or its settings after you use ‘Save and activate’, the question is saved as the next revision for an exam.