Numerical Answers in Quizzes

[ericwhitmer]

Why does Canvas when creating a numerical question create 4 possible numerical answers instead of just one?

[James · Accepted solution]

 @ericwhitmer  

The code used to decide how many responses to offer is shared between different question types.

Since multiple choice questions get 4 responses, so do numeric answers. So do fill in the blank, fill in multiple blanks, and pretty much every type except for formula, file upload, essay, and true/false (which always goes to 2 choices)

Delete the other three responses and the next numeric question that you create for that quiz in the same editing session will only have one response option.

Change the number of responses in any of the types and it will remember that choice when you change the question type. If you go down to one response for numeric answer and then create a multiple choice, there will only be one option available.

But yes, it may make more sense for most people to default to just one option for numeric response. It shouldn't be forced, though, because there are sometimes questions that have two responses. Example: Solve x²=4.

Set the question type first before you enter your answers and then do not change it after you've set your answers, even if you change your answers back to what they were. In my testing in preparation for response to this question, I had created a question for the x²=4 question to make sure it worked. There were only 2 answers showing on my screen. When I saved it, there were hidden answers of 0 (twice) for four correct (3 distinct) responses. I'm not sure exactly what combination triggered it, but I played around with the question type. Even using the keyboard to scroll through the question types to get to the one you want can be problematic

[ericwhitmer]

Thank you for your assistance, I hadn't thought of the multiple correct numerical answers as in the case of x squared = 4.

[James]

Another example of multiple answers comes from statistics. I have a problem like "34 out of 50 men and 75 out of 100 women said they [pick something with a binary response]. What is the difference in the percents of men and women who feel this way?" Mathematicians know that difference is not commutative, so they want 68% - 75% = -7%. Students think difference means bigger minus smaller, so they may put 75% - 68% = +7%. If you want to focus on the calculations and not get hung up on the meaning of the word difference, you could offer multiple numeric answers.

Actually, I use a formula question to randomize those numbers, and I can only have one answer. My instructions specify that I want them to take the bigger percentage minus the smaller percentage. This is right before we start hypothesis testing, so I'm just looking for how big the difference is, not the sign on it. But if I was using numeric response, I could accept either one as in my example.

Or you might have a question that asks the students to find the middle of the data: 30, 25, 46, 46, 20. Then allow them to enter either the mean or the median and leave feedback about which is appropriate and checking for symmetry of the data before deciding.

Most math people are used to the "single answer" nature, but statistics is about understanding variation and being close enough so getting them to think about alternative answers could be a positive learning experience.

Once again, almost all of my questions are formula so that I can allow multiple attempts and I'm locked into just one response and some of that good feedback that I could give with wrong answers.