• Customer Experience
    Customer Experience
  • Employee Experience
    Employee Experience
  • Brand Experience
    Brand Experience
  • Product Experience
    Product Experience
  • Core XM
    Core XM

Constant Sum Question

What's on This Page:

Was this helpful?


The feedback you submit here is used only to help improve this page.

That’s great! Thank you for your feedback!

Thank you for your feedback!

About Constant Sum Questions

Constant Sum questions provide respondents a way to enter numeric data. Each numeric entry is summed and can be displayed to the respondent.

Question, How many hours of your day do you devote to these activities? Each choice has a text box where you enter a number. There is a Total row where the answers add up to 24.

Example: You can ask respondents how many of hours they dedicate to certain activities in a given day and require that their answers add up to 24.

Variations

There are three variations available for the Constant Sum question: Choices, Bars, and Sliders. You can access these variations under Type in the question editing pane.

Choices Constant Sum

With the Choices variation, respondents type their answers into text boxes.

The Constant Sum is set to Choices and has text boxes

The Choices Constant Sum has several customizable options, found in the Editing Pane:

  • Position: Switch the layout of the text boxes from a Vertical format to a Horizontal format.
    Position is set to horizontal and the choices are presented two at a time with boxes next to each single choice
  • Total Box: Display a total box at the bottom of the question so respondents can keep track of their total as they are entering data (only available when in Vertical position).
    Total Box is selected, so an extra row that adds up the total appears
  • Enforce Range: Set a range of valid numbers for each item (e.g., on our hours in a day question, “0” would be an appropriate minimum and “24” would be an appropriate maximum).
    Selecting Enforce Range reveals options for set minimum and maximum
  • Symbol: Place a symbol before or after each text box (e.g., include “Hrs” after each text box if an answer is expected in hours).
    Symbol section allows you to insert chosen text before or after the entry box

Bars Constant Sum

With the Bars variation, respondents drag a bar for each item to select a number. If a maximum sum is set for the question, bars cannot be dragged above this sum.

Bars is selected, so the constant sum looks like bars you can drag to indicate the numeric answer for each choice

The Bars Constant Sum has several customizable options, found in the Editing Pane:

  • Labels: Place additional text along the top of your question.
    Labels is set to 2, so 2 labels appear above the bars
  • Scale Options: Specify the number of Grid Lines, Minimum Values, Maximum Values, and Decimals that will be shown.
    In the Grid Lines section, the max, min, and number of grid lines are set
  • Show Value: Opt to show the respondent the exact number the slider is currently on.
    Show value is selected, so next to each bar, a value is displayed to the right
  • Custom Start Position: Start respondents on a particular value (by default, sliders and bars will start at 0). To use this feature, check the box, and then drag the bar to the position you would like it to start at.
    Bars are adjusted in the editor to display a Custom Start Position

 

Slider Constant Sum

The Slider variation is similar in function to the Bars Constant Sum. Respondents drag a slider handle for each statement to select a number. If a Must Total validation is set for the question, slider handles cannot be dragged above this sum.

Constant Sum is set to sliders, which is similar to bars, but looks more like the slider question type

The Slider Constant Sum has the same options that the Bars Constant Sum has. See above for more information on these options.

Validation

You can use Must Total validation to specify a total for any Constant Sum variation. This total refers to the sum of all the respondent’s entries, and respondents will not be able to move past the question until the total is reached.

Under validation, must total is set to 24

Data Analysis

Once your responses have been collected, Qualtrics offers various ways you can analyze your response data. From the Reports tab, you can view aggregate data in pre-made reports as well as create your own reports from scratch. From the Data & Analysis tab, you can view and manage individual respondents’ data.

Results Visualizations

In the Results section of the Reports tab, there are several visualizations that can display the data from a Constant Sum question.

The Statistics Table is a great visualization for the Constant Sum question. This visualization includes the minimum, maximum, and mean value entered for each item, as well as other metrics.

A statistics table

Another great option is the Gauge Chart visualization. The gauge’s length is dictated by a maximum value. Then, each item in the constant sum is its own gauge, with a colored bar representing how close to the maximum the value is.

Example: This Gauge Chart displays the average hours a day spent on each activity. The Metric is Mean and the Maximum is set to 24, since there are 24 hours in a day.

Gauge charts set to metric mean

Other visualizations that can display Constant Sum data include Bar Charts and Line Charts. These work best when the Metric is set to Mean.

Reports Visualizations

In the Reports section of the Reports tab, the compatible visualizations are the Statistics Table, the Bar Chart, and the Line Chart.

In this case, the Gauge Chart will only be compatible if one item if Use All Choices is not set as the Data Source.

Gauge chart

Downloaded Data Format

The downloaded dataset will include a column for each item in the Constant Sum question, indicating what value each participant entered.

CSV of constant sum data

Each column title contains the entire question, and then ends with the specific item.