Free-text answers

When to use it

• Transcribing audio
• Translating or rewriting sentences
• Writing a short rationale
• Collecting answers to a question set

What your file looks like

The file only needs the thing to transcribe or answer, here a clip link. Reviewers type into a box that you configure in the form. A file like this is enough:

id,clip
1,https://example.com/audio/001.wav
2,https://example.com/audio/002.wav

What reviewers see

The sample and a text box with your placeholder. Right-to-left languages type right to left.

What a reviewer submits

Free text is stored in the review's answer field as text, up to the length you set (4,000 characters at most).

{
  "answer": {
    "text": "نن هوا ښه ده"
  }
}

What you get back

value lists every reviewer's text, because free text has no single right answer to vote on. Compare the texts yourself, for example by edit distance, and keep the medoid or send disagreements to a reviewer.

{
  "n": 3,
  "value": [
    "نن هوا ښه ده",
    "نن هوا ښه ده.",
    "نن هوا ښه دی"
  ],
  "agreement": null,
  "tie": false
}

Quality checks

• Ask for two or three transcripts per clip and flag rows whose texts differ a lot.
• Give written rules for punctuation, numbers and spelling variants in the question.
• Use gold rows only on pick-one and rating questions; for text, review a sample by hand.

Tips

• State the script and normalisation you want, such as Pashto yeh and kaf forms. Reviewers otherwise type whatever their keyboard gives them.
• Set a maximum length that fits the task. It keeps answers focused.
• Allow an empty answer only when some rows may have nothing to write.

Limits

Up to 4,000 characters per answer. Text answers are exported in full, and CSV export joins them with a pipe character.