In this article we cover:
- What is a number cloud?
- How to create a number cloud
- Using a maximum & minimum value
- Using decimal places
- Setting up a correct answer & explanation
- Including a margin of error
- Display your poll results
- Showing mean, median & mode averages
- Dynamic display
- What participants see
What is a number cloud?
A number cloud, similar to a word cloud, is where participants provide numerical answers, displayed in a cloud format where the size of each number indicates its frequency or importance. The more frequently a number is submitted, the larger and bolder it will be.
Number clouds are great when the number ranges are big or when decimal places are used, as they offer a better visual display than a column chart or ordered list. You can see at first glance what answers are most popular and voted for.
Remember to enable real-time results in the custom settings so participants can watch the number cloud grow and update as votes come in. In many cases number clouds are the preferred display for mathematical/STEM/science-based numeric responses (e.g. probability-based questions).
The number cloud is a numeric poll that is used as an alternative display to column chart or ordered list.
To create a number cloud poll follow these steps:
In the Polls section select the '+ Create new' button.
Select Numeric as the poll type.
Enter the 'Question title' or question of your poll. It is optional to add rich text formatting (bold, underline, italics paragraph break) to the question title.
Enter the Maximum and Minimum values you would like your participants to vote between by typing in the relevant numbers. To give participants limitless answer options, toggle the ‘Set range’ to off (greyed out).
Decide if participants can use decimal numbers in their responses and if you want to set a correct answer.
Choose the ‘number cloud’ display from the display drop-down.
To ensure the number cloud grows bigger as the votes come in (instead of only showing results on poll close), use the custom poll setting and turn on 'Display real-time results'.
Press 'Create'.
It is an option to add an image to the poll question by clicking on the picture icon next to the question title.
When you choose to set up a number cloud your poll card will look similar to this:
1. Minimum & Maximum value
With numeric polls, you can allow participants to enter any number within the specified range. Participants can only enter a numeric value between -500 and 3000 in this example. The minimum & maximum value will automatically be specified on the participants' mobile devices below the question. To give participants the freedom to respond with any numbers, toggle the ‘Set range’ to off, as numeric poll ranges are limitless. You can also use a negative range, with numbers like -10,000 as minimum and use a positive range 2300 as a maximum.
2. Using decimal places
When you select the decimal places box, you can allow participants to answer their numeric poll with up to ten decimal places. In this example above, we used 3 decimal places.
3. Correct answer & explanation
Simply toggle the correct answer button to enable this and then enter the value of the correct answer. In the above example, we specified the answer as 1498.962. It is optional to add a correct answer explanation in the box provided. This will also appear on the participant app and in Present view after the poll has been closed and the right answer revealed.
If you have set up a correct answer, you can highlight the correct responses when revealing the answer. Numbers within the correct range (including any margin of error) will be highlighted according to the theme's highlight color, while incorrect responses will be greyed out.
If no correct number was submitted, all the responses will be greyed out.
4. Including a margin of error
As an extra option, you can enter in a margin of error for the correct answer. The margin of error means that participants who answer above or below the correct answer within this margin of error will also get the answer correct and a point allocated. For example, if we selected the margin of error of 2, and the answer is 42, then all answers from 40-44 would be accepted.
5. Display the results
The poll results will display in a number cloud if it was the selected display option when setting up your poll. If participants enter numbers > 20 digits, the number cloud will convert the answer to a numerical notation.
Revealing the correct answer.
The ordered list display ranks responses from most to least frequent, showing the percentage of participants who voted for each number.
6. Show mean, median & mode averages
Lastly, the mean average will always appear on the poll results as a default. Use the toggles to either add or remove them to your poll results.
Mean average = adding up all the numbers in a set and then dividing by how many values there are.
Median average = is the middle number in a set of values when those values are arranged from smallest to largest.
Mode average = is the most frequently repeated value in the dataset.
7. Custom settings for real-time updates
To allow participants to see how the number cloud grows instead of showing a static image with all the results visible on poll close, turn on the display real-time results toggle.
8. What participants see
Participants will see their own answer, the mean, median & mode averages, the correct answer and explanation on their participant app.