A submission’s review total, average score, and overall recommendation are calculated for you. Rhythm updates them from the reviews on the submission when a review’s scores or round changes. This article explains how those figures are built, so you can understand the numbers you see on a submission.
A Review's Own Total
Each time a review is saved, Rhythm stores a total from that review’s individual scores. Rhythm stores the total as a whole number, so it drops decimal parts from the individual scores when it calculates the total. If your scoring criteria allow decimals, the stored total can be slightly different from the sum you get by adding the displayed scores yourself. That difference is expected and does not mean the data is wrong.
A Review's Recommendation
If your space asks reviewers for an overall recommendation, each review can have one of four levels: definitely not, no, yes, or strong yes. Rhythm also has a calculated value called mixed, but that value is only used for a submission’s overall recommendation. Mixed is never valid on an individual review.
Tip
The review form controls whether a recommendation is required. If your space uses recommendations, make sure the review form asks for one and marks it required, because Rhythm enforces the requirement there.
When a Submission's Figures Recalculate
Rhythm recalculates a submission’s review figures automatically when a review’s scores or round changes. Changing only a review’s notes or recommendation does not start a recalculation. If you change only your recommendation and leave the scores unchanged, the submission’s overall recommendation will refresh after a later score or round change triggers the recalculation.
Per-Round Figures
For each round that has reviews, Rhythm calculates:
- The number of reviews in that round.
- The round’s total and average score.
- A score for each scoring criterion.
The average uses every review in the round, including reviews that have not been scored yet. An unscored review still counts in the number of reviews used to divide the total, so it lowers the average. If a round’s average looks lower than you expected, check whether every review in that round has been completed.
The Overall Recommendation
When at least one review in a round has a recommendation, Rhythm calculates one overall recommendation for that round from its reviews. This calculation is fixed in Rhythm and works the same way for every account. There is no setting that changes how individual recommendations roll up into the overall figure. If no review in a round has a recommendation yet, that round has no overall recommendation.
Which Round's Figures You See
A submission’s headline score and recommendation, which appear in summary views, come from its latest round that has figures. “Latest” means the last round in the space’s display order, not necessarily the round reviewed most recently.
Warning
If you reorder a space’s rounds, you can change which round provides a submission’s headline figures, even when the reviews themselves did not change. If the headline figures do not match the round you expected, check the space’s round order before assuming there is a problem with the reviews.
When no round has any figures, either because there are no reviews or because the space’s review settings are missing, Rhythm clears the submission’s review figures instead of leaving old numbers in place.
Why a Reviewer's Displayed Scores May Not Match the Total
The review score viewer shows the scoring criteria that currently apply to the review’s round and bucket. That is what staff or a review-team administrator sees when they view a single review’s scores. If a space’s scoring criteria change after reviews are submitted, the viewer uses the current criteria, not the criteria that applied when the review was scored.
Because of that, the viewer does not show a score for a criterion that has been removed or restricted so it no longer applies to that round or bucket. The review’s stored total can still include that score. If the scores shown on a review do not add up to the total shown elsewhere on the submission, check whether your space’s criteria have changed since the review was submitted.
Related
For how expected reviewers and their status are worked out in the first place, see How Expected Reviewers and Review Status Work. For how a submission is sorted into a bucket and given reviewers, see How a Submission Gets Its Bucket and Its Reviewers.