---
license: cc-by-nc-sa-4.0
language:
- zh
task_categories:
- question-answering
pretty_name: TCMQA
size_categories:
- 10K<n<100K
tags:
- medical
- traditional-chinese-medicine
- tcm
- multiple-choice
- benchmark
configs:
- config_name: qa
  default: true
  data_files:
  - split: train
    path: data/qa/train-*
- config_name: doctor_annotated
  data_files:
  - split: train
    path: data/doctor_annotated/train-*
---

# TCMQA

*Built by [TechTCM](https://techtcm.com/).*

A Traditional Chinese Medicine question-answering benchmark: **33,872 Chinese-language
multiple-choice questions** drawn from TCM licensing-exam material, plus a
**5,250-question subset answered by 102 licensed TCM practitioners**, giving a human
reference point for the same items a model is scored on.

## Configs

### `qa` (default) — 33,872 rows

| Field | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| `id` | int64 | Stable question id. Not contiguous — ids are preserved from the source collection across cleaning. |
| `question` | string | Question stem, Chinese. |
| `choices` | struct `{A,B,C,D,E}` | Option text. **`E` is an empty string on 4-option questions** (12,193 rows); use `num_choices` rather than assuming five. |
| `num_choices` | int64 | 4 or 5. |
| `answer` | string | Correct option letters, sorted, e.g. `"B"` or `"BD"`. |
| `num_answers` | int64 | 1–5. |
| `is_multi_answer` | bool | True for 2,308 rows (6.8%). |
| `explanation` | string / null | Reference rationale where the source provided one (20,692 rows). |
| `topic` | string / null | Free-text topic label (23,779 rows, 5,738 distinct). Uncontrolled vocabulary — see Limitations. |
| `difficulty_raw` | int64 | Source-provided integer. |

### `doctor_annotated` — 5,250 rows, 15,151 human answers

| Field | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| `subset_id` | int64 | Unique row id within this config. |
| `qa_id` | int64 / null | Joins to `qa.id`. Null for 10 rows whose question was removed from `qa` during cleaning. |
| `question`, `choices`, `answer`, `explanation`, `topic` | | Same meaning as in `qa`. |
| `annotations` | list of struct | One entry per doctor who answered this question. |
| `annotations[].rater_id` | int64 | Pseudonymous practitioner id (102 distinct). Stable across rows, so per-rater analysis is possible. |
| `annotations[].selected` | string | Letters the rater chose, sorted. |
| `annotations[].is_correct` | bool | Exact match against `answer` (multi-answer questions require the full set). |
| `annotations[].perceived_difficulty` | int64 | Rater's own 1–5 rating. |
| `annotations[].categories` | list of string | Rater's assignment into 10 TCM domains; empty list where the rater gave none. |
| `num_raters` | int64 | 3 for 4,801 rows, 2 for 299, 1 for 150. |
| `num_correct_raters` | int64 | Convenience count for majority-vote scoring. |

## Usage

```python
from datasets import load_dataset

qa = load_dataset("TechTCM/TCMQA", split="train")                        # 33,872
doc = load_dataset("TechTCM/TCMQA", "doctor_annotated", split="train")   # 5,250
```

Rendering a prompt, skipping the padded fifth option:

```python
def render(row):
    letters = "ABCDE"[: row["num_choices"]]
    opts = "\n".join(f"{c}. {row['choices'][c]}" for c in letters)
    return f"{row['question']}\n{opts}"
```

## Human baseline

Computed directly from the `doctor_annotated` config:

| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Practitioners | 102 |
| Total answers | 15,151 |
| Per-answer accuracy (all 15,151) | **62.10%** |
| 3-rater majority-vote accuracy (4,801 questions) | **64.94%** |

Both numbers are correct and measure different things. Use **62.10%** for "how well does
an individual practitioner do on an item", and **64.94%** when comparing a single model
prediction against a panel of three practitioners on the 4,801-question subset — the
latter is the appropriate baseline for most model-vs-human claims.

Doctors answered under exam-like conditions without reference material. Majority vote on
a 3-rater panel uses `num_correct_raters >= 2`.

## Credit

Built and maintained by **[TechTCM](https://techtcm.com/)**.

## License

Released under **CC BY-NC-SA 4.0**. Non-commercial use, attribution required, derivatives
under the same terms. See the provenance section regarding upstream material.