# Working with custom qualification types
When using Amazon Mechanical Turk (Mechanical Turk), you can create qualification types that you can then assign to workers as qualifications. Qualifications can be used for a range of worker management approaches, such as identifying workers that have met certain criteria in past tasks (HITs) or assigning a score based on performance over time. The following discusses how to create and assign qualification types to workers, as well as how to modify or revoke them.
Mechanical Turk also provides the option to create qualification tests that allow workers to take a test to be assigned aqualification automatically. That topic isn't addressed here, but more information can be found in the [API Documentation](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSMechTurk/latest/AWSMturkAPI/ApiReference_CreateQualificationTypeOperation.html).
**Topics**
+ [Create a qualification type](#CreateCustomQualType)
+ [Assign or remove a worker qualification](#AssignRemoveQualWorker)
+ [Qualification requests](#QualRequest)
+ [Tutorial: Creating a qualification requirement that requires workers be in a group](CustomQualTutorialGroup.md)
+ [Tutorial: Create a qualification requirement that workers have achieved at least 80% accuracy on previous tasks](CustomQualTutorialAccuracy.md)
+ [Tutorial: Creating a qualification type to exclude workers from selected tasks](CustomQualTutorialExclude.md)
## Create a qualification type
The [https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSMechTurk/latest/AWSMturkAPI/ApiReference_CreateQualificationTypeOperation.html](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSMechTurk/latest/AWSMturkAPI/ApiReference_CreateQualificationTypeOperation.html) operation can be used to register a new qualification type in your account. Simply specify the name, provide a brief description, and specify `Active` as the status. Note that the qualification type name and description are visible to workers. You can update these values using the [https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSMechTurk/latest/AWSMturkAPI/ApiReference_UpdateQualificationTypeOperation.html](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSMechTurk/latest/AWSMturkAPI/ApiReference_UpdateQualificationTypeOperation.html) operation.
## Assign or remove a worker qualification
To assign a qualification type to a worker, use the [https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSMechTurk/latest/AWSMturkAPI/ApiReference_AssociateQualificationWithWorkerOperation.html](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSMechTurk/latest/AWSMturkAPI/ApiReference_AssociateQualificationWithWorkerOperation.html) operation, specifying the ID of the qualification type and the worker it should be applied to. You can also assign an integer value such as a score. To modify the integer value, call the `AssociateQualificationWithWorker` operation again with the new value.
You can remove a qualification using the [https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSMechTurk/latest/AWSMturkAPI/ApiReference_DisassociateQualificationFromWorkerOperation.html](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSMechTurk/latest/AWSMturkAPI/ApiReference_DisassociateQualificationFromWorkerOperation.html) operation.
## Qualification requests
When workers don't have one of the custom qualification types required to do your task, they have the option to request it from the Mechanical Turk marketplace. This is most commonly associated with tasks that have qualification tests but all custom qualification types can be requested.
These requests can be queried using the `[ListQualificationRequests](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSMechTurk/latest/AWSMturkAPI/ApiReference_ListQualificationRequestsOperation.html)` operation and can be approved or rejected using the `[AcceptQualificationRequest](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSMechTurk/latest/AWSMturkAPI/ApiReference_AcceptQualificationRequestOperation.html)` or `[RejectQualificationRequest](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSMechTurk/latest/AWSMturkAPI/ApiReference_RejectQualificationRequestOperation.html)` operations respectively.
### Additional operations
The following operations can be used when working with qualifications.
**Additional Operations**
+ [https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSMechTurk/latest/AWSMturkAPI/ApiReference_ListQualificationTypesOperation.html](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSMechTurk/latest/AWSMturkAPI/ApiReference_ListQualificationTypesOperation.html): Retrieves a list of your existing qualification types.
+ [https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSMechTurk/latest/AWSMturkAPI/ApiReference_GetQualificationTypeOperation.html](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSMechTurk/latest/AWSMturkAPI/ApiReference_GetQualificationTypeOperation.html): Retrieves the details of a qualification type.
+ [https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSMechTurk/latest/AWSMturkAPI/ApiReference_ListWorkersWithQualificationTypeOperation.html](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSMechTurk/latest/AWSMturkAPI/ApiReference_ListWorkersWithQualificationTypeOperation.html): Retrieves a list of workers that have been assigned a qualification type.
+ [https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSMechTurk/latest/AWSMturkAPI/ApiReference_ListHITsForQualificationTypeOperation.html](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSMechTurk/latest/AWSMturkAPI/ApiReference_ListHITsForQualificationTypeOperation.html): Retrieves a list of HITs that include a qualification type in their requirements.
+ [https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSMechTurk/latest/AWSMturkAPI/ApiReference_GetQualificationScoreOperation.html](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSMechTurk/latest/AWSMturkAPI/ApiReference_GetQualificationScoreOperation.html): Retrieves the qualification assigned to a worker for a qualification type.
# Tutorial: Creating a qualification requirement that requires workers be in a group
In the following example, we create a qualification type that describes a group of workers that have demonstrated expertise at a task and add it to our qualification requirements. To start, we use the [https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSMechTurk/latest/AWSMturkAPI/ApiReference_CreateQualificationTypeOperation.html](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSMechTurk/latest/AWSMturkAPI/ApiReference_CreateQualificationTypeOperation.html) operation to create the type with which we're working.
```
{
Name: 'Experts',
Description: 'Demonstrated expertise at my task',
QualificationTypeStatus: 'Active'
}
```
The `CreateQualificationType` operation will return an ID, 3TL87MO8CLOFYXKXNRLM00EXAMPLE, that we can assign to workers. For each worker, we call the [https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSMechTurk/latest/AWSMturkAPI/ApiReference_AssociateQualificationWithWorkerOperation.html](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSMechTurk/latest/AWSMturkAPI/ApiReference_AssociateQualificationWithWorkerOperation.html) operation to add them to our group.
```
{
WorkerId: 'AZ3456EXAMPLE',
QualificationTypeId: '3TL87MO8CLOFYXKXNRLM00EXAMPLE'
}
```
Now that we've built our group, we can reference it in the `QualificationRequirements` for our HITs as shown in the following example.
```
QualificationRequirements: [
{
QualificationTypeId: '3TL87MO8CLOFYXKXNRLM00EXAMPLE',
Comparator: 'Exists',
ActionsGuarded: 'DiscoverPreviewAndAccept'
}
]
```
Because the `ActionsGuarded` is set to `DiscoverPreviewAndAccept`, it is only visible to workers who've been assigned the qualification type.
# Tutorial: Create a qualification requirement that workers have achieved at least 80% accuracy on previous tasks
In the following example, we create a qualification type that we can use to record how well workers did on a previous set of tasks and then build a qualification requirement that requires them to have achieved at least 80% accuracy. In this approach, we start by posting a set of HITs to which we already know the answer. When workers respond to these HITs, we can track their responses against the known answers and assign them a score as a qualification.
To start, we use the [https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSMechTurk/latest/AWSMturkAPI/ApiReference_CreateQualificationTypeOperation.html](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSMechTurk/latest/AWSMturkAPI/ApiReference_CreateQualificationTypeOperation.html) operation to create the type with which we want to work.
```
{
Name: 'Task Scores',
Description: 'Score on previous tasks,
QualificationTypeStatus: 'Active'
}
```
The `CreateQualificationType` operation returns an ID, 3TL87MO8CLOFYXKXNRLM00EXAMPLE, that we can assign to workers. For each worker, we call the [https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSMechTurk/latest/AWSMturkAPI/ApiReference_AssociateQualificationWithWorkerOperation.html](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSMechTurk/latest/AWSMturkAPI/ApiReference_AssociateQualificationWithWorkerOperation.html) operation to record the score they achieved on the earlier tasks. In the example below, we record that the worker was 93% accurate on the test HITs.
```
{
WorkerId: 'AZ3456EXAMPLE',
QualificationTypeId: '3TL87MO8CLOFYXKXNRLM00EXAMPLE',
IntegerValue: 93
}
```
Now that we've built our group, we can reference it in the `QualificationRequirements` for our HITs as shown below.
```
QualificationRequirements: [
{
QualificationTypeId: '3TL87MO8CLOFYXKXNRLM00EXAMPLE',
Comparator: 'GreaterThanOrEqual',
IntegerValues: [80]
}
]
```
# Tutorial: Creating a qualification type to exclude workers from selected tasks
In the following example, we create a qualification type that describes a group of workers that have demonstrated they don't perform well at our tasks and excludes them in our qualification requirements. To start, we use the [https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSMechTurk/latest/AWSMturkAPI/ApiReference_CreateQualificationTypeOperation.html](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSMechTurk/latest/AWSMturkAPI/ApiReference_CreateQualificationTypeOperation.html) operation to create the type with which we want to work.
```
{
Name: 'Excluded',
Description: 'Excluded from this task',
QualificationTypeStatus: 'Active'
}
```
The `CreateQualificationType` operation returns an ID, 3TL87MO8CLOFYXKXNRLM00EXAMPLE, that we can assign to workers. For each worker, we call the [AssociateQualificationWithWorker](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSMechTurk/latest/AWSMturkAPI/ApiReference_AssociateQualificationWithWorkerOperation.html) operation to add them to the excluded group.
```
{
WorkerId: 'AZ3456EXAMPLE',
QualificationTypeId: '3TL87MO8CLOFYXKXNRLM00EXAMPLE'
}
```
Now that we've built our group, we can reference it in the `QualificationRequirements` for our HITs as shown in the following example.
```
QualificationRequirements: [
{
QualificationTypeId: '3TL87MO8CLOFYXKXNRLM00EXAMPLE',
Comparator: 'DoesNotExist',
ActionsGuarded: 'DiscoverPreviewAndAccept'
}
]
```
Because the `ActionsGuarded` has been set to `DiscoverPreviewAndAccept`, it is not visible to workers who've been assigned the qualification type.