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Software for Data & Digital Scholarship

Pages for all DDSS-supported software for the collection, processing, analysis or display of numeric, text, or geospatial data

Qualtrics is an online survey tool that is very popular with researchers because of the combination of power and ease of use. It has many tools for branching and randomization and can output data as a fully-labeled SPSS file (in addition to standard Excel and csv). If you do not know what software to use, you can contact Data & Digital Scholarship Services at datahelp@gmu.edu to discuss the various options.

George Mason University has a university-wide license for Qualtrics. All students, faculty, and staff are allowed an account, but access is managed locally (either school, department, center, or other unit). DDSS does not control or administer Qualtrics accounts or licenses.

To get an account, find the contact person for your unit at Qualtrics Administrators (ITS). 

Pros:

  • Very easy to get started and use
  • Surveys look nice, lots of customization (including CSS)
  • Can add special features with Javascript within questions
  • Follows best practices by default
  • Easy to implement advanced features including randomization, carry forward choices, and loop and merge

Cons: 

  • Does not natively support data entry or longitudinal studies, though data can be entered
  • Not available to everybody, some features have an extra cost
  • Data is stored on Qualtrics' server,

See this page in two guides:

Learn Qualtrics

 

Best Bets

  • XM Basecamp from Qualtrics - Must be logged in to Qualtrics
  • Qualtrics Basics  from DoIT @ Stony Brook U (~5 min) - Overview/Sections, Edit Multiple, Test Responses

 

Analysis Software

  • Many people can do what they need within Qualtrics without having to use another software. Consider this!
  • Avoid using Excel to analyze your data. If you need a free, easy-to-use statistical software, try Jamovi.

Tips from DDSS

Here are the most common suggestions I would make given the surveys I see:

  • Always put an open-ended comment box at the end of the survey for people to write anything they want. People may report problems there you wouldn't otherwise have noticed or give other feedback that they would not otherwise email you for.
  • Before you copy a question or block consider the Loop & Merge functionality. Most experiments should use it.
  • Do not activate a survey until you are actually ready. Qualtrics will try to avoid data loss if you make changes after it is activated, and that can lead to more confusion when you get the data file. 
  • You can (and should) specify variable names and values within Qualtrics so that your data file is clean and orderly when you download it.
  • Use logic to make sure that people do not get questions that are not relevant to them. Skip logic is only appropriate to send a respondent to the next block or to the end of the survey. If some people are not eligible for your study, use screening questions at the beginning to send them to the end. Otherwise, Display Logic is more appropriate, either for questions or for a block.
  • Consider how the data is going to be affected by choices such as making a multiple choice question into a multiple response question. Although they look similar on the surface, they are quite different in how you will need to handle the data. Generate some test response and download the data before collecting it from actual participants to make sure you know

Experience Basecamp

You will need to sign-in to your Qualtrics account in order to view the videos.

 

The Basics    
Qualtrics Basics (DoIT @ Stony Brook U) ~5 min Overview/Sections, Edit Multiple, Test Responses
Adding and Styling Questions ~5 min Text and Matrix Questions. Embedding Videos
Using Anonymous Distributions ~3 min Publish, Activate/Deactivate, get a Link, Options
     
Important Features    
Displaying and Hiding Questions and Answers ~4 min Blocks, Skip Logic, Display Logic, Preview
Controlling Questions and Answer Choices ~4 min Force Response, Validation, Messages, Randomization
Locating and Editing Responses ~8 min Responses in Progress, Retake surveys, and more
Managing Results Pages ~5 min Results, Filters, Widgets, Exporting
Visualizing Data ~2 min Widgets, Chart Types, Customizing Visualizations
     
Useful to Know About    
Handling Longer Surveys ~4 min Carry Forward, Loop & Merge
Using the Survey Flow to Navigate Participants ~4 min Blocks: Logic and Randomization
Adding Global Styles  ~3 min Themes, Progress bars, Fonts
Setting Text and Answer Choices ~4 min Piped Text, Page Break, Default Choices
Recoding Values ~2 min ("variable names" become value labels for SPSS files)
Sending Invites via Email ~4 min see also Creating and Managing Contacts
Transferring Data to Statistical Software

Step 1: Define your variable names and values within Qualtrics

  • Qualtrics Recoding Variable Names and Value Label Coding ~5 min (Dr E Research Videos)
    • Note: If you have moved or deleted response choices, they may not be 1,2,3,4, etc.
    • You can do this even after collecting data. BUT, only use the tools shown in the video, do NOT remove answer choices or change the answer choice labels themselves.

Step 2: Download your data in SPSS format and import into your software

  • How to Export Response Data
    • If your data is not appearing in a way that is easy to use, check out the explanation of various Export Options you may wish to use.
  • Use File -> Import to open your data in non-SPSS software.
  • If you must use Excel, then download in either Excel or CSV format, but avoid this.

Step 3: Clean your Data

Step 4: Deal with Special Situations

  • Meg Huntoon has several videos on solving issues using recoding, such as if you did an experiment and used randomization. These are old videos, so the Qualtrics interface has changed. But, the steps in SPSS are the same.

Help from Qualtrics

Special Features

 
YouTube Qualtrics XM Community

2 minute Tips - Newer videos have annoying background music

Get Help

Other Tutorials

Videos

Written

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