InfoGuides: Collect Data with a Survey: Qualtrics

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.

See this page in two guides:

Access to Qualtrics

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).

Why Choose Qualtrics?

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,

Learn Qualtrics

Learn Qualtrics in 1 hour

Selected Videos from XM basecamp series Platform Basics unless otherwise specified.
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

Tips from DDSS

Using Qualtrics Effectively pdf (Mason's Digital Scholarship Center)

Get Help

Help from Qualtrics

Documentation (Search)
Textbook: Product Experience (PX) Research
Video: Experience Basecamp - Collections of short (<5min) videos on specific topics
- Best Practices (2 hrs Total) - Collection with great tips on designing and implementing a survey.
Webinars:
- Designing a Survey, Launching, Analyzing Data, Reporting (each is ~1hr)
See also: Community Message Boards, Events & Webinars, and the Vimeo Channel

Special Features

Learn to use CSS and Javascript to customize elements
Slideshow: Little Known Features of Qualtrics Research Suite That Will Make Your Life Easier

Qualtrics Data in External Software

Transferring Data to Statistical 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.

Step 1: Within Qualtrics, define your variable names and values.
- 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 (unless you must use Excel), 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.
  - Importing Data in RStudio
  - Old versions of Stata may require using the user-contributed command: usespss

Data Cleaning (in SPSS)

These examples use SPSS, but the steps would be the same in other software.

Step 3: Qualtrics automatically includes additional variables with useful information. Use them to start data cleaning.
- How to Download Qualtrics data and Begin Cleaning Data in SPSS ~20 min (Lannin Lab)
  - Shows how to use the automatic variables and syntax to remove observations you do not want.
  - if you are planning ahead, use Requirements and Validation to reduce cleanup needs.
Step 4: Handling 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.

Collect Data with a Survey