Getting Started with Qualtrics Online Survey System

The following videos provide an introduction to creating and managing surveys in Qualtrics.

Part 1: Survey Builder Fundamentals
Learn the basics of creating and editing surveys in Qualtrics:

Topics covered: Logging in, creating projects, survey builder overview, blocks, adding and editing questions, changing question types, and editing pane options.

Part 2: Advanced Features and Publishing
Learn advanced survey customization, logic, and distribution options:

Topics covered: Survey toolbar navigation, survey flow, branch logic, end of survey elements, look & feel customization, survey options, tools menu, and preview features.

Part 3: Distribution, Data Analysis, and Reporting
Learn how to distribute your survey, analyze responses, and create reports:

Topics covered: Survey distribution methods, viewing and analyzing response data, creating reports and visualizations.

Survey Builder Essentials

Creating Your First Survey
After logging in via myPitt, click Create a new project > Survey > Get Started to begin building your survey from scratch. All surveys are created and edited in the Survey Builder.

Working with Blocks
All survey questions are organized in blocks. Every survey includes at least one "Default Question Block" to start. For simple surveys, one block works fine, but organizing questions into multiple blocks enables advanced features like branching, randomization, and conditional logic.

Adding and Managing Questions

• Add new questions by clicking Add New Question or using the + buttons above/below existing questions
• Delete questions using the - button (recoverable from Trash at bottom of survey)
• Reorder questions by clicking and dragging
• Change question types using the Question Type dropdown (Multiple Choice, Text Entry, Form Field, Rank Order, Matrix, and more)
• Format text using the Rich Content Editor for fonts, bold, italics, bullets, etc.
• Use Piped Text to personalize questions with information from previous responses

Question Requirements and Validation

• Force Response: Requires respondents to answer before continuing
• Request Response: Asks respondents to complete the question but allows them to skip
• Validation: Set rules to validate responses (e.g., email format, specific text contains certain characters)

Survey Flow

Survey Flow provides a block-level view of your survey and controls the order blocks are displayed. Use Survey Flow to:

• Rearrange blocks
• Add branch logic to direct respondents based on their answers
• Implement randomization for question or block order
• Create custom endpoints with the End of Survey element
• Add embedded data for tracking additional information

Display and Skip Logic

• Display Logic: Shows questions only when specific conditions are met
• Skip Logic: Allows respondents to skip to the end of a survey or specific block based on their answers
• Both can be configured in the Question Behaviors section of the editing pane

Look & Feel
Customize your survey's appearance using Look & Feel settings:

• Choose from pre-designed themes
• Apply department logos and color schemes
• Customize fonts and colors
• Add headers and footers
• Display progress bars
• Advanced users can add custom CSS

Survey Options
Access Survey Options to configure:

• General: Survey title, description, question numbering, ExpertReview
• Responses: How responses are recorded, error messages, incomplete response handling
• Security: Protection from unwanted responses
• Post-Survey: What happens after survey completion
• Advanced: Scoring, quotas, translations, Adobe Analytics integration

Sharing Your Survey

Collaborating with Others
Qualtrics allows you to share your survey project with colleagues for collaboration. This feature enables multiple people to edit the same survey and is available both for University of Pittsburgh colleagues and external collaborators who don't have Qualtrics accounts.

Important: Account Provisioning Requirement
Before sharing a project with a Pitt colleague, the person must have logged into Qualtrics at least once through myPitt to provision their University Qualtrics account. When searching for users to share with, only provisioned accounts will appear in the system. If you enter an email address for someone who hasn't logged in yet, they may inadvertently create a free personal Qualtrics account, which is separate from their official University account and will not have access to University features or support.

To share a project:

1. From your Projects page, click the Share icon for the project you want to share
2. Enter the email address of the person you want to collaborate with
3. Select their permission level:
   • View: Can only view the survey
   • Edit: Can edit the survey but cannot manage project sharing
   • Admin: Full control including sharing management
4. Click Share to send the invitation

Important Notes:

• Shared users can access survey data based on their permission level
• You can revoke access at any time from the project sharing settings
• External collaborators will receive an email invitation to create a Qualtrics account if they don't already have one

Managing Contact Lists and Distributions

Creating Mailing Lists
Mailing lists allow you to organize and manage respondent information for targeted survey distributions. To access mailing lists, click the Directories icon (three horizontal lines) in the upper left, then select Lists.

Creating a New Mailing List:

1. Navigate to Directories > Directory Full > Create a list
2. Click Create a list
3. Name your list and click Confirm
4. Click Upload a file to add contacts by uploading a file from your computer or click manual input to manually enter them
5. Include relevant contact fields such as:
   • First Name
   • Last Name
   • Email
   • Custom fields for embedded data

Importing Contacts:

• Prepare your contact file with column headers (FirstName, LastName, Email, etc.)
• Click Upload a file and select your file
• Map your columns to Qualtrics fields
• Review and confirm the import

Best Practices:

• Keep contact lists organized by project or department
• Regularly update and clean your lists to remove bounced emails
• Use embedded data fields in your contact lists to personalize survey invitations
• Review the XM Directory Data Usage & Best Practices for guidance on maintaining quality contact data

Note: Remember that Qualtrics has a default email limit of 500 emails per 7-day period. If you need to exceed this limit, submit a request form in advance.

Survey Distribution

Once your survey is ready, Qualtrics offers multiple distribution methods to reach your respondents:

• Email Distribution: Send survey invitations directly from Qualtrics to contacts in your lists with customizable email templates and automated reminders
• Anonymous Link: Generate a single link that can be shared via email, websites, or social media
• Personal Links: Create unique links for each respondent to track individual responses while maintaining some level of identification
• QR Codes: Generate QR codes for in-person distribution or print materials
• Social Media: Share your survey directly to social media platforms
• SMS: Send surveys via text message (requires SMS quota approval - see FAQ section)

You can track distribution progress, view response rates, and send reminder emails to non-respondents from the Distributions tab.

Testing and Publishing

Preview Your Survey
Click Preview in the top-right corner to test your survey before publishing:

• Ignore Validation: Skip required questions to test specific sections
• Place Bookmark: Mark a page to quickly return during testing
• Mobile Preview: See how your survey appears on mobile devices (or scan QR code to test on your actual device)
• Share Preview: Generate a preview link for others to review
• Preview responses are recorded in your data and can be filtered and deleted in bulk

Additional Tools
The Tools menu provides:

• Auto-number questions
• Reusable choices for consistent answer options
• Strip formatting from pasted text
• Generate sample responses for testing
• Export surveys to other formats

Data and Analysis

The Data & Analysis tab provides tools to view, manage, and analyze your survey responses:

• View Responses: Review individual responses in a table format, including response dates, completion status, and all question answers
• Data Filters: Filter responses by date range, completion status, embedded data, or specific answer choices
• Export Data: Download your data in multiple formats including CSV, Excel, SPSS, and more for external analysis
• Recorded Responses: Manually enter responses or edit existing responses if needed
• Response Quality: Identify and remove duplicate responses, incomplete responses, or preview responses
• Data Weighting: Apply weights to responses to adjust for over or under-representation of certain groups

Survey Results and Reporting

Qualtrics provides robust reporting tools to visualize and share your survey findings:

• Results Dashboard: View real-time summary statistics, charts, and graphs for each question
• Custom Reports: Create detailed reports with selected questions, apply filters, and customize visualizations
• Cross-Tabulation: Compare responses across different demographic groups or question answers
• Statistical Analysis: Run statistical tests including t-tests, ANOVA, and chi-square tests
• Share Reports: Export reports as PDFs or PowerPoint presentations, or share interactive dashboards with stakeholders
• Text Analytics: Analyze open-ended text responses with sentiment analysis and topic detection

Instructor-Led Training
Pitt Digital offers live instructor-led workshops on Qualtrics and other technology topics through the Faculty & Staff Development Program (FSDP). These workshops are available to all University faculty and staff and can be customized for departmental needs. Browse available technology courses or request customized training for your team.

Qualtrics Support
Additional help creating your survey and utilizing the many Online Survey System features is available from several sources:

• Web resources are available at Qualtrics Support
• For direct support from Qualtrics:
  1. Click Contact Support
  2. Click the Sign in with SSO link
  3. Enter "pitt" as the Organization ID, then click Continue
  4. Enter your University Computing Account username and password
  5. Note: Qualtrics Support uses Pitt Passport single sign-on for multifactor authentication
  6. Complete your support request
• Email support is available at support@qualtrics.com

If you need assistance logging in or help with the Online Survey System, please contact your divisional administrator or the Technology Help Desk at 412-624-HELP (4357). You may also submit a request online.

Who can use the Online Survey System?
All students, faculty, and staff may log in to the Online Survey System and create, activate, and publish surveys.

Can I use the Online Survey System for personal use?
The Online Survey System is restricted to University-related work and is not for personal use.

Do I need to use University branding on my survey?
Depending on the nature of the survey, a determination is made as to whether it should be branded with the University logo.

Can I map an existing Qualtrics account to my Online Survey System account?
Account mapping to your University account is sometimes possible. It depends on the nature of the Qualtrics account. For more information, contact Qualtrics support using the information in the "Getting additional help and support" section on this page.

Where are my contact lists located?
Qualtrics has updated their user interface. To locate contact lists, use the three-lined Main Menu icon on the upper left-hand side to select Directories > Segment & lists > Lists > All lists. User-owned and shared lists results should appear on the right-hand side of the Qualtrics window.

Can I collaborate with colleagues to create surveys?
Yes. Qualtrics has a sharing feature for you to give others access to your surveys and data. Use of this feature also allows collaboration with colleagues outside of the University of Pittsburgh that do not have Qualtrics accounts. Please see the Qualtrics Support page for a complete guide to using this feature.

Why are my survey invitations that are sent through Qualtrics ending up in the recipient's spam folder?
By default, Qualtrics pre-populates the From address on your survey invitation as noreply@qualtrics-research.com. Pitt Digital strongly recommends that this should not be changed. If changed to a University email address, Microsoft will view it as a suspicious email and place it in the recipient's spam folder.

Are there any limits to the number of surveys that can be sent via the Qualtrics Email distribution method?
Qualtrics has a default email limit of 500 emails per 7 day period. This includes both distribution and follow-up emails. If you anticipate going over this limit please fill out this request form as soon as possible. The form can be used by senders to adjust their current email limit, as well as be used by new users to request initial limit increases.

Are there any limits to the number of text messages (SMS) that can be sent for a Qualtrics survey distribution?
Under the University of Pittsburgh Qualtrics brand, the text messages (SMS) feature is not enabled for accounts.

You can request an SMS quota by completing a consent form. Please allow two (2) business days for processing your request.

Please note the following information:

• For each new Qualtrics survey you create that uses SMS distributions, you must provide all recipients with the ability to opt in or opt out. Note: An opt-in example is available here.
• Your quota limit can be used very quickly if you have a large distribution list of recipients. You will be unable to send your message if you go over your quota limits.

To request an additional SMS quota increase, please contact the Technology Help Desk at 412-624-HELP (4357). You may also submit a request online. Please provide the number of messages planned for your distributions and allow ten (10) business days for processing your request.

For more information about using SMS use in Qualtrics, visit the vendor's SMS Distributions support page and/or XM Community.

If I am leaving the University can I take my Qualtrics surveys and data with me?
All Qualtrics surveys and data are subject to the Acceptable Use Policy and University of Pittsburgh Computer Access and Use Policy 10-02-05. The Services are currently available to all faculty, staff, and students with a primary University Computer Account.

If I am leaving the University can I transfer ownership of my Qualtrics surveys and data?
Before you leave the University, please submit a request to the Technology Help Desk to have ownership of your surveys and survey results transferred to your supervisor. You cannot transfer surveys and survey results to any other Online Survey System (Qualtrics) user.