Research

Qualtrics

 

RESEARCH FEATURES
  • 1000's of ways to customize surveys
  • Anonymize responses

  • BOT and SPAM monitoring features
  • Distribution summaries and response reports
  • Email triggers upon survey completion
  • Excel contact list creation from surveys
  • FedRAMP Certified (requires researcher action during survey set up)
  • HIPAA Certified (requires researcher action during survey set up)
  • Integrated email distribution 
  • Integrated email reminders

  • More than 20 different question types and variations

  • Multiple export formats (CSV, TSV, Excel, XML, SPSS, Google Drive)
  • Pipe-in feature that will allow importing sample file information into survey (name, email, etc.)

  • Password protected surveys

  • QR code generator for survey link

  • Raw (uncleaned data) preliminary data analysis (frequencies, crosstabs, graphs)

  • Report creation (raw, uncleaned data)

  • Sample management (opt-in/opt-out tracking, surey taking history, etc.)

  • Site redirect upon survey completion


*Click here to view the Data Protection Overview and Security Statement




 
QUALTRICS TROUBLESHOOTING









 

  • How do I contact Qualtrics Tech Support?
    Qualtrics offers free phone, chat, and email support through the Qualtrics website. Click HERE for instructions on how to access Qualtrics tehchnical support. They can help you with any question you may have about programming, distributions, etc.
  • How do I contact the Qualtrics Campus Administrators?
    If you have questions about accounts, access, groups, ownership changes, or availability of features on the University license of Qualtrics, contact the Qualtrics brand administrators for ETSU - Dr. Kelly N. Foster or Ms. Morgan Kidd at etsuresearch@etsu.edu.
  • How do I connect my Qualtrics survey to SONA?
    If you are working with the SONA system and need to set up your survey so that participants will automatically get SONA credits, please CLICK HERE    for an informaitional video that will show you how to connect the two systems. 

 
 
ETSU EMAIL LISTS




  • How do I get access to an email list of all ETSU students, faculty, or staff?
    You will need to submit an application to the University Survey Advisory Team (U-SAT) that explains your study and what list(s) you are requesting. Once approved, you will need to submit your approval with your IRB submission. Please email etsuresearch@etsu.edu to request an ETSU list.
  • How do I get a list of college or department email lists?
    You will need to reach out to the Dean's office or your Department Chair.

 


QUALTRICS AND IRB

All questions, concerns, policies, and procedures relating to ETSU's IRB should be addressed with the ETSU IRB. The questions below are meant to be guidelines to help inform how Qualtrics operates and may be utilized within the research process while maintaing human subjects protection.

  • Who do I need to contact at IRB if I have any questions?

    You can contact the IRB on their main office line 423-439-6053 or by email at IRB@etsu.edu.

  • Can I anonymize responses?

    Qualtrics allows you to disable IP address collection and sample association (name/email) if necessary. Click HERE for more information on Qualtrics security features and how to anonymize responses.

  • Can I include identifiers that are not names/emails and still use the anonymize response feature to not collect IP addresses?

    Yes. If you are using a sample (.csv) that you intend to upload into the Qualtrics Directory for distribution, make sure that you have a column labeled ID in the file with a unique ID assigned to each respondent. You will then need to enable the anonymize responses feature and use embedded data (see Qualtrics for research training modules or click HERE)to pull in the ID upon survey completion. It will only work on email distrubtions within the Qualtrics mailer.

    Using embedded data from a sample file will not work with the Qualtrics anonymous link unless you use the ID as an authenticator in the survey flow. (To do this, you will need to set the ID variable to External Data Reference in the drop down menu (instead of embedded data) during the sample upload process and make the External Data Reference the authenticator password in survey flow. Click HERE for more information on authenticators.

    *Pro tip: Build yourself into your sample with your own ID as TEST before uploading it into the Qualtrics directory. Once you've programmed the anonymize and embedded data features, do a single email distribution to yourself and test it. 

  • Who has access to responses?

    Study staff and Qualtrics Brand administrators. Qualtrics brand administrators will only access responses if assistance is requested from study staff.

  • How will you determine if the person is eligible for your study in Qualtrics?

    An IRB approved informed consent document (ICD) and screener questions can be programmed at the beginning of your survey (when appropraite for the study and not obtained elsewhere) and the respondents that do not meet the criteria can be screened out.

    If you use this feature, you are responsible for programming the skip patterns and logic that will direct them out of the survey if they do not meet the criteria and agree to participate and to the first survey question if they do. Click HERE to read more.

    If you need help screening someone out, please contact Qualtrics technical support and they will help walk you through it. Click HERE for instructions on how to access Qualtrics tehchnical support. 

  • How do I obtain consent?

    For studies involving identifiable, sensitive data, the IRB may require written informed consent, which can be accomplished in Qualtrics inserting the "signature" question type after the informed consent language. For an electronic signature, you don’t have to request a waiver because it’s legally the same as signing with a pen.

    For studies not involving identifiable, sensitive data, you may request a waiver with IRB to obtain consent without their signature. People may show that they agree to participate by clicking a button that says "I agree" instead of signing a consent document.

    Either mechanism for obtaining consent should be approved during your IRB process.

  • Email Survey Distribution

    A link to the survey can be included in the invitation email if you use the Qualtrics email distribution feature and program it to be included. If a respondent wants to take the survey, they must click the link in their email. The link will take them to the first page of the survey, which would be the Informed Consent Document (ICD) if your study requires one. The respondent will then be able to read the consent document and decide if they wish to participate or not. At the bottom of the consent document, you will need to include the attestations for gaining access to the survey. This can be done by adding a "signature" questoin or by requesting an written waver and inserting similar language as follows: By clicking agree, they acknowledge that they have read the ICD, want to participate, are 18 or older, and any other requirements of your study.If they click agree, they will continue to the survey. If they click disagree/I do not want to participate or they fail the qualification screening questions, you will need to program Qualtrics to screen them out of the survey and end the survey. Click HERE to read more.

  • How much time will be allowed for a decision to participate?

    The survey will stay active until you manually close the survey to new responses in Qualtrics. As long as the survey remains active, the respondents will have as much time as they need to decide to participate and/or contact the research team or IRB if they have any questions. Any survey progress in unfinished surveys will be closed out when you close the survey.

    Click HERE for more information on how to Activate, Pause, and Close surveys. 

  • What is the risk?

    Because Qualtrics is an electronic platform, there is a potential risk of loss of confidentiality when obtaining identifiable data. Non-identifiable data would not carry a risk of loss of confidentiality.

    When using the Qualtrics mailer for email distribution, a respondents contact info and IP address will be attached to their survey in the final dataset unless you make the survey anonymous. If you want to keep their contact information, but not their IP address, you will need to make your survey anonymous and use embedded data in the survey flow with piped text pull in the contact information you want to keep. Click HERE to read more about embedded data.

    Any other specific study risks would need to be defined in your IRB submission.

  • How will you protect the privacy of your participants? 

    Respondents can choose the time, place, and device that suits them best to complete the survey. They only have to answer questions that they want to (as long as you have not programmed questions to require response). They can stop taking the survey at any time.

  • How do I enable Fraud Detection for BOTs or SPAM?

    Qualtrics offers Bot detection, Security scan monitor, and RelevantID to help protect against fraudulent responses. Please visit Qualtrics' Fraud Detectionpage for an in depth explaination on each of these features and how to enable them. 

  • When should I use Fraud Detection for BOTs or SPAM?

    Links to open access surveys that are posted online or on social media have a greater risk of BOT or SPAM responses. Invitation only surveys distributed through the Qualtrics mailer are minimal risk.


  • Will the IRB approve Qualtrics for data storage and back up? 

    The ETSU Digital Data Storage and Back up Policy specifies the allowable data storage and back up locations for different types of data depending on the identifiability and sensitivity of the data. Qualtrics has not yet been added as an approved location, but the IRB will approve it for low risk, non-sensitive research data per the exception allowed in the policy. 

    Although Qualtrics can store your data, we recommend downloing a copy of your data and saving it to your ETSU OneDrive account with a file name including "original" and the download date. For example, StudyData_Original_01.01.23. We then recommend making a copy of the original file and doing any data cleaning and/or analysis in the copied file. That way you will always have an original copy of your data.