Creating a Basic Survey Using Qualtrics
Clayton State University has purchased a campus license to Qualtrics. Both faculty and students
can use Qualtrics to create surveys that contain many different types of questions and formats
then analyze the results using Qualtrics itself or by downloading the data to Excel. Users can
also collaborate easily on surveys.
Before we begin, go to https://claytonstate.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_dpACOhy39dKpykY and
complete the survey. This is a basic survey that uses blocks of information, page breaks, logic
that controls the appearance of questions, randomized answers, and forced responses.
After you complete the survey, compare what you saw on the survey to the actual questions
listed below:
Colors
Q1 Thank you for participating in our survey on your favorite color! We promise this will take
only a few minutes of your time. As you work through the survey, use the << and >> buttons in
the bottom right corner to navigate to the previous and next page. You may change your
answers on previous questions.
Q2 First, we need a little background information.
 Male
 Female
Q3 What is your age?
 Under 18 years old
 19-25 years old
 26-30 years old
 31-35 years old
 36-40 years old
 Over 40 years old
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Are you male or female?
Q4 Do you own your own home?
 Yes
 No
Q5 Of the colors listed below, which is your favorite?
 Blue
 Yellow
 Purple
 Red
 Green
 White
 Black
 Orange
Q6 On a scale from 0-10, how much do you like the color you selected?
 0
 1
 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7
 8
 9
 10
Q7 Have you painted a room in your house during the last year?
 Yes
 No
Q8 What color did you paint it?
____________________
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Q9 If you were going to paint a room in your house, consider the following colors and rate how
likely you are to choose a shade of that paint color?
Very
Unlikely
(1)
Unlikely
(2)
Somewhat
Unlikely
(3)
Undecided
(4)
Somewhat
Likely (5)
Likely (6)
Very Likely
(7)
Blue







Yellow







Purple







Red







Green







White







Black







Orange







Q10 Look at the names of these shades of white. Which appeals to you the most?
Very Unlikely
(1)
Unlikely (2)
Somewhat
Unlikely (3)
Undecided (4)
Somewhat
Likely (5)
Snow White





Off White





Ecru





Bone





Beige





Did all of the questions printed here actually appear on your survey? If, for example, you
answered “no” to owning your own home, your survey ended at that point. If you didn’t answer
the question about owning your own home, the survey would not proceed until you did. Also,
the order of the color choices in the list of favorite colors may have been different from what is
printed here. Qualtrics controls all of these things.
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How do I get to Qualtrics?
Login to the SWAN from the Clayton State University page. Look for the Qualtrics icon on the
right side of the SWAN page.
Creating a new survey
1.
Click on the Create Survey tab in the top left corner of the screen.
2.
Select one of the three options: Quick Survey Builder, Create from Copy, or Survey
Library. Since we are creating a survey from scratch in this exercise, select Click to
Continue on the Quick Survey Builder.
3.
Name the survey and either name a new folder or select a folder from the drop down list.
For this exercise please name the survey Colors by Your Name (replace “Your Name” with
your name) and place it in a folder called Practice.
4.
Click on Create Survey. The survey will be created and if you look at the tabs at the top of
the Qualtrics window you should be on the Edit Survey tab. The name of your survey
appears at the top of the survey just above the Default Question Block.
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About Blocks and Page Breaks
Both blocks and page breaks provide separation. They are also necessary when skip or display
logic is applied to a question. So what’s the difference between blocks and page breaks?
Blocks
From the survey creator’s point of view
Blocks are more visual for the creator – you could put all of your demographic questions into a
block labeled “Demographics” for example, but the respondent will never see the Demographic
label when he takes the survey (they will see the questions, just not the label). The Demographic
block and all of the questions in that block can be moved up or down in a survey.
From the respondent’s point of view
The respondent’s screen will refresh when the survey moves from the last question in the
Demographic block to the first question in a new block.
Page breaks
From the survey creator’s point of view
For the creator, page breaks also appear in the Edit Survey mode between questions or blocks.
From the respondent’s point of view
For the respondent, a page break will make the next question below the break appear on a new
screen during the survey. So survey creators might want to insert one or more page breaks when
they know that the number of questions is going to be very long and that it will require the
respondent to do lots of scrolling.
Why it’s important to use either a page break or a block when applying logic
When you apply logic, either to skip a question or display a question based on the answer to a
previous question, there must be a “break” for Qualtrics to evaluate the answer to the previous
question and decide whether or not to display the question with logic applied to it.
In https://claytonstate.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_dpACOhy39dKpykY, the opening screen was
in a block. The personal information questions are all in one block, but there is a page break
after the question about age.
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Renaming a block (optional)
1.
Click on the block name in the top right corner of the block.
2.
Key in the new name for the block. In this example, I will rename the block Introduction.
The Introduction block actually has one question in it, but that question has no available
responses. This question is strictly to convey instructions to the respondent.
Adding a new question
To add a question to a block, click on the Create a New Item icon.
You can also add a new question above or below the current question by clicking on the +
icons at the right hand side of a question. The – (minus) sign removes a question to the
trash at the bottom of the survey.
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Adding the instructions to question 1
1.
Click on the “Click to write question text.” You can add text at this point OR click on the
tab for Rich Text Editor to bring up a WYSIWYG editor that has icons similar to Word.
Using the rich text editor you can easily add font styles such as bold and italics, upload
pictures, and even add hyperlinks. The rich text editor is not limited to the introduction
question. It can be used to write any question. When you have finished using the editor,
click outside of the editor window and it will close.
Here is the introduction from the Colors survey:
Inserting a picture
This particular picture of the artist’s palette came from Microsoft’s Clip Art, but you can
use any graphic image. First you have to upload the image into your Qualtrics picture
library then you can insert it into the editor.
1.
Click on the picture icon in the rich text editor.
2.
If necessary, click on Upload a New Graphic.
3.
Browse for the file or get an image from the web. Click on Save.
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4.
Select the image from the library. When it appears in the editor, either double-click on it
or right click and select Image Properties.
It is not necessary to complete everything in the image properties, but you really should
comnplete the Alternative Text for respondents who use screen readers. In our case we
also need to select Right under Align.
Enter the text from the example. The finished product should look like this:
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5.
Click outside the rich text editor window and it will close.
Your first question still has results listed below it. To remove those, change the number of
responses to zero.
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Your survey should look similar to this:
Saving your work
You’re probably wondering if you need to save your work. Qualtrics saves for you as you
go along.
Changing the question type and using logic
Take another look at the Colors survey at
https://claytonstate.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_dpACOhy39dKpykY. This time pay
attention to what type of questions are used, where the breaks are, and what happens if you
select a particular response.
Questions 2-4 are the traditional type of multiple choice where the respondents select a
radio button. In question 5, respondents select from a drop-down list. In question 6,
respondents can rate their answer on a sliding scale from 1-10.
Questions 2-4, 7
Multiple choice
Question 5
Multiple choice with a drop-down menu
Question 6
Sliding scale
Question 8
Text entry
Questions 9 & 10
Matrix table
Questions 2-4 are in a block called Personal Information. There is a page break between
questions 3 and 4. Question 4 (own your own home) has two special attributes –
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respondents MUST answer this question and logic is applied. If the response is no then the
survey ends.
In Question 5 the answers are randomized.
Display logic has been applied to Question 8. This question will appear ONLY if the
respondent answered yes to Question 3, “Have you painted a room in your house during
the last year?”
Selecting the type of question
After you add a question, you can change the type by selecting the green button on the
right side of the screen under Change Item Type. Highlight the question first by clicking
somewhere inside the question.
The green button lists common types of questions, but even more are available if you click
on the Show All Question Types link at the bottom of the open Change Item Type window.
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The options for each question depend on what type question you have selected. Make sure
you select or click inside a question so that the type/options appear on the right side of the
screen.
Moving questions up and down
To move a question up or down in the survey, select or click inside the question, then click
on the up or down arrows that appear at the right side of the question.
Renumbering questions
After you add/remove questions and rearrange them, you might notice that they are no
longer in order. To renumber the questions, select Advanced Options in the top right
corner of the Qualtrics window, then Autonumber. You can choose from three formats of
numbering.
Copying a question from the same survey
Select the question you want to copy then click on Copy Question on the bottom of the
right pane. By default the copy is added below the selected question.
Copying a question from a different survey
1.
Scroll to the bottom of the survey.
2.
Click on the Copy items from link.
3.
Select My Surveys (or the Qualtrics library if desired)
4.
Select the appropriate survey.
5.
Select the appropriate question.
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Forcing a Response
In the Colors survey at
https://claytonstate.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_dpACOhy39dKpykY we want to survey
only respondents who own their own home, so the survey ends if the respondent answers
“no” to that question. Since it is so important that respondents answer this question, I have
forced the response. This means that the respondent can’t move to the next question unless
he/she answers this one.
To force a response, select the question, then select Force Response in the right pane.
Randomizing Answers
1.
To randomize the answers in a question select the question then select the Advanced
Question Options button on the left side.
2.
Select Randomize then select how to randomize.
Adding Skip or Display logic
Select the question then click on the Advanced Question Options on the left side.
Select either Skip or Display logic.
Skip logic means that the survey will skip to a certain question based upon the answer to
this question. You can also use skip logic to end a survey based on the answer to a
question. In our Colors survey, the survey ends based on the answer to “Do you own a
home?”
Display logic means that this question will be displayed ONLY if other questions are
answered in a certain way. In our survey, Question 8, “What color did you paint it?”
appears only if the respondent answered yes to Question 7, “Have you painted a room in
your house during the last year?”
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Survey Options
Controlling when and how long a survey is active, if respondents can move to the next (>>)
and previous (<<) screens, and who is allowed to take the survey are just a few of the
things you’ll find under the Survey Options icon.
Previewing a survey
You can preview a survey at any time while you are working on it by clicking on the
Preview icon at the top of the screen. Feel free to answer all the questions because you can
delete any results you collect before you launch the survey.
Launching the survey
Once you are totally satisfied with your survey you need to launch it. Click on the Launch
Survey icon at the top of the screen. Once the survey is launched you’ll see a link that you
can copy and send to potential respondents or paste into a web page or GeorgiaView.
Be very careful about making changes to a survey that has already been launched and one
in which results have been collected. Obviously, small editing changes, such as correcting
typos, will not make a difference in your results, but other changes, such as changing
question answers, will.
Results
You can use Qualtrics to analyze your results or download them to Excel and other
formats.
To view the results of the survey click on the Results tab at the top of the window. There
are four icons on the Results bar:
View Reports: Initially results are tabulated in a report called Initial Report. Click on the
Initial Report link and page through each question to see the results for that question. Basic
statistics are listed directly below the results for each question.
Responses: Click on each link in the Respondent ID column to view an individual
response. You can also select responses and delete them on this screen (this is how you
delete any responses that may have been entered while you were testing out the survey).
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Download data: Choose this icon if you want to download data into an Excel or SPSS file.
Cross Tabulation: Choose this icon to create a table that analyzes one variable in terms of
another, i.e., what color men chose as their favorite. NOTE: Only the results from multiple
choice and matrix questions can be used in a cross tabulation, so plan your survey
accordingly. Cross tablulations will be included in the Advanced Qualtrics workshop.
Collaboration
Sometimes you need to share or collaborate with a coworker on a survey or survey results.
You can designate collaborators in Qualtrics on the My Survey tab.
1.
Click on the My Surveys tab.
2.
Locate the survey you wish to collaborate on.
3.
Click on the Collaborate icon on the right side of that row.
4.
Enter the user name of the first collaborator. You can also try entering their email address
but I’ve had better luck using their username.
5.
If the username is recognized, their email address should appear. Click on the email
address then click on the Add button. Their name should appear as a user.
6.
Select what rights you want to give the collaborator. They can have the right to edit, view
the results, delete the survey, etc. Click on Save.
When the collaborator logs in to Qualtrics, the surveys they are collaborating on will
appear on their survey list.
Need Help??
Qualtrics has a help feature that includes instructional videos and articles. To get to it click on
Get Help in the top left corner of the My Surveys list or while editing any survey. The help
window will open in a new window so that you can keep it open and still work on a survey. You
can also click on Ask a Question then enter your question and submit it.
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