Qualtrics: Create, Customize, and Manage Surveys

This self-help guide is a starting point and resource for students, faculty, and staff who would like to use Qualtrics to develop survey projects. Many of the common features used by University Qualtrics users are on this page. However, this is not an exhaustive list of all Qualtrics functionalities. 

University Qualtrics users can find additional helpful resources on the Qualtrics service page including: links to community groups, a technology overview, costs for the tool, and contact information for support.

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Plan and Construct Your Survey

Preparing for a Survey

Understand the University’s Qualtrics acceptable use and data security policies
Activate your University Qualtrics account
Migrate your Qualtrics account from one institution to another
Log in to your active University of Minnesota Qualtrics account
Access Qualtrics and Canvas integration tools (Qualtrics LTI)
Establish survey objectives and sampling design
Design accessible survey questions
Explore online survey respondent pools
Get approval for surveying University populations

Building a Survey

Navigate the Qualtrics projects homepage
Use the Qualtrics survey builder
Edit a survey’s browser tab display name
Turn on a survey’s ‘Back’ button
Edit the ‘end of survey’ message
Use Qualtrics’ translation feature
Program a digitally accessible Qualtrics survey
Explore available Qualtrics question types
Add and edit survey questions
Add graphics to a survey question
Determine which survey questions meet digital accessibility guidelines
Format survey questions
Add question response requirements and validation
Enhance questions for mobile compatibility
Customize survey question recode values
Set survey security options
Require authentication to enter a survey
Add SSO authentication for University respondents
Preview a survey
Publish a survey and view version history
Generate survey test responses
Export survey content and metadata to Microsoft Word

Working with Other Qualtrics Users

Share a survey with other University Qualtrics users
Share contact lists and libraries with other University Qualtrics users
Transfer survey ownership from one user to another user

Integrating Qualtrics with Other Tools

Understand Qualtrics workflows basics
Modify Qualtrics workflow settings
Send follow-up emails automatically using the email workflow task
Add or update contacts in a mailing list using the XM Directory task
Export Qualtrics data using the Google sheets task
Send payments automatically using the incentive workflow task (DesignXM only)

Request access to the Qualtrics API by contacting [email protected]

Get started with the Qualtrics API
Explore Qualtrics API documentation
Explore the Qualtrics JavaScript question API

Use Customization Features

Customizing Survey Appearance

Understand University survey branding requirements
Explore the survey "Look and Feel" menu
Ensure a survey’s "Look and Feel" is accessible
Add custom CSS to your survey

Customizing Survey Behavior

Explore the functionality of the Survey Flow menu
Change the order of a survey's question blocks
Display blocks only when specific conditions are met
Customize survey endings based on different conditions
Add question display logic
Add answer choice display logic
Add question skip logic
Add question block display (branch) logic
Randomize the order of answer choices within a question
Randomize the order of questions within a block
Randomize the order of question blocks
Understand piped text basics
Pipe respondent's response from an earlier question into later survey questions
Pipe data from a mailing list field into a survey question
Pipe embedded data into a survey question
Pipe current or past date and time into a survey question
Understand embedded data basics
Add an embedded data element to your survey flow
Pull in data from a Qualtrics mailing list as embedded data
Set embedded data values from the survey URL
Set quota conditions
Specify what happens when a quota is met
Limit total responses to a survey
Add JavaScript to a Qualtrics question
Explore the Qualtrics JavaScript question API

Distribute Your Survey and Manage Results

Distributing a Survey

Explore Qualtrics survey distribution options
Using the ‘Anonymous’ survey link
Specify how and when responses are recorded
Automatically add respondent survey information to a Qualtrics mailing list
Understand University mass-email requirements
Create a Qualtrics mailing list
Create University-branded emails within Qualtrics
Create custom email messages in the Qualtrics library
Send email invitations using the Qualtrics mailer
Understand the University’s Qualtrics SMS distribution requirements
Send Qualtrics survey invitations via SMS
Request access to Qualtrics SMS distribution functionality
Request Qualtrics SMS credits
Import phone numbers to a mailing list for SMS distribution
Understand Qualtrics DesignXM features
Request access to Qualtrics DesignXM features
Use distribution automations
Use contact list import automations
Edit and manage directory automations
Explore directory automations best practices

Managing Responses

Start response collection
Pause response collection
Set a survey's availability window
Specify how incomplete survey responses are handled
Create a survey ‘Retake’ link
Monitor responses in the 'Data & Analysis' tab
View collected responses using filters
Identify incomplete responses in a dataset
Closing responses in progress
Get email notifications about responses with the email workflow task

Working with Collected Data

Export collected survey responses
Understand different ways to export Qualtrics data
Understand your exported Qualtrics dataset
Export survey content and metadata to Microsoft Word
Automatically export data to Google sheets
Use Qualtrics Stats iQ for quantitative analysis
Use Qualtrics Text iQ for text response analysis
Create printable reports of survey results
Create digital dashboards of survey results