Functions & Capacities in Qualtrics

Below is a list of particular functions listed below that I have found particularly useful. As time goes on, this page will be updated with links and additional information.

To learn about a particular feature, click its link or just look for it on  http://www.qualtrics.com/university/.

Table of Contents allows questions to be placed in different groups and allows navigation back and forth between them.

Basic


Logic

  • Survey Logic can be used to change the flow of question in your survey, including assigning participants to conditions, creating conditional branches (if/then statements), and changing which blocks are shown.
  • Display Logic can determine whether or not a question is shown, based on embedded data or previous survey responses.
  • Skip logic can make a participant jump to the end of a block or the end of a survey, based on embedded data field or previous responses.


Randomization options for question choices, questions within a block, and advanced randomization

To view the order in which blocks, questions, or choices were randomized, Check the "Export randomized viewing data" option when downloading data

How to group multiple elements into one element

Use timing questions to control speed

Adding Custom Java Script and HTML

Accessing the HTML Editor

To access the HTML of any question text, you can just click "HTML View" in the question editor (see the screenshot below). Choice text is typically raw HTML, so you can enter HTML directly into the choice editor.


Fractions in Qualtrics

Using HTML and following the instructions on this page from changelog, we can create fractions using a "/" character (but slightly prettier than 1/10). they come out looking like this: 1⁄2. 

For more advanced headings, you can use MathJax, an open source Javascript library for math formatting. Including it in your Qualtrics survey is simple! In the survey editor, open the "Look & Feel" menu, go to "Advanced", and paste this script tag into the "Header" section: 

<script type="text/javascript"
  src="https://c328740.ssl.cf1.rackcdn.com/mathjax/latest/MathJax.js?config=TeX-AMS-MML_HTMLorMML">
</script>

Notes: the HTTPS version is required, because qualtrics uses HTTPS; MathJax will not load if you use HTTP.


The ?config at the end of the URL specifies the configuration -- in this case, MathJax will accept TeX, MML, and ASCII formulas.


Now you can insert TeX formatted formulas into questions! However, the delimiters are different from normal TeX. You can use $...$ to delimit block display text, for example:

$$ 
\begin{equation*} 
\frac{\frac{1}{2}+\frac{1}{3}}{\frac{3}{4}-\frac{1}{5}}. 
\end{equation*}
$$

You can also use \(...\) to delimit inline text, for example:

Give the equation of the line parallel to the line \(y=5x-6\) and passing through the point \((-10,3)\).

How to access and write values to an embedded data field at any point in the survey
  • To access embedded data at any time using javascript: simply set a variable to be equal to the piped text required to access to embedded data in survey questions (as a string).
    • For example,
      • var myData = "${e://Field/myEmbeddedData}" (don't forget the quotes!)
  • To write a new value to an embedded data field, use the call Qualtrics.SurveyEngine.setEmbeddedData('fieldName', newvalue);
    • For example, to change the value of the embedded data field myEmbeddedData to be equal to 10, write
      • Qualtrics.SurveyEngine.setEmbeddedData('myEmbeddedData', 10);
  • There are also a handful of other ways to handle embedded data.
    • addEmbeddedData('name', value); adds embedded data.
    • setEmbeddedData('name',value); sets the embedded data.
    • getEmbeddedData('name'); returns the embedded data.
  • The relevant Qualtrics javascript file can be found at:
    • https://a248.e.akamai.net/img.qualtrics.com/WRQualtricsShared/JavaScript/javascriptSE.31984.js
    • Note: It appears that panels, unlike embedded data, cannot be set via javascript.

  • Record the order of items in a Loop & Merge using Custom Javascript
  • Record key presses as responses using Custom Javascript
  • Play sound files
  • Play videos
  • Uploading & inserting Images from the library
  • Inserting images from the library using URLs
  • Inserting images from a website using URLs, which makes it much easier to change stimuli
  • Scoring function
  • Use a matrix question to collect binary and ordinal judgments
  • Import and Export Surveys
  • Using the scoring function

Using Qualtrics on Amazon Mechanical Turk

  • Use exactly the same survey for lab and online participants – even when they have to see different questions
    • Use Branches in Survey Flow that are based on participant = mturk, or participant = lab. Pipe this embedded data field in using the URL: Appending embedded data to URL

End of survey items in the survey flow (can be used to terminate if consent not given, etc)
The survey can generate a unique number for each participant

Avoid misalignments of data across experiment versions

  • When questions are removed from a survey the data can be lost or alignment changed. Don't delete them. Instead place them inside Branches in Survey Flow that are never satisfied. The Branch would be activated if thisifstatement = neversatisfied
    • For instance, you can set your condition to be based on the value of an embedded data field called "FreePass" and have it only be true if FreePass = 0.
      • Note that you do not actually need to have an embedded data field called FreePass -- if your data field does not exist, the conditional will never be satisfied.

Interact

How to generate 'fictional' participants to test a survey
  • Create a "panel" that can be used to link information about survey participants to their survey, when the survey is distributed by email 
  • Using panel triggers (Adds participants to a panel based on their response to a question, and other features. Can also have "email triggers")
  • This authenticator requires participants to give login information:
  • Use a WebService (interact with any script stored on a server by sending and receiving fields)
  • Automatically add embedded data fields to a survey by adding extra text to the url participants are given. (Note, this can then be accessed by normal syntax, e.g. ${e://Field/pipedin}, but to have it saved with participants' response reports, the field must be set in the survey flow, as shown below)


How to hide radio buttons

Capacities

Using email triggers, on completion of a survey, you can automatically send emails (to any address, including one based on embedded data) that contain any information (including embedded data) at any time delay (right away up to 28 days). You can make email sending be conditional on any question answer or embedded data, and can send multiple emails.

What does the "survey director" allow?

What does panel company integration tell us?

What can quotas be used for?

The survey director allows you to send a single link, then redirect people to multiple different surveys based on particular information.

The in-page pop-up feature

Qualtrics has an in-page popup feature that will help you build some html code that will create a pop-up on your website asking people to take a qualtrics survey. You can specify things like % of visitors who see the survey, time delays (so you can set how long someone has to be on the site before the pop-up appears), and it appears even fancy parameters like embedded data to be passed to the survey. 

The qualtrics University page with an in-depth look at this feature is here.

Pull information from "Web Services" (like RSS Feeds) into Qualtrics