Qualtrics is a web-based tool for creating and distributing online surveys. It's used by faculty, staff, and students for various purposes, including survey research courses, graduate theses, and faculty research projects. The tool also supports the college in gathering data to enhance its educational and organizational goals.
Getting Started
Accessing Qualtrics
- Go to https://ithaca.qualtrics.com/ to access Qualtrics.
- If prompted, sign in with your Ithaca College credentials.
All Qualtrics accounts must be associated with an individual. Departmental accounts are no longer allowed as they no longer have login capabilities.
Additional Resources
Analytics and Institutional Research staff are available for general assistance with survey research and can be contacted at IRoffice@ithaca.edu. Further information is available on the Understanding Survey Research page of the IC Survey Research Center website.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Adding a Back button and progress bar to a survey (qualtrics.com): The General section of the Look and Feel menu contains options for changing key aspects of your survey’s appearance. These options include changing the text for the next and back buttons, adding a progress bar, limiting the number of questions per page, and adding a survey header or footer.
- Collaborating on Survey Projects (qualtrics.com): The Collaborate feature lets you share your surveys with other Qualtrics users when they log in to their accounts. That way, you can work on the same project without giving out your account information. You can also restrict the types of access other users have to your project.
- Distributions Basic Overview (qualtrics.com): Qualtrics offers several distribution methods that enable surveys to be shared with respondents across channels and use cases. These options support both tracked and anonymous data collection, depending on the selected distribution type.
- Email distributions allow surveys to be sent directly to known recipients using contact lists. This method supports personalized links, response tracking, reminders, and metadata capture, including name and email address.
- Web (anonymous) distributions generate a public link that can be shared broadly via email, websites, or learning management systems. Responses are anonymous unless identifying questions are added to the survey.
- Social distributions are optimized for sharing surveys on social media platforms, making them useful for open calls for feedback or public engagement.
- Mobile distributions provide links and QR codes designed for mobile access, enabling respondents to complete surveys on phones or tablets.
- Email Spam Filters: Qualtrics email distributions are configured to maximize deliverability. Information Technology & Analytics (IT&A) has taken steps to ensure that Qualtrics messages are recognized as legitimate, including Microsoft Exchange whitelisting Qualtrics mail servers. These measures help reduce the likelihood that survey invitations are routed to spam or junk folders. Qualtrics recommends the following practices to improve engagement and reduce the likelihood of emails being filtered or ignored:
- Limit email frequency: Avoid sending multiple surveys to the same audience within a short timeframe. High message volume increases the chance of filtering and survey fatigue.
- Use clear, specific subject lines: they should state the survey's purpose and its relevance to the recipient. Vague or repetitive subject lines are more likely to be ignored.
- Set expectations in advance: When possible, notify recipients in advance that they will receive a survey and explain why their feedback matters.
- Send from a recognizable sender name: Use a consistent and recognizable sender name (e.g., a department or project name) rather than a generic address.
- Target audiences carefully: Distribute surveys only to recipients who are relevant. Over-broad distributions increase disengagement.
- Avoid unnecessary reminders: Use reminders sparingly and only for important surveys. Excessive reminders can trigger filtering and reduce response rates.
- Who can access my surveys and view responses? Typically, only you can access your surveys and view the data they collect. However, to facilitate customer service, the Process Innovation team may at times access your account to review the content and structure of your surveys. We will never share or distribute your surveys without your permission, and we will not access data obtained from a survey without the survey owner’s explicit permission.