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Qualtrics

Support

e-Research does not support survey development or the technical usage of Qualtrics unless it is a case of a technical fault with the underlying system.

One of the best sources of support is probably colleagues in your group or department and the Customer Success Hub or Qualtrics community forum.

First line support for Qualtrics user and group management and the associated permissions is provided by e-Research via email to: support@er.kcl.ac.uk

Please ensure you have registered your use of Qualtrics using the survey at: https://survey.er.kcl.ac.uk/qualtrics-users

For basic, usually non-research surveys, MS Forms may be suitable and preferred.

Using Qualtrics - Initial Recommendations

  • Collaborate using groups, request groups to be created to ensure data is only accessed by those who have a specific need or requirement to do so. A range of resources can be shared with a group. It means that if a colleague leaves, the group can continue to access the resources previously shared. When new colleagues join they can be added to the group and immediately get access to the resources shared with the group.
  • Request external collaborators to have KCL affiliate accounts to be able to join groups. This will allow them to be added to groups to share resources in the same way as KCL staff and students as well as be identified and contacted if the need arises.
  • Ensure data is anonymised or pseudo-anonymised for processing on a local machine or using a facility such as CREATE HPC.
  • For data that cannot be anonymised or pseudo-anonymised, transfer data to a Trusted Research Environment (TRE) or process it within the Qualtrics application.
    • Downloading any data that contains PII to a local machine is not recommended; any downloaded data of this nature should also not be moved to an unencrypted hard drive, other unencrypted usb-device or sent by unencrypted email.
    • Avoid making multiple copies; the fewer copies of data made the less chance it has of becoming compromised.

What is Qualtrics?

Qualtrics is a tool for building and conducting surveys of research cohorts. It has been used for a range of subjects including research into the effects of long covid and eating disorders. Providing sufficient design and testing has been carried out it is suitable to use for collecting Personal and Identifiable Information (PII) and data considered special categories of personal data (as defined by the UK GDPR and explained by the ICO).

For creating basic surveys with regular question types, the experience of using Qualtrics is probably very similar to that of using MS Forms with more advanced features such as the ability to randomise questions, create blocks of questions, and use piped text.

A short video Introduction to creating basic surveys in Qualtrics is available.

Qualtrics also has the capacity to be almost fully customisable e.g. to present question types not generically available such as an Implicit Association Test. However, to leverage these significantly more sophisticated features, researchers will need a higher level of technical literacy. Research Software Engineers (RSEs) from e-Research may be a source of support for development of more advanced surveys.

Surveys work on all platforms (mobile and web) with additional facilities available to help with distribution lists and follow-ups.

The current, slightly outdated, KCL version of Qualtrics will be migrated to DesignXM on the 17th December 2024 and the data analysis tools available in Qualtrics will be expanded to the full suite available (e.g. including Advanced Text IQ and Advanced Stats IQ with Conjoint Analysis and Max Diff).

The new contract is in place for three years with an optional extension for one year. There is a cap on overall responses, however, it has been set at 175% of the peak annual usage from the last contract period.

To assist with data protection requirements, Qualtrics makes it easy to delete data for given respondents on request, manage consent as well as prevent the collection of meta data about respondents such as IP address that may be required to ensure data is suitably anonymised.

The Qualtrics privacy statement is available at: https://www.qualtrics.com/privacy-statement/ and applies to Qualtrics' collection of personal information. Qualtrics can only gain access to a user account with explicit permission, this is requested when they are used directly for support and is necessary in some cases for support with a technical issue with their systems.

In the event a technical issue with the Qualtrics system is identified or develops after a testing phase, if necessary, it is often possible to replicate using a demonstration account that the survey is shared with, moved to, or re-built in. The demonstration account can then be used by Qualtrics technical support to investigate without access to respondents data.