Introduction to Qualtrics

The Survey options section of Qualtrics allows you to change a range of survey settings, from adding a back button to sending post-survey emails and setting up scoring. To access this section, select the ‘Survey options’ icon in the navigation menu on the far left of the screen. It looks like this:

This page explains some of the key features available in this section of Qualtrics.

Standard options

The Survey options section contains five different options. The first four are explained below, while the rest of this page focuses on the ‘advanced’ option, Scoring:

• The General option allows you to change settings such as the survey display name and description, and to display question numbers to respondents.
• The Responses option allows you to add a back button to your survey and to change settings relating to survey completion and availability.
• The Security option allows you to limit the availability of your survey, add password protection and anonymise responses.
• The Post-Survey option allows you to display and send customised messages and emails to survey respondents.

Example

Add a back button to your Test Survey by selecting Responses from the menu on the left, then turning on Back button. You may then want to change the text of this button, either for the whole survey or for specific blocks, as explained on the Look & feel and Survey builder pages respectively.

Add visible question numbers to your Test Survey by selecting General from the menu on the left and turning on Question numbers. Make sure you renumber your questions if needed, as explained on the Survey builder page.

Scoring

You can use scoring to assign point values to certain types of questions in your survey, including Multiple choice, Matrix, Text entry and Slider questions. See the Scoring page of the Qualtrics support site for a complete list of compatible question types. You can also use multiple scoring categories, display scores to respondents in different places and in different ways, and customise the survey based on the respondent’s score or scores.

Calculating and displaying scores

To add scoring to one or more questions, select Scoring from the Survey options section of Qualtrics. By default, there is one scoring category called Score. You can rename this category and/or add new scoring categories by selecting the Score category and then Manage Categories…, or by selecting Scoring Options. To rename a category, select its name, making sure you select the text itself. To add a new scoring category, select New Category….

At this point, you can also choose to display the score at the end of the survey or after each question. You can also decide how to manage empty statistics for scoring categories, which are treated as 0 by default. Once you are happy with your selections, select Save.

Next, scroll through the questions on the Scoring page and assign scores to different questions and response options as needed. If you have more than one scoring category, make sure you have selected the relevant category from the menu at the top. Selecting Auto for a question will automatically score its responses in ascending order, starting at 1.

Once you have finished, select Back to survey builder to return to the survey. You may then want to include a score or scores as part of your survey questions by using piped text, as explained in the Question behaviour section of the Survey builder page. This may be particularly useful if you did not choose to have scores displayed automatically at the end of the survey or after each question.

Example

Let’s add a travel knowledge question to your Test Survey and use it to calculate and display a Travel Readiness score.

First, add a new ‘Travel Readiness’ block to the survey. Then go to the Survey flow section and move the new block so that it sits outside any branches you created previously, if applicable. It should look like this:

Next, add a question with options relating to travel readiness. An example is shown below, but you can create a shorter version if you prefer.

In the Answer type section of the Edit question menu on the left of the screen, make sure you select Allow multiple answers. This allows respondents to select more than one statement. Alternatively, you could create a set of separate ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ questions if you prefer.

To add scoring to this question, go to Survey options and then Scoring. Select the Score category at the top of the page and choose Manage Categories…. Alternatively, you can select Scoring Options.

Next, select Score and rename it Travel Readiness. This is optional, but giving your scoring categories relevant names can be helpful, particularly if you have more than one. Keep both Show Scoring Summary for Category options unselected, as we will use piped text to display the score. Keep the Treat empty statistics for scoring categories as 0 box selected, then select Save.

Next, scroll down to the ‘Travel Readiness’ block on the Scoring page. Assign a value of 1 to each response option by selecting the options in turn. This means that the score will be the number of options selected. Once you have finished, select Back to survey builder to return to the survey.

To display the score to the respondent in context on the next page of the survey, add a Text/Graphic question below the travel statement question and add a page break between the two questions. Next, use piped text, as explained in the Piped text section of the Survey builder page, to include the score in a sentence. For the piped text, select Scoring, Travel Readiness and Score. You may also like to add /6 after the piped text so that the respondent sees the result as a score out of 6. Your question should look something like the following (note that the score ID may be different in your piped text):

Using logic with scoring

You can include information in one question that tells respondents what to do for different scores. However, you may want to customise your survey further so that respondents receive different information based on their score.

One way to do this is to use branch logic. In particular, you can use branch logic if you want to display a different end of survey message depending on the respondent’s score. For instructions, see the Qualtrics support page on displaying messages based on scoring.

Another option is to use display logic, as explained in the Question behaviour section of the Survey builder page. This allows you to display a different response (i.e. survey question) depending on the respondent’s score.

To do this, you need to add an Embedded Data element, as explained in the Embedded data section of the Survey flow page. In the survey flow, the embedded data needs to sit below the block where the score is calculated and above the block where you want to use the data. You can then use the embedded data as part of the display logic for a particular question or questions.

Example

Let’s use display logic to provide different feedback depending on the Travel Readiness score generated in your Test Survey. First, move the results question you created earlier, which uses piped text to display the score, to a new block called ‘Travel Readiness Results’. This block should sit below the ‘Travel Readiness’ block.

Next, change the text of the question so that it is suitable for respondents who received a score between 0 and 2. Then add two similar questions that provide feedback for respondents who received a good score and a perfect score respectively. The result should look something like this:

To add display logic to these questions based on the score, you first need to add an Embedded Data element to the survey flow. This needs to sit below the ‘Travel Readiness’ block, where the score is calculated, and above the ‘Travel Readiness Results’ block, where the data will be used.

Enter a name for the embedded data in the box, for example Travel Readiness. Next, set the value of the embedded data to the ‘Travel Readiness’ score. Select the blue Set a Value Now text, then choose Insert piped text, Scoring, Travel Readiness and Score. It should look something like this (note that your score ID may be different):

Make sure you select Apply, then return to the survey Builder section.

You can now use the embedded data as part of the display logic. For example, go to the response for respondents who scored between 0 and 2, then add display logic by choosing Display logic from the menu on the left. Select Embedded Data, Travel Readiness (or the name you gave the embedded data), Is Less Than and 3. To enter 3, select Value and type 3 into the box. The options should look like this:

Do the same for the remaining two questions. For the second question, you will need to add two rows of display logic to specify that the score must be both greater than 2 and less than 6. Alternatively, you can specify that the score must be greater than or equal to 3 and less than or equal to 5. To add another row of display logic, select the green + symbol on the right.

Preview the survey to check that the display logic works as intended.