Qualtrics | BMS - BMS Datalab

Welcome to the information webpage of the Qualtrics online survey tool for the faculty of Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences (BMS).

Qualtrics is a worldwide leading survey tool, in terms of functionalities, security and privacy measures. Qualtrics survey software allows you to create online questionnaires for your research. The faculty BMS has a Qualtrics license. Staff and students of BMS can make free use of Qualtrics for teaching, research or business purposes.

About Qualtrics

The Qualtrics Research Suite is a user-friendly, feature-rich, web-based survey tool that allows you to create, conduct and process all sorts of (complex) online surveys and forms. As well as building reports on your data to view insights in real time, collaborate in real-time and export data in multiple formats (such as SPSS).
Users can create over one hundred different types of questions, use interactive questions to increase response rates or use embedded video, audio clips or graphics that load in seconds. Check the On-Demand Webinars by Qualtrics.

Since dec'2023 we have temporarily a new function within Qualtrics: Conjoint analysis. Read more in the news below:

Collecting personal data with Qualtrics

When using Qualtrics, it may happen that you gather details of your participants/respondents that can be traced back to the individual persons, that is personal data. When you collect personal data, you need to work accordingly to the GDPR.

How to protect personal data when using Qualtrics:

- Collect as few personal details as possible (data minimization); qualtrics offers to uncheck collection of IP-address or emailaddress in your raw data.
- If personal data of participants are collected ask for consent. (Read an FAQ on this topic by Qualtrics)
- Store consent forms separately from data;
- Anonymize / Pseudonymize;
- Do not use email triggers;
- After the Research is done: remove the survey(s) from Qualtrics (please see “Steps to take after the research is done”).

Sensitive personal data

When processing sensitive personal data with Qualtrics, anonymization or pseudonymization of your survey is mandatory. However, we advise to use ReQuest survey software when collecting sensitive personal data. If this is not possible you can follow the work instructions for new studies with sensitive personal data below:

One-off process of special personal data:
You can use Qualtrics but you need to approach your respondent via an anonymous link. Information how you can do this in Qualtrics. Also, questions and documents in your survey should not include any (combination of) data which could identify your participants. Finished your survey? Download and then delete all data of the study immediately from Qualtrics.
Several measuring moments with special personal data during your survey period:
Please contact the brand administrator. Who can assist you with pseudonimising your data processing to protect the privacy of your participants in Qualtrics. Also, questions and documents in your survey should not include any (combination of) data which could identify your participants
Finished your survey? Download and then delete all data of the study immediately from Qualtrics.

File Upload

A new functionality in Qualtrics is the File Upload. The file upload question type allows respondents to upload a file along with their survey response. Using this functionality, you can collect data that may not be available through standard survey questions. Please be aware that you are not allowed upload sensitive personal data if (a combination of) this data could identify your participants.

Get Started

Below BMS students and (teaching) staff can find information about how to set up an account for the Qualtrics tool by using a self-enrollment access code.

NOTE: Qualtrics accounts can be requested only by BMS students (see list of BMS education programs) or education programs that are shared between BMS and another faculty, such as ATLAS (with ITC), BIT (with EEMCS). Requests by students/staff from other faculties/services will be rejected.

Work instructions when using Qualtrics

Running survey’s which are not yet Pseudonymized, need to be finished as soon as possible;
The questionnaires and complementary documents may not contain data that is reducible to your participants;
Qualtrics may NOT be used as a storage facility. When you are finished with collecting your data within Qualtrics, you need to immediately move your data to a certified storage facility within the University. See “Steps to take after the research is done “. For more information you can contact THE BMS LAB.

Steps to take after the research is done

The moment research is completed, you need to remove your Qualtrics data and move it to a secure storage facilitated by the UT/BMS, this can be done by taking the following steps:

Log in into Qualtrics
For your completed surveys, go to Survey -> Tools -> Export -> Export Survey. This will download a QSF file with the empty survey, so you can re-use it later in new research. This file does not contain any research data from the respondents
Go to Data & Analysis -> Export & Import -> Export Data, and choose the format you would like to store the data in (e.g. SPSS format)
Verify (in e.g. SPSS) that your data has indeed been successfully stored
Save the QSF file from (2) and your data file from (3) in your faculty servers for research data
Remove the survey from Qualtrics: In the main menu at the right hand side, below the project name at Actions -> Delete Project
Repeat steps 2 through 6 for all finished surveys

Qualtrics also provide guidance on deleting survey data.

Learn More about Qualtrics Research Core

Qualtrics offers a comprehensive Research Core of documentation, guides, manuals and tutorials i.a.,

Learn the Research Core Basics
Quick start (video)
On-Demand Webinars
Comprehensive manuals
Live training webinars, weekly (requires online registration)
Qualtrics and GDPR Compliance: really handy FAQs

Help and Support

When you have survey specific questions, first check the Qualtrics support site.
Didn’t find the answer, then contact Qualtrics Support: Contact or submit a support request

As of May 13, 2019, Qualtrics users seeking support will be required to login to the Support Center in order to submit a ticket to Qualtrics Support. This change is a required security update that ensures the utmost privacy of user accounts, including preventing anyone from posing as another user.

When accessing the Support Center, users will be given the opportunity to login with their Qualtrics account credentials. After logging in, the support process will remain unchanged. Please note, however, that the Qualtrics Support team will only be able to provide support assistance for the account that the user used to authenticate into the Support Center to submit a ticket.

If a user is unable to log in or does not have a Qualtrics account, they will be directed to a Limited Support Center by clicking “Can’t log in or don’t have an account?” on the Support Center login screen, through which they will be able to request support. Due to the lack of security protocol involved with this method, we will require that the Limited Support Center only be used for login issues and account creation issues.

For all other questions (like account related questions or special permissions) you can contact the BMS Brand administrator Lorette Bosch-Padberg @ THE BMS LAB (email: bmslab@utwente.nl, phone: +31 534 892 525)

About Qualtrics privacy security

BMS has concluded a data processing agreement with Qualtrics about processing personal (sensitive) data, however the user have to take additional steps to safeguard privacy of respondents.
Besides the security measures by Qualtrics, the users bear responsibility in their survey set-up for the privacy of their participants/respondents. Qualtrics provides technology that enables their users to be GDPR-compliant also.
For medical/health-related and special (high-risk) personal data our advice is to use ReQuest.
Qualtrics explain in their privacy statement how they handle personal data collected during the normal course of business (sales, marketing, and support), as well as how data are processed in its software and services.
GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) Compliance: Qualtrics is committed to safeguarding your data. They use sophisticated and industry best controls during processing to maintain the confidentiality, integrity, availability, and resilience of your data. Qualtrics is GDPR compliant.
The data centre where your qualtrics data is stored is located in the EU.
Qualtrics is ISO 27001 certified and FedRAMP authorised – that’s the “gold standard” of security certification used by the U.S. Government for SaaS providers.