MKTG 344 (Sahni) Survey Guide
Create A Survey
First Step - Create Your Survey In Word
Create your survey in a Word or Google Doc first! By writing it all out first, you can refine the flow and wording before building it in Qualtrics. Get it as close to the final product as possible before moving on to Qualtrics. This step is crucial.
How long should my survey be?
Make sure you limit the survey to 10 minutes or less, which usually implies having less than thirty questions. Given a fixed budget, the shorter your survey is, the more participants you will be able to recruit. (For example: 10 min = 60 participants, 5 minutes = 125, 3 min = 210).
Make sure to pre-test your survey (following the class guidelines) so it is not unnecessarily complex. A straightforward set of questions is often easiest for you to build and for the participant to take. Keep this in mind.
CREATING A QUALTRICS ACCOUNT
Go here and follow through with the instructions to create a Stanford University Qualtrics account.
How To Build a Survey In Qualtrics
Building Your Survey In Qualtrics
Now it’s time to build your survey in Qualtrics. If you are new to Qualtrics, don’t worry! Below are several quick how-to videos that will help you get up and running to create a survey. Going through them one after another is a good primer on the platform.
Create an account & General navigation
- The first step! Shows you how to create a Stanford Qualtrics account and gives an overview of how to navigate the site.
- If your group will have more than one person working on the survey, each person working on the survey should create an account.
- We advise against more than one or two people having editing privileges, as the changes to the survey and communication between members can become confusing and cumbersome.
- PLEASE IGNORE THE FIRST 30 SECONDS OF THE FIRST VIDEO (about creating an account). Please see the section above "Creating a Qualtrics Account."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=so_bIvE_myQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfYrrawQECQ
Question types & settings
- General overviews of the various kinds of questions you can have, as well as how to navigate the menus.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yp15lw1qT6c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGEA_3cY4pk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rE0wk17CRMY
Page breaks & Moving questions
- Put in breaks between sets of questions - to show some questions on one page, and showing other questions on the next page in the survey.
- Shows you how to move questions to other sections of your survey if you need to do that.
Previewing & Publishing your survey
- Previewing allows you to see and test your survey while you’re building it.
- Publishing your changes is VERY IMPORTANT. You NEED to Publish your survey every time you make a change to your survey, otherwise the changes may not be saved.
- Think of the “Publish” button as the “Save” button.
Blocks & Previewing questions in blocks
- To simplify the structure of your survey, you can group related questions together in Blocks.
- Blocks can be manipulated like questions: they can be moved to different positions in the survey, and they can be randomized, too. See the videos in the “more functionality” section titled “Block randomization” and “Conditions and Branch Logic.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMPiqMWH5Io
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1sFFCiKQ6E
Question validation, forced / request response
- Usually for questions with open response answer fields.
- If you want some answers to have specific formats, such as numeric answers only, or to have a defined range of answers.
- This also gives you the option to require participants to answer the question and not let them move on if they do not.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBnUV9-6Ujc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bzgvbzzlpqc
Survey flow
- This is the basic structure of your Qualtrics survey at the Block-level view. Blocks can be moved about within the Survey Flow view.
- There’s more you can do in survey flow using more advanced techniques. See the videos in the “more functionality” section titled “Block randomization” and “Conditions and Branch Logic.”
Generate dummy data
- Qualtrics has a built-in feature to generate dummy data. You can have a bot go through your survey answering randomly up to 100 times or more very quickly for no cost. By checking your data file after it runs, this can show you where the survey may be broken, or how to rearrange questions for a more streamlined data file among other things. Be sure to delete the responses in Qualtrics prior to running your study, or be aware of the difference between your dummy data and the data you get from Prolific once your data is finally collected.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNMvxtzR-Q0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yepLTG3qWTY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zh--C6IOfgk
Sharing your survey
- If your team has more than one person working on / editing the survey, this is how you allow sharing. One person will need to create the survey, then they “collaborate” the survey with those who are allowed to edit it.
- You will also need to collaborate your survey with the Behavioral Lab when it comes time to launch your study.
Distribute your survey with a link
- This allows you to send your survey to anyone by using a URL. If you want others to test the survey for you, just use this link.
- Remember that the data will show up in your data file.
Downloading your data
- This shows you how to download (or “export”) your data file. You will want to do this when you are testing your survey as well as when the survey is complete.
FYI - End of survey Behavioral Lab prep
- You don’t have to DO anything here. These are an FYI to be on the lookout for how the Behavioral Lab will prep your survey prior to launch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5vZpV6gueE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CT2HGuxYK1Q
- Last Updated: Feb 18, 2025 2:09 PM
- URL: https://libguides.stanford.edu/MKTG344surveys
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