Qualtrics Activation Announcement

From Provost Dan Bernardo and Special Assistant to the Provost Craig Parks

System-Wide Survey Tool Now Available for WSU Faculty and Staff

A system-wide site license for the Qualtrics online survey software tool now is available to all Washington State University faculty and staff, as recommended by a work group convened by the Provost’s Office. More information about using Qualtrics at WSU is located at http://surveys.wsu.edu.

Existing Qualtrics users should continue to use their current Qualtrics accounts while Information Technology Services, Enterprise Systems, and the Provost’s Office work out details to enable a smooth migration to the new site. This will enable existing Qualtrics users to continue their research and data collection uninterrupted.

Faculty and staff without a current account can create one via the new university-wide Qualtrics log-in site at http://wsu.qualtrics.com using their WSU network ID and password. Currently account access for new users is available to individuals rather than to departmental entities. A process for enabling departmental accounts is in development.

During the spring semester, WSU will develop guidelines and a plan to provide for appropriate availability for student use.

Users of WSU’s Skylight Survey System should note that this system has now been retired. They should download their historic data and survey questions, by 1/31/15, when open access will end. Instructions are provided on ATL’s webpage: http://atl.wsu.edu/online_course_evals_surveys/surveys.html.

Please note that users of survey data collection tools should be aware of the following policies and guidelines:

  • Personal information collected through surveys must be privacy protected and kept secure according to University guidelines. Faculty and staff are expected to abide by University guidelines on data collection and stewardship, including WSU’s policies on retention of University data (EP#8). http://www.wsu.edu/forms2/ALTPDF/EPM/EP8.pdf
  • WSU strongly discourages the use of any free online survey tool due to security risks. WSU also has significant concerns about the security and privacy practices of many commercial tools for any data collection that includes private information of any sort. WSU discourages the use of products such as SurveyMonkey or Zoomerang.
  • Tools such as Doodle are acceptable for polls that do not collect personal information, such as to determine where and when to hold a meeting or what food to serve at that meeting.
  • Use of WSU Qualtrics is permissible for university business only; it is not appropriate to use WSU Qualtrics for any personal, commercial or outside nonprofit projects.
  • WSU studies requiring Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval will be eligible to use the system-level Qualtrics license. Leaders of HIPAA-compliant research studies should consult with the IRB for appropriate data collection procedures, at http://www.irb.wsu.edu/.
  • Studies requiring a higher level of privacy and security than the system-level Qualtrics license will provide can contract with an appropriate survey provider, such as the Social and Economic Sciences Research Center, https://sesrc.wsu.edu/.

Next steps:

  • A team of faculty and staff will be developing a resource to answer frequently asked questions regarding what program may be most appropriate for particular data collection needs; in the meantime, users can contact Craig Parks, Chair of the Faculty Senate, parkscd@wsu.edu, with questions about what is the appropriate program to use for a particular purpose.
  • For more information on how to use Qualtrics, user can consult the following web site for tips and tutorials: “Basic Building” selection at http://www.qualtrics.com/university/researchsuite/.
  • In addition, the survey tools work group has endorsed the following web site based at the University of Minnesota as a good resource for WSU faculty regarding best practices for all WSU survey data collection needs: http://surveys.umn.edu/qualtrics-u-of-m.