If you’ve ever taken a survey, filled out an RSVP form, or answered a poll at IU, it’s likely it was done using Qualtrics. On August 21, the survey tool became available to all IU faculty, staff, and students without fee.
Qualtrics is a cloud-based tool that allows users to build and distribute surveys, view reports, and analyze responses via any browser, mobile application, or even SMS text. With the introduction of university-wide access, everyone at IU can now use the tool for tasks ranging from simple surveys for a small group to detailed data gathering for research projects.
Qualtrics is a powerful tool for both teaching and research. By eliminating the licensing barrier, faculty and students are able to gather information more easily for assignments, research, or other instances that fit their academic needs.
Stacy Morrone, associate vice president of Learning Technologies
For Stacy Morrone, associate vice president of Learning Technologies, University Information Technology Services (UITS), making Qualtrics available to all users will be game-changing for the learning experience at IU.
“Qualtrics is a powerful tool for both teaching and research,” Morrone said. “By eliminating the licensing barrier, faculty and students are able to gather information more easily for assignments, research, or other instances that fit their academic needs.”
For example, in the classroom, Qualtrics can be used to introduce students to survey research techniques. Faculty can create questionnaires to get feedback from students before introducing a new topic or gather information about their courses via surveys embedded directly into Canvas. And through collaboration with Qualtrics users across other institutions, faculty can gather data and support their personal research.
Within their classes, students could use Qualtrics to survey peers in group projects or to gather and analyze data for research assignments. And for pursuits less academic, the tool could be used to create surveys about student groups and then used to raise awareness of the organizations through posting links or results on websites, social media, and other communications.
Justin Zemlyak, manager of eLearning services at UITS, highlighted the benefits of easier information-gathering for IU staff.
“Qualtrics streamlines the survey process so staff can gather and analyze data rather than spend time developing the surveys,” Zemlyak said.
In practice, this means that instead of using custom forms requiring HTML and coding experience, staff members can embed Qualtrics surveys directly into websites, or create surveys, questionnaires, or forms to gather data or opinions quickly.
Whether you’re familiar with Qualtrics or completely new to using the tool, there’s more information and support for you:
- Find out more at iu.edu
- Contact the UITS Support Center on your campus
- Find online training resources from Qualtrics
- Contact Qualtrics directly at 1-800-340-9194
