3  Survey Flow

This section is about the Survey Flow section of the Survey Builder tab of Qualtrics.

3.1 What is Survey Flow?

Survey Flow is the collective term for methods of broadly customizing the elements that respondents interact with inside the survey. You can use survey flow to display blocks of questions in a particular order, to make certain blocks of questions conditionally available to certain respondents, or to end the survey early for a particular group or once a quota is met.

Survey flow elements include:

  • Blocks of questions (see Section 2.3.2 in the previous chapter)
  • Branch (see Section 3.2 below)
  • Embedded Data (see Section 16.3)
  • Randomizer
  • Web Service
  • Supplemental data (enabled on an as-needed basis)
  • Group
  • Authenticator (see Section 3.4 below)
  • End of Survey (see Section 3.3)
  • Reference Survey
  • Table of Contents

3.1.1 Utilizing Survey Flow

To utilize Survey flow elements, select the Survey Flow icon in the left-hand Survey Menu.

Screenshot of the survey builder tab highlighting the survey flow menu

Select “Add a New Element Here”.

Screenshot showing where to add a new element in the survey flow

This will bring up the Survey Flow elements interface, where you can choose which Survey Flow element you want implement. Multiple Survey Flow elements can be implemented in a single survey. All elements, including question blocks, can moved around within the survey using this interface.

New element popup box

For additional details, see the Qualtrics documentation on survey flow

3.2 Branch Logic

Branch logic is a type of survey flow used to show users different blocks of questions depending on specific conditions. Branches can be triggered by participants’ responses to previous questions or by embedded data associated with the participant (see Section 16.3). Branches can contain multiple elements and can be nested within other branches.

To implement branch logic, go to Survey Flow, add a new element, and select the Branch element.

The Branch option is in the add element box

You will then be prompted to Add a Condition.

Notification saying, this branch will not be triggered until you add a condition

Chose the relevant question or other factor and select OK.

Branch logic box that says, Then branch if: with dropdown menus to specify options

Finally, to move blocks or other elements under the branch logic, click and drag the elements where they say “Move.”

Survey Flow with branch logic implemented

For additional details, see the Qualtrics documentation on branch logic.

3.3 Custom Thank-You Page

Qualtrics allows for customizing the End-of-Survey page for all respondents to your survey, or to certain populations based on their responses to questions within the survey using Branches (see Section 3.2).

To create a custom thank you page, go to Survey Flow, add a new element below the last block of the survey or desired Branch, and select the End of Survey element.

The End of Survey option is in the add element box

This will automatically add an End of Survey element to your Survey Flow. To create a specific message for your survey or survey Branch, select Customize.

End of survey element

You will now see a dialog box that likely indicates that the element is using the “Default end of survey message.”

The customize end of survey popup menu

To implement a custom message, check Override Survey Options and change the radio button selection to “Custom end of survey message”.

You will be prompted to Select a message. If you have previously created a custom message, or are a member of a Qualtrics group that has shared messages, you can select one here from either “My Library” or a “Group Library” here.

Popup menu showing a user's libraries to select a message from

Otherwise, you can create a “New Message” in your own library.

Tip

You may also be able to create messages in Group Libraries. For access to a Group Library, contact your Qualtrics division (in your college) or brand administrator (CITL Data Analytics).

You will now be prompted to create the content of your new message.

Popup window to create a new message

Name your new message in the description box and write and format the relevant content in the text field.

If you would like to show your respondents answers from their own surveys, you can use the Insert Piped Text field here as well (see Section 16.1).

Piped text menu

Once you have finished editing your message, select Save and you will be returned to the “Customize End Of Survey” dialog window. Here you can make other customizations such as showing respondents their own Response Summaries, though these options are less likely to be relevant to most users.

Additional end of survey options

Select OK to finish the customization process.

You should now see a small check mark next to the Customize button on the End of Survey Element in the Survey Flow view.

If you will be using separate End of Survey messages for different Branches, repeat the process for each Branch. Then select Apply at the bottom of the screen to apply the changes to your survey.

Important

If you make changes to a previously published survey, you will need to publish these changes in order for them to take effect.

3.4 Authentication

Qualtrics surveys can incorporate Single-Sign-On (SSO) authentication as a way of adding identifying information to responses or as a condition for survey logic (Section 2.5 discusses survey logic).

To create a custom thank you page, go to Survey Flow, add a new element below the last block of the survey or desired Branch, and select the End of Survey element.

3.4.1 To Enable SSO Authentication on Your Survey

  1. Go to the Survey and click the Survey flow interface.

Screenshot of the survey interface highlighting survey flow

  1. Select “Add a New Element Here.”

  1. Choose “Authenticator.”

The Add element dialog box says, What do you want to add? and Authenticator is highlighted

  1. Set up the Authenticator using the following settings:
    1. Set the Authentication Type as “SSO”
    2. Uncheck the “Associate Respondent with Panel” checkbox
      • Checking this option requires respondents to be member of a selected contact list and allows respondents to only reply once
    3. Only check the “Capture Respondent identifying info” checkbox if you want to record respondents’ information (name, email, etc.; see below)
    4. Set the SSO Type as “Shibboleth”
    5. Leave the Connection as the default “InCommon SSO Connection”

Screenshot of an authenticator block set up for SSO using Shibboleth

  1. Move the Authenticator block to the top of the survey flow so the authentication is triggered before the survey opens. Drag all blocks you want authenticated underneath the authenticator.

The Authenticator block goes at the top of the survey flow

  1. Check “Apply” at the bottom right of your screen to apply the changes.

Apply button

3.4.2 To Add Embedded Data from Shibboleth

  1. In the Authenticator block, select the “Capture respondent identifying info” box

Authenticator block with the option selected to capture respondent identifying info

  1. Click on “Add Embedded Data…”

Add embedded data appears as hypertext under the option to capture respondent identifying info

  1. You will now see an option to set your embedded data fields.

Under capture respondent identifying info, two blank fields will appear.

  1. In the first box, name the field as you want it to appear in your Qualtrics data.
  2. In the second box, use the relevant field names passed through from Shibboleth
    • Examples include First Name = givenName, Last Name = sn, and Email = mail
    • For a full list, see below.

Screenshot of an authenticator block with first name, last name, and email captured

  1. Click on the green \(+\) button to add fields as needed.
  2. Check “Apply” at the bottom right of your screen to apply the changes.

Apply button

Fields that can be passed into Qualtrics from Shibboleth
Field Shibboleth Field Name Example
First name givenName OR First Name Philip
Last name/surname sn OR Last Name Nyman
Email mail OR Email nyman@illinois.edu
Primary affiliation eduPersonPrimaryAffiliation staff
iTrust Primary Org Code iTrustPrimaryOrgCode 1-KV-324
Note

Note that in the table, there are two ways to specify First name, Last name, and Email. Either one should work.

  1. If your authentication fields are set up correctly, depending on the selected pass-through variables when viewing individual responses in the Data & Analysis page you should see something like this below the survey question responses.

When viewing an individual survey response, a small box shows up at the bottom containing any embedded data

  1. Exported data should appear similar to the following:

A spreadsheet snippet that shows first name, last name, and email columns of a survey export, which were retrieved via Shibboleth

3.4.3 Using SSO Data in Survey Logic

It is also possible to use SSO data in other parts of the Qualtrics interface, such as as conditions for survey logic. For example, you could field one block of questions to staff and a separate block to students. Or, you could end the survey for anyone who does not have a .illinois.edu email address.

To use SSO data in survey logic, go to the Survey Flow menu and enable SSO authentication and set the survey to capture identifying information as described above. Choose the fields you wish to use in survey logic, as well as any other fields you would like to use in piped text or see in the dataset.

Then, add a New Element to the survey flow and choose “Branch”.

Branch is highlighted in the new element menu

Click “Add a condition” and change the first drop-down menu from “Question” to “Embedded Data”.

Screenshot of a box that says, Then branch if, which highlights the embedded data option

As usual for branch logic, impute the data to use in the logic and the condition. For example, you can branch based on whether Affiliation equals “staff”.

Example of embedded data in a branch

The following is a basic example using SSO authentication to capture affiliation. Staff members are shown the “Staff questions” block and their survey ends. All other affiliation types are shown the “Student questions” block and then their survey ends.

Survey flow window with SSO implemented