How To: Qualtrics Survey Accessibility

Florida SouthWestern State College (FSW) provides a license to all current FSW faculty, staff, and students for the qualtrics Research Core survey platform. Checking the accessibility of the survey ensures respondents using a screen reader or keyboard navigation will be easily able to participate and provide data.

For more detailed and updated information on accessibility within qualtrics refer to the "Check Survey Accessibility help article."

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Using the Check Survey Accessibility Tool Addressing the Issues      Change Button Text      Change Survey Title      Show Question Number      Re-number Questions      Accessible Question Types

Using the Check Survey Accessibility Tool

  1. Log-in to qualtrics
  2. Select a Survey Project
    qualtrics project example from list.
  3. Within the qualtrics Survey Editor, select the "Tools" drop-down menu.
    qualtrics survey editor with focus on tools drop-down menu.
  4. Under the "Review" sub-menu select "Check survey accessibility"
    qualtrics tools menu expanded with review sub-menu expanded highlighting the accessibility checker option.
  5. The ExpertReview function will list any questions which are not accessible.

Proactively making the recommended changes for survey accessibility, in turn, opens the survey to be taken by more individuals including mobile users and thus providing more data.

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Addressing the Issues

Change Button Text

  1. Within the survey Project under the Survey Editor, select the "Look & Feel" button, it is represented as a paint roller.
    qualtrics survey editor screen with the look and feel button highlighted
  2. The "Look and Feel" menu will appear, select the "General" section.
  3. The default next and previous button text are typically greater than or less than symbols. To edit the text click within each box, erase the symbols and provide a word to describe the action the user can expect.
    qualtrics Look and Feel editor within the general settings, higlighting placed on the next and previous button text input fields with symbols inside
  4. The changes will preview to the right of the "Look and Feel" editor.
    qualtrics Look and Feel editor within the general settings with the word Continue for the next button text and back for the previous button text
  5. After adding the descriptive button text, select the "Save" button.

Consider adding a progress bar with verbose text, which is below the option for "Previous Button Text", if there is more than one page of the survey. This will provide feedback to the respondent about the length of the survey. Also, consider providing a back button if the survey is more than one page.

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Change Survey Title

  1. Within the survey Project under the Survey Editor, select the "Survey Options" button.
  2. The General options menu will appear
    1. Under "Display name" edit the information to be more descriptive.
      qualtrics survey editor with survey options button highlighted showing the default title edited.
  3. Select the "Save" button after making the changes to the title.

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Show Question Numbers

The following steps resolve the accessibility issue within the tool named "Enable survey option to show export tags".

  1. Within the survey Project under the Survey Editor, select the "Survey Options" button.
  2. The General options menu will appear
    1. Under the "Question numbers," select the toggle to turn it on:
      qualtrics survey options menu with focus on the survey experience section with highlighting around the show question numbers checkbox
  3. Select the "Save" button after making the changes.

Consider having a back button if the survey has more than one page. The back button is not enabled by default.

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Re-number Questions

Qualtrics automatically numbers questions as they are added, but continue increasing the number after questions are moved or deleted. At the end of the survey creation process renumber the questions. Renumbering will organize reports and display a consistent experience for respondent progress. To access the tool to renumber questions instead of manually adjusting each item within the survey project follow the steps below.

  1. Within the survey Project under the Survey Editor, select the "Tools" button.
  2. Select the option named "Auto-Number Questions..."
  3. The "Auto-Number Questions" tool will appear.
    qualtrics auto-number questions tool
  4. Select the either "Sequential Numbering" or "Block Numbering" option.
  5. Once an option is selected the tool will renumber the questions, save the changes, and disappear.

Providing sequential question numbers, back and forward navigation buttons, and a progress bar all enhance the respondents' experience.

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Accessible Question Types

Not all of the question types within qualtrics are accessible for keyboard-only or screen reader respondents. Use the question types below to ensure all individuals taking the survey will be able to provide response data to the project.

  • Descriptive Text
  • Multiple Choice
  • Net Prompter® Score
  • Matrix (use mobile setting, includes rank order, constant sum, text entry, and profile options)
    • Note: The likert matrix question is not WCAG 2.0 AA compliant, but it meets other standards of compliance, including 508. Because it is not WCAG 2.0 AA compliant, ExpertReview will flag this question type as non-compliant. Consider a series of Multiple Choice questions instead to avoid this flag.
  • Text Entry
  • Form field
  • Rank Order (only Text Entry, Graphic, and Radio)
  • Side by Side
  • Constant Sum (with Text option)
  • Drill Down
  • Timing
  • Meta Info
  • Captcha Verification (version 2)
  • Slider

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