What is the best way to run a longitudinal study (sending out follow-up surveys at different times) with Qualtrics?
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The best method depends on many factors, but here is one method:
Assuming each respondent has an email address that you can carry forward between surveys, send out Survey 1 using an Email Distribution together with a contact list trigger (Tools -> Triggers -> Contact List Trigger). The contact list trigger from Survey 1 will populate a second contact list automatically based on those who finished Survey 1. With this method, only those who complete Survey 1 will get messages to complete Survey 2.
If there are several waves of the study, you can add embedded data to distinguish participants.
Assuming each respondent has an email address that you can carry forward between surveys, send out Survey 1 using an Email Distribution together with a contact list trigger (Tools -> Triggers -> Contact List Trigger). The contact list trigger from Survey 1 will populate a second contact list automatically based on those who finished Survey 1. With this method, only those who complete Survey 1 will get messages to complete Survey 2.
If there are several waves of the study, you can add embedded data to distinguish participants.
@AlexB - Can you provide more info about your methodology and what you're trying to do?
Thanks @lillianc that's great.
@VirginiaUKY, we utilize longitudinal studies a lot here, and one of the key use cases is to follow up with alumni at different time points. We do something similar to what Lillian described above.
Students often use longitudinal studies for projects as well, and the process for longitudinal studies is a question we often receive. I am trying to write some documentation to help with the process, but I'm having some trouble making something that everybody can use because there are different best methods to create a longitudinal study depending on various factors.
@VirginiaUKY, we utilize longitudinal studies a lot here, and one of the key use cases is to follow up with alumni at different time points. We do something similar to what Lillian described above.
Students often use longitudinal studies for projects as well, and the process for longitudinal studies is a question we often receive. I am trying to write some documentation to help with the process, but I'm having some trouble making something that everybody can use because there are different best methods to create a longitudinal study depending on various factors.
@AlexB It's also worth noting, that you can add embedded data to your panels for any data that needs to be transferred between studies. This can then be pulled in as embedded data in the follow-up study.
Here's a rough draft of what I have so far. I'm trying to link to Qualtrics support pages instead of taking screenshots because Qualtrics changes and I don't want it to be outdated. Let me know if anyone has any suggestions or comments!
Qualtrics Longitudinal Study Documentation
1. Create a contact list
Option 1: Assign embedded data variable in contact list (if known prior to survey)
2. Create survey
Option 2: Assign embedded data value in the survey flow (if based off of a survey question)
3. Create a contact list trigger
Be sure to assign embedded data in the contact list trigger using piped text from a survey
question or survey flow
4. Distribute survey to contact list
Options for longitudinal aspect
1. Create multiple surveys for each time point (can copy surveys)
Change name of embedded data fields in new surveys (in survey flow and contact list trigger)
to ensure embedded from first survey is not overwritten. For example, the name of the
embedded data in the first survey could be Value1, while the second survey would be Value2,
etc...
2. Create samples for the contact list based on embedded data
Can create samples based on embedded data
Distribute follow up surveys based on samples
Qualtrics Longitudinal Study Documentation
1. Create a contact list
Option 1: Assign embedded data variable in contact list (if known prior to survey)
2. Create survey
Option 2: Assign embedded data value in the survey flow (if based off of a survey question)
3. Create a contact list trigger
Be sure to assign embedded data in the contact list trigger using piped text from a survey
question or survey flow
4. Distribute survey to contact list
Options for longitudinal aspect
1. Create multiple surveys for each time point (can copy surveys)
Change name of embedded data fields in new surveys (in survey flow and contact list trigger)
to ensure embedded from first survey is not overwritten. For example, the name of the
embedded data in the first survey could be Value1, while the second survey would be Value2,
etc...
2. Create samples for the contact list based on embedded data
Can create samples based on embedded data
Distribute follow up surveys based on samples
> @AlexB said:
> Here's a rough draft of what I have so far. I'm trying to link to Qualtrics support pages instead of taking screenshots because Qualtrics changes and I don't want it to be outdated. Let me know if anyone has any suggestions or comments!
>
> Qualtrics Longitudinal Study Documentation
> 1. Create a contact list
> Option 1: Assign embedded data variable in contact list (if known prior to survey)
> 2. Create survey
> Option 2: Assign embedded data value in the survey flow (if based off of a survey question)
> 3. Create a contact list trigger
> Be sure to assign embedded data in the contact list trigger using piped text from a survey
> question or survey flow
> 4. Distribute survey to contact list
>
> Options for longitudinal aspect
> 1. Create multiple surveys for each time point (can copy surveys)
> Change name of embedded data fields in new surveys (in survey flow and contact list trigger)
> to ensure embedded from first survey is not overwritten. For example, the name of the
> embedded data in the first survey could be Value1, while the second survey would be Value2,
> etc...
> 2. Create samples for the contact list based on embedded data
> Can create samples based on embedded data
> Distribute follow up surveys based on samples
>
I think this is a fairly comprehensive, minimal list. There are a lot of other variables to consider, but those will likely be on a case by case basis.
> Here's a rough draft of what I have so far. I'm trying to link to Qualtrics support pages instead of taking screenshots because Qualtrics changes and I don't want it to be outdated. Let me know if anyone has any suggestions or comments!
>
> Qualtrics Longitudinal Study Documentation
> 1. Create a contact list
> Option 1: Assign embedded data variable in contact list (if known prior to survey)
> 2. Create survey
> Option 2: Assign embedded data value in the survey flow (if based off of a survey question)
> 3. Create a contact list trigger
> Be sure to assign embedded data in the contact list trigger using piped text from a survey
> question or survey flow
> 4. Distribute survey to contact list
>
> Options for longitudinal aspect
> 1. Create multiple surveys for each time point (can copy surveys)
> Change name of embedded data fields in new surveys (in survey flow and contact list trigger)
> to ensure embedded from first survey is not overwritten. For example, the name of the
> embedded data in the first survey could be Value1, while the second survey would be Value2,
> etc...
> 2. Create samples for the contact list based on embedded data
> Can create samples based on embedded data
> Distribute follow up surveys based on samples
>
I think this is a fairly comprehensive, minimal list. There are a lot of other variables to consider, but those will likely be on a case by case basis.
@AlexB if you want to collect data from the same survey over time, but are less concerned with sending to same group of people, or your group is slightly different each interval, the setup is really easy. I have such a project set up for Course Evaluations. I'm not concerned with linking a individual person's responses over time, instead I'm concerned if the overall 'satisfaction' of various factors is going up or down over time, or is drastically different for certain groups, course subjects, instructors, etc.
So, I have a single project that I use every semester, and this has a corresponding Vocalize dashboard. Each iteration of the course evaluation period, I load a contact list with the students, and the key here is to have a variable in the contact list that includes the semester (and all other factors we want to monitor). Once you have several iteration of responses with several different 'semesters' of data, you can create longitudinal widgets that show your 'satisfaction' scores over time. I'm over simplifying what goes into the Widget here, but you select your question/variable and cross it with your 'semester' variable to see change over time. In my example below I am displaying the 'score' for a handful of questions over time. The first term is low due to that being a pilot term, and I take those with a grain of salt. Semester two seems solid, but semester three is a little scattered and some questioned took a dip, so we should do some digging here. I'll also disregard the summer session as that was a small handful of courses that required evaluations for accreditation.
!
So, I have a single project that I use every semester, and this has a corresponding Vocalize dashboard. Each iteration of the course evaluation period, I load a contact list with the students, and the key here is to have a variable in the contact list that includes the semester (and all other factors we want to monitor). Once you have several iteration of responses with several different 'semesters' of data, you can create longitudinal widgets that show your 'satisfaction' scores over time. I'm over simplifying what goes into the Widget here, but you select your question/variable and cross it with your 'semester' variable to see change over time. In my example below I am displaying the 'score' for a handful of questions over time. The first term is low due to that being a pilot term, and I take those with a grain of salt. Semester two seems solid, but semester three is a little scattered and some questioned took a dip, so we should do some digging here. I'll also disregard the summer session as that was a small handful of courses that required evaluations for accreditation.
!
@JakeW what are you using for the "score"? An average or percentage? I really like this widget and I may want to borrow the concept once we have multiple semesters of data to display!
@VirginiaM each of the questions on the Course Eval have a 1-5 scale, so the points on this widget are the average of the ratings. 1=Strongly Disagree...5=Strongly Agree
Please note that on that widget, the scale range does not begin at 0! The lowest Fall 2016 figure is above 4points...
Please note that on that widget, the scale range does not begin at 0! The lowest Fall 2016 figure is above 4points...
> @lillianc said:
> If there are several waves of the study, you can add embedded data to distinguish participants.
Does anyone know how to get the embedded data from the contact list to be included in the second time-point/third time point surveys? I've added an ID code for each participant which is collected by the contact list trigger. But I don't know how to get this information to be linked to the surveys in part 2 and 3.
> If there are several waves of the study, you can add embedded data to distinguish participants.
Does anyone know how to get the embedded data from the contact list to be included in the second time-point/third time point surveys? I've added an ID code for each participant which is collected by the contact list trigger. But I don't know how to get this information to be linked to the surveys in part 2 and 3.
@sdesilva the Qualtrics page on survey flow has a great step by step procedure on saving embedded data - as long as the code is already saved to the Contact List, you can use it in parts 2 and 3 by saving the code by setting embedded data in the survey flow.
I typically steer researchers in our university community away from Qualtrics for longitudinal studies or studies with repeating measures/events/instruments. I prefer REDCap for this type of classic experimental or longitudinal design. That said, I will often call a Qualtrics survey from a REDCap instrument, often for anonymized incentive surveys. Qualtrics is my "go to" tool for ease of use and customer support but for complex longitudinal research projects or projects with multiple arms/experimental designs we have much luck using REDCap.
> @BC_rani said:
> I typically steer researchers in our university community away from Qualtrics for longitudinal studies or studies with repeating measures/events/instruments. I prefer REDCap for this type of classic experimental or longitudinal design. That said, I will often call a Qualtrics survey from a REDCap instrument, often for anonymized incentive surveys. Qualtrics is my "go to" tool for ease of use and customer support but for complex longitudinal research projects or projects with multiple arms/experimental designs we have much luck using REDCap.
This just made my week... never heard of REDCap and it seems precisely the tool I need
> I typically steer researchers in our university community away from Qualtrics for longitudinal studies or studies with repeating measures/events/instruments. I prefer REDCap for this type of classic experimental or longitudinal design. That said, I will often call a Qualtrics survey from a REDCap instrument, often for anonymized incentive surveys. Qualtrics is my "go to" tool for ease of use and customer support but for complex longitudinal research projects or projects with multiple arms/experimental designs we have much luck using REDCap.
This just made my week... never heard of REDCap and it seems precisely the tool I need
If you are planning a longitudinal survey it would be better to use a survey software that is designed for longitudinal designs so that you can create a single survey with all your timepoints. I have done this with Dacima Survey (the survey module of Dacima Software's EDC platform) which offers all kinds of design options and allows you to create and manage followup surveys and other study designs for clinical research. Dacima is much more advanced that RedCap. In this way you can automatically manage all your followup surveys through the system without the need for work arounds like pushing certain data to other cross sectional survey. By having it all it one survey is is much easier to manage and analyze.
Hi all! If you have not yet already, I'd recommend checking out this support page, which explains how you can setup a longitudinal survey using Qualtrics! If you have any additional questions or if you have any issues with the setup, be sure to reach out to our wonderful Support team!
JakeW I am looking to build a simple stratification report overtime, seems to be similar to your example. Could you please share how you build the longitudinal chart? I am not sure if I understand what you meant by Widget and how to build it in the reporting function in Qualtrics. Thanks so much!
Unless I am misunderstanding the link provided by LaurenK, which I have referred to many times, there are issues that prevent this method from working. For one, the authenticator, as identified by multiple people, actually creates problems and has been advised by some Support personnel to be thus avoided. The second, and this is key, is this support page states you must redirect participants to the second survey from the first and that they will be redirected immediately (upon completion of the first). In a longitudinal study, you don't want them to be redirected immediately, there is a time delay between surveys... Rather, the idea is that different surveys (or components of the same survey, or the same recurring survey) are sent at different times and or days. I think the longitudinal support page needs to be reconsidered and updated.
Viki_M7 I just submitted a ticket to support about these issues before finding your comment. Do you have simple solutions to the 2 problems that are easy to explain here before support gets back to me?
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