Qualtrics - Collaboration and Sharing


Introduction

The Collaborate feature allows someone else to have some level of managing access to a project within Qualtrics. For example, some users may only need access to assist with creating the survey but should not have access to the results. Alternatively, some users may need access to the results of a survey but should not have access to edit the survey.

NOTE: A survey can only have one owner and only that owner can share the survey.

Collaboration is only possible between Qualtrics users. To share a survey with someone without requiring that individual to have an account, a survey can instead be exported to Microsoft Word format for distribution.

 

Collaboration Outside of the Current Brand

Different instances of Qualtrics are called brands. Surveys reside within the brand in which they are developed and normally only users within that same brand will be able to contribute to the survey. In some instances, however, a Qualtrics survey may require collaboration with users from a different brand than the one in which the survey was developed. Collaboration is usually possible as long as all of the user accounts involved have the Collaboration Outside of Organization option enabled.

In Qualtrics, after clicking Projects, under the Actions drop down menu for a project, users have a Collaborate button. Clicking the Collaborate button allows the user to share a project/survey with any user outside of the brand so long as the email address associated with the account of the outside user is entered. (The other user must also have the Collaboration Outside of Organization option enabled.)

 

Instructions

Collaboration consists of two aspects: the sharing of the survey by the owner and the acceptance of the shared survey by the collaborator.

  • In instances where the specific account of the collaborator is selected, the acceptance is automatic.
  • If a survey is shared with an email address, the collaborator will typically use a collaboration code to accept the shared survey.
 

 

Survey Owner Instructions - Sharing a Survey

Different instances of Qualtrics are called brands. When both user accounts are housed on the same brand, sharing a project is fairly straightforward.  Collaboration with a user on a different brand is possible, but requires the survey owner to know the email address associated with that individual's Qualtrics account.

 

With a User Account

  1. After logging into Qualtrics, the Home Screen will appear. Towards the upper left corner of the window, click the Navigation button and select Projects.
  2. In the Project list, locate the project/survey to share and, under its Actions drop down menu (click the '...' button), select the Collaborate option.
  3. In the provided field, start typing the email address associated with the Qualtrics username of the collaborator.
    In the search box, Qualtrics only displays partial matches within the user's brand; users in other brands are not displayed even if their accounts are enabled for collaboration. For collaboration with users outside the user's brand, use the email address of the outside user.

    • If the user account is housed on the same brand, select the name from the dropdown list so it replaces the Qualtrics username in the field and then click the Add button.
    • Otherwise, the user account is likely housed on a different brand.  Make sure to type the full email address and then click the Add button.

      Accounts housed on the Michigan Medicine (UMHS) brand and the University Wide brand are associated with the user's generic U-M email address; e.g., uniqname@umich.edu.

      Non-UM accounts can have any form; check with the Qualtrics user to determine the appropriate email address to use for the collaboration.

  4. A special panel will appear to send a message to the collaborator's email address.
    1. The default message, which is never visible, provides some basic information about accessing the shared survey. In cases where an email address is associated with multiple Qualtrics accounts, the default message will include a collaboration code and a link to allow the recipient to create a trial Qualtrics account, if needed.
    2. Add custom text of the message if desired.
    3. Click the OK button to send the message.
  5. After sending the message, the user name or email address will appear in the User List for the survey in anticipation of the new account.
  6. Adjust the access permissions to the survey for the user as needed. To remove an individual from the list, simply click the red circle associated with the name on the far right.

 

With a Group on the Same Brand

Qualtrics also offers the ability to share a survey with a Qualtrics group on the same brand.  Surveys cannot be shared with groups on a different brand.  An advantage of sharing with a group is avoiding the requirement of collaboration codes as the group membership functions in that capacity instead.

  1. After logging into Qualtrics, the Home Screen will appear. Towards the upper left corner of the window, click the Navigation button and select Projects.
  2. In the Project list, locate the project/survey to share and, under its Actions drop down menu, select the Collaborate option.  (The appearance will vary depending on the option selected for the list format.)
  3. In the survey panel, to the right of the provided field, click the User and Group Address Book link.
  4. The groups of which you are a member will be listed at the top of the address book. Select the appropriate group and then the Add Selected button. The group will appear in the Collaborator List for the survey.
  5. Adjust the access permissions to the survey for the group as needed and click the Save button. To remove a group from the list, simply click the red circle associated with the group on the far right.

 

Collaborator Instructions - Accepting a Shared Survey

Collaborators typically only need to accept a share survey when the survey is shared with their account via its email address.  These instructions are not needed if a collaborator receives access to a survey as a member of a group.

 

  1. Log in to Qualtrics.
    • If the individual has an existing Qualtrics account, the individual should log in to Qualtrics like normal.
    • If the individual is new to Qualtrics, the individual must click the new account link in the email to first create a trial Qualtrics account with sharing enabled.
      If the individual created a trial account by any other means, the account will likely not have the sharing functionality enabled. The individual will need to contact Qualtrics Support (800-340-9194) to have the existing trial account removed to allow a new one to be created (with sharing enabled) using the link provided in the invitation email.
  2. After logging into Qualtrics, the Home Screen will appear. Towards the upper left corner of the window, click the Navigation button and select Projects.
     
    • If the account does not currently own any surveys/projects, nor has any successfully shared with it, the collaborator may have to create a new, empty survey.  Once a survey is present in the account, towards the upper left corner, click the Navigation button and select Projects again.
    • If a left navigation pane of Project collections is not visible, click the folder icon to display the pane.
  3. In the left navigation pane, click the Shared with Me entry.
  4. Towards the upper right corner, click the Enter Collaboration Code button.
  5. In the Accept Survey Collaboration pop-up, paste the collaboration code from the invitation email into the provided field and click the Submit button.

The associated survey should appear on the screen with its owner identified as an entry under the Shared with Me entry.  Depending on the selected view and sort option, the survey's owner name can appear as a header (metric view sorted by Owner Name), under the project name (metric view), or under the Owner column (if enabled in the list view).

If the invitation is not received, the email is likely being filtered by a mail server or blocked by the specific email account. While the collaboration code for the specific survey must be used to access the survey, the associated email address is not required to match the email address associated with the Qualtrics account.