Marshall and his team followed participants over a two-week period, monitored what they ate and compared levels of self-esteem and stereotypical behavior. Unique records were needed for each participant to fill in an eating diary and complete various activities to measure self-esteem.

According to Marshall, “this was a one off study, that would not likely be repeated. Committing a lot of resource to creating what amounted to a custom web application was something that we wanted to avoid.”

And that’s where Qualtrics came in to play. Marshall and his team were able to avoid building a backend scheduling process and a database to maintain participant records by using Qualtrics. Ordinarily, they would just build a PHP-based webservice to interact with the back end components. Instead, they used the webservice component in Qualtrics to do what they needed.

Marshall said, “Rather than spending a week designing and implementing an interface, it took me only a couple of hours to create surveys for each of the key tasks in the experiment!!”

Specifically for their experiment, Marshall and his team were able to:

• Create an initial registration survey for general participant information
• Register the participant with their system using Qualtrics webservice features
• Schedule tasks and email reminders for each key activity in the experiment
• Link participant data with their database records
• Feed participant information like name, gender, etc. into the questionnaire as embedded data

“Qualtrics essentially took a project that we weren’t going to be able to commit the resources for, to a point where one person could implement it inside a couple of days,” Marshall said.

Thanks to Jason Marshall for sharing his story! It’s amazing to hear all the creative ways people are using Qualtrics. If you have any innovative uses for Qualtrics, let us hear about it!

How exactly does this benefit Qualtrics users? Here are just a few potential applications:

• Add customer satisfaction survey data to customer records in SalesForce
• Trigger a survey invitation when a SalesForce event occurs (i.e. when a business deal is closed)
• Simplify process for updating customer contact data (let customers update it themselves)
• Trigger alerts based on customer feedback (i.e. when negative customer feedback is collected)

Once you link your SalesForce account with Qualtrics, you can start exchanging data between Qualtrics surveys and your SalesForce CRM environment. Here are a few key specifics:

• Web-To-Lead Feature:
  

  Qualtrics can integrate any survey response with Salesforce using the advanced options menu.

  • Web-to-Lead lets you pull a respondent’s data out of a Qualtrics survey and useit to create a lead in SalesForce.(For a more detailed tutorial on how to use this feature, visit http://www.qualtrics.com/university/tutorial-videos/edit-a-survey/ and view the “SalesForce Web to Lead” video)
• Transfer Qualtrics Data to SalesForce
  • With Response Mapping, you can map a survey response to ANY SalesForce object by performing an insert, update or delete. This feature gives you complete flexibility to transfer any piece of survey data from Qualtrics into a designated field in SalesForce.
• Follow-ups Based on Survey Feedback:
  • The Trigger-to-Email Survey feature allows you to set up handlers for triggers in SalesForce. When a trigger occurs in SalesForce, it will automatically send an outbound message to our system that will then send a survey to the recipient.

Coupling SalesForce with Qualtrics’ award winning Research Suite enables you to bring your customers and your research under one roof.

The answer is a resounding yes. A wide variety of industries including banking, marketing and management, health care and economic recovery have already made predictions and estimations for 2011 based primarily on survey results.

According to Information Security Media Group, banking institutions are continually relying on outdated technology that exposes them to serious security threats. In their Face of Fraud Survey, they predicted that financial institutions across the board are expected to invest heavily in fraud prevention and security systems in 2011. To a fraud prevention company, this information would be invaluable as they now know exactly which industry to target this upcoming year.

In a survey from Accept Corp., they found that 50 percent of all innovative products fail, and only 26 percent of all innovators involve customers in the creative process. Among these statistics, they also listed factors for product failure including failing to automate innovative processes, failure to manage execution risk and failure to align strategy and execution. Any product developer or development company can now look at this information and see where they fall in each of these categories and in what areas they need to improve.

Milliman’s 2010 Group Health Insurance Survey estimates that premium rate increases in January 2011 will average 11.7 percent for Preferred Provider Organizations (PPOs) and 10.2 percent for Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs). Thanks to this survey, health care organizations and patients alike know what to expect in the health care industry this year.

The InformationWeek Analytics 2011 survey found that 39 percent of business technology professionals are using a type of Wi-Fi network called wireless local area networks (WLANs) on a large scale, while 700 million people are using 1 billion Wi-Fi-enabled devices worldwide. When compared side by side, these numbers can show companies exactly what technological investments will be the most useful for their employees, customers and potential markets.

Finally, the December Semiannual Economy Forecast demonstrated high expectations for economy recovery in 2011 as 65 percent of the manufacturing sector expects revenues to be greater this year than they were in 2010.  With these survey results, the manufacturing industry can be confident in their potential for success and growth in 2011.

In conclusion, online survey results can be much more than just data in a table or a PowerPoint graph. When used wisely, this information can provide major opportunities for change and growth within an industry, company or organization.

The OBTS Teaching Society for Management Educators has been promoting excellence in management education for over 35 years.

Karen, along with two other collaborators, Dr. Kathryn Crockett (Lubbock Christian University) and Michael Winegeart (Abilene Christian University), developed the Generation-Y leadership study at Abilene Christian University's 10th annual Leadership Summit back in January. More than 100 students led by experienced business professionals and university leaders participated in the annual retreat, where 19-to 22-year-old students had a week-long opportunity to examine how they can make a difference in the world. According to Winegeart, many students view the Leadership Summit program as the best investment of their college career.

"When you push students out of their comfort zone, limit distractions and focus on vital issues, something magical happens," Winegeart said. "They learn about themselves while bringing to light new knowledge and ideas. They're inspired by the stories of the speakers to be courageous, imaginative and innovative."

WHAT ROLE DID QUALTRICS PLAY?

At the Leadership Summit, both the participants and the leaders completed a survey Karen created using the Qualtrics Research Suite.  The results of the survey presented a cross-generational view of the respondents' perceptions of leadership concepts. From these surveys they developed a presentation reporting on the differences in generational perspectives of leadership, the ways students learned in the retreat versus the way they would in a typical classroom, and how the retreat setting allowed for focused introspective learning.

Shortly thereafter, Karen and Kathryn presented the retreat group findings at the 2010 Organizational Behavior Teaching Conference at the University of New Mexico. The conference's theme was "Engaging Difference," which tied in perfectly with their demonstration of how the leadership retreat contributed to growth in Generation-Y leaders. The attendees at the OBTC had the opportunity to complete a mini-version of the survey, which asked them to predict their students' responses to the questions.

Using Qualtrics, Karen not only created customized surveys for the project, but she also acknowledged that Qualtrics' responsive support and that the ability to access everything she needed online was invaluable.

"Qualtrics has given me a highly flexible, customizable tool for survey development," Karen said. "Qualtrics' tool is considerably more flexible and allows for a lot more customization than other tools do. What surprised me was how much Qualtrics limited my need for additional analytical tools. The ability to get 80-90% of what I needed directly out of Qualtrics suite made my life a lot simpler."

With the ability to quickly download data into Word, Powerpoint, SPSS or Excel, Karen said, "In a pinch, before my full work was analyzed, I was able to put together a simple 'current state of research' presentation in about ten minutes."

Lastly, Karen said that the transparency of the tool around survey respondent usage was also a big help. "Any time I ran into a user who hadn’t started or completed a survey, I knew Qualtrics would help me to figure out when they logged in and how long–or if they stayed in the survey."

"Qualtrics gave me a lot of confidence. I felt like it delivered what it promised, and I could back track to figure out what and how it was delivering."

ETHICS IN LEADERSHIP: IMPORTANT FINDINGS FOR BUSINESS SCHOOLS & NON-PROFITS

One finding with special impact on ethics and leadership is that 38% of students did not agree with the statement: "The actions of most leaders I know align to what they say."

"Ethics is a very important dimension to leadership, one about which many organizations are justifiably concerned," Karen said.

A related finding that Karen shared with us from the study was that 26% of the students surveyed could not name a leader that they considered a role model for their future careers as leaders. "This highlights the possible need for some business schools to replace some generic case studies with real-life business examples and to incorporate business subject matter experts," Karen said.

Another finding uncovered from the study had important implications to non-profits: 51% of the Gen-Y group surveyed indicated they would be more likely to be involved in a volunteer group if they were given leadership roles. Karen noted that at least one non-profit with whom she is working is taking this insight to heart,  designing more opportunities for these potential leaders.

This study on Gen-Y Leadership study has led Karen to begin her next big project using Qualtrics to develop an assessment for leaders. She is focusing her research on a principle of leadership called "Servant Leadership," which helps leaders understand how to take care of the needs of those they serve.

ABOUT THE RESEARCHER

Karen Smith-Will is the President of Valutivity LLC.  Valutivity LLC helps faith-based & education non-profit s improve their Valutivity Quotient by converting activity into measurable value that aligns with their vision. Karen previously invested sixteen years at Capital One as an award-winning Process Engineer, Manager and Consultant. She has been married to her best friend, Barry, for over twenty years and has 3 beautiful children: Xander, Ashton and Alexa. Karen's non-profit experience spans over 25 years and includes memberships on multiple boards. If you're interested in having Karen present this material for your business or organization click here.

Further details about the research are located in this Valutivity article.

We wanted to share with you some of the ways Qualtrics helps prepare undergraduate and graduate students enter the business world with professionalism and real-world experience.

Just recently, the Harvard Business Review began a six-week series of articles that focused on "Leadership."

One of these articles by William Sullivan is entitled, "Preparing Undergraduates as Business Professionals." Sullivan addresses what business schools need to incorporate into their programs to better equip students with the experience and professionalism requisite to succeed as leaders in the business world.

He recommends business schools should focus on:

• inciting analytic thinking
• promoting intellectual curiosity
• emphasizing flexibility and creativity
• helping students learn to see the logic from the outside of business as well as from within

Our clients report that Qualtrics helped them achieve "d. all of the above." Qualtrics has been used as a valuable resource for conducting and analyzing research within the walls of some of the most prominent MBA programs and academic institutions.

Additionally, a second article we wanted to share with you from the "Leadership" series that pertains to this topic, "Fueling an Appetite for Leadership," also provides a sort of "checklist" for business schools to ensure they are helping prepare their students to become the future professional business leaders they hope to.

The author, Gianpiero Petriglieri said that in order for institutions to help students address important leadership questions, business school programs must:

1. Reconsider the implications of the theories and leadership exemplars they offer.

2. Rethink the ways courses are structured.

3. Revisit what is required of educational leaders, and developing those leaders. Facilitating experiential learning is different than traditional teaching. It requires the skills and sensitivity to assist a process of personal and professional development, to encourage introspection and experimentation, and to link abstract principles with unique predicaments. Business schools will be short of such professional expertise unless doctoral programs that train their faculty pay more attention to the art and science of pedagogy.

4. Muster the courage to stir things up, and be stirred up, in the service of learning. Inspirational tales, theories, and tools alone don't develop leaders. They protect them from the unsettling experience of leading. The reassuring illusion that leadership can be acquired and deployed, rather than having to be constantly negotiated, may be what we crave, but it is not what we need. Leadership development must offer more than that.

Click here to read the full article.

If you are interested in learning more about how business schools around the world have benefited from using Qualtrics, give us a call at 801.374.6682 or click here!

CASE conducted the first-ever national survey of alumni magazine readers; USA Today picked up the study and entitled the article: "Alumni magazines don't connect with younger grads."

Exciting for us is that Qualtrics played a key role in this national survey. Not only was Qualtrics the tool of choice, but it provided amazing functionality to generate reliable results on a large scale.

Rae Goldsmith, vice president of advancement resources at CASE, comments about the role of Qualtrics in this study: "Our partnership with Qualtrics was instrumental in fielding this important, ongoing survey, which now has more than 200 institutions participating."

The study is producing significant findings for CASE that are attracting attention from higher education outlets across the United States. It has already created particular buzz surrounding alumni magazines and younger grads.

USA Today article, "Alumni magazines don't connect with younger grads"

A LOOK INTO THE FINDINGS

Positive news for alumni magazines: "The results show plenty of good news for the magazines in terms of loyal readers who read every issue, who in fact care about more than class notes — and who link their readership to their connections to alma mater."

And the negative: "But the survey also suggests that alumni magazines, long seen as a key part of the way institutions maintain close ties to graduates, are much less popular with younger alumni than with older alumni."

The article goes in-depth about alumni magazines, their purpose and the challenges to stay relevant.

Goldsmith was quoted in the article referencing the increasing need to engage young alumni.

"It is a major issue in that research on the younger graduates indicates that they are very interested in different types of causes" than their alma maters alone. "There is a real need for institutions to connect with their younger alumni."

For more information about alumni magazines, how to engage the rising generation and more key findings, click here for the full article.

In his marketing and theory-driven MBA courses, Dr. Eric D. DeRosia, Assistant Professor of Marketing at the Marriott School, also uses Qualtrics as a teaching tool. He shared some valuable insights with us about how and why he integrates Qualtrics into his classroom for conducting experimental designs.

"I have found Qualtrics to be a useful tool for teaching," DeRosia said in a report he shared with our founder, Scott Smith.

"For some assignments Qualtrics allows me to go beyond evaluating their work as an instructor, giving students the opportunity to see the responses of 'real live people' to their work," he added.

The Marriott School of Management is recognized as one of the top MBA schools in the country. The Wall Street Journal ranked BYU’s MBA program 1st in the nation among regional schools in its 2007 report of top business programs.

Dr. DeRosia shared three specific assignments where he uses and teaches Qualtrics throughout his MBA course. In the first two assignments, students create stimuli that can be shown to consumers. Using Qualtrics, the stimuli are shown to consumers and their evaluations are collected.

1. COMPREHENSION ASSIGNMENT

In its first appearance, Qualtrics is part of a hands-on assignment regarding the comprehension stage of information processing. The learning objectives of the assignment are for students to improve their ability to (1) simplify messages to maximize comprehension among consumers, and (2) anticipate and minimize unintended interpretations among consumers.

In essence, the groups are asked to write a set of instructions for accomplishing a specific task, and the group who instructs the most people to accurately complete the task receives a prize.

To complete this challenge, Dr. DeRosia uses Qualtrics to create a between-subjects experiment.

"After collecting the data using Qualtrics, I discuss the results with the class," he said. "I lay some groundwork for the third appearance of Qualtrics," which appears later on in the course.

Then, DeRosia reports the results of the Qualtrics study, including the overall success rate for each group, and the one with the highest success rate is awarded the prize.

"The results give students feedback from actual consumers, yielding a more 'hands-on' assignment than can be achieved with traditional instructor feedback," DeRosia said.

2. AFFECT ASSIGNMENT

For its second appearance in this professor's course, Qualtrics is part of another hands-on assignment about consumers’ affective responses to advertisements. The setup of this assignment is similar to the Comprehension Assignment. The students submit ad elements, which DeRosia uses as stimuli to create an experiment in Qualtrics. After participants are recruited, DeRosia said he discusses the study’s outcomes with students and ties the results to the assignment’s learning objectives.

"To lay more groundwork for the third appearance of Qualtrics later in the course, I ensure that the students have all the details necessary to re‑create my Qualtrics questionnaire if they like," he said.

3. EXPERIMENTATION DISCUSSION

The third appearance of Qualtrics in the course happens in context of an experimentation discussion.

The discussion point is that experimentation—testing a variety of managerial actions—is often of great value.

"I remind the students that during their marketing research class they learned how to use Qualtrics," DeRosia said. "The learning point is that judgment is good, but when experimentation is practical it is often superior to judgment alone."

If you're interested in learning more about using Qualtrics as a teaching tool or getting a license for your school, please send us an email at publicrelations@qualtrics.com

Social science researches rely greatly on data collection and analysis. It could be numerical or non-numerical data. There are two types of research methods: one is quantitative research and the other is qualitative research. Quantitative research is based on statistical approaches and qualitative research is based on content analysis, comparative analysis, grounded theory, and interpretation. The tools used in both methods also show great difference. In quantitative research, data is collected through polls, questionnaires or surveys; qualitative research is a study of social phenomena with the help of interviews, personal opinions, etc. However, both methods depend a lot on data collection for reaching a conclusion regarding the subject or topic under study. Some research topics require both types of data collection and analysis method; people need to interviewed, numbered and the results have to be analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. For example, you may want to know the percentage of people who watch a particular program on TV and analyze their viewing pattern based on their TV watching behavior. That is why both qualitative and quantitative data collection is very important in scientific and social studies.

"Both qualitative and quantitative data collection is very important in scientific and social studies."

POWER OF DATA COLLECTION

Data collection cannot be taken away from research studies. Because, without either qualitative or quantitative data, you cannot get any information about a particular subject. Data is in fact the tools used to measure social phenomena that affect human life in many different ways. They are the parameters that decide human nature and behavior in many circumstances. For example, a person’s gender or age may decide how he or she reacts to a particular situation, whether hypothetical or real. If you have collected sufficient data to analyze the response in quantitative and qualitative terms, you can say with much authority why such a response came from that person.

That is the power of data collection. It gives you the ability to make predictions in different situations. Pre-poll surveys and results that show the direction that the final results of an election will move are an excellent example of accurate data collection.

DATA COLLECTION WITH QUALTRICS

Nowadays, as the Internet has become an inseparable part of human existence, almost all activities of man are conducted through this medium. Research is no exception. Apart from conducting online researches, you are now able to analyze, calculate and produce research results with the help of several useful research tools available on the web. Qualtrics is one such effective software that provides and excellent research tool for market research and enterprise feedback management. It is an online survey software. It is very easy to use software. You can use it for any type of data collection and management. It can be for academic purpose, for products surveys, or for general purpose research.

Qualtrics can serve the requirements of each type of user. It is very professional and flexible. Qualtrics provides a complete guided tutorial for the members. With the help of the tutorial, you can learn how to use Qualtrics, learn about surveys, watch a webinar, watch video tutorials, and attend Qualtrics trainings. The tutorials will help you in handling this survey tool with great ease and for your benefit.



ABOUT MOHD

The author has been writing articles online for nearly two years now. Not only does this author specialize in data collection, you can also check out his latest website about graduation party supplies and universal laptop adapter. They have useful information and tips.

Can anyone recommend a survey software package designed for research on users' experiences of websites? Where the research participant can review the site and submit their responses on a single screen?

We were happy to answer this person's question and thought we would share the response with others who are curious about website feedback surveys.



WEBSITE FEEDBACK SURVEYS

There are a few ways you can gather research about web visitors through a survey.

• First, use an engaging survey and question types to attract attention
• Second, contact visitors at the time of web browsing
• Third, allow the research participant to review the site and submit their responses on a single screen through continuous feedback

USE AN ENGAGING SURVEY AND QUESTION TYPES TO ATTRACT ATTENTION

Although there are many ways to gather feedback about a website, the most important decision is the survey/research tool of choice. There are many options, but if you are looking to engage web visitors, a tool like Qualtrics is ideal. For our current users, consider gathering feedback about your website. It could be a great way to improve your operations across the board.

They have many ways to engage respondents. First, use Qualtrics' heat-map or hot-spot question types which allow a respondent to click part of an image that stands out to him/her. This is perfect for web tracking, because you can actually test where the viewer's eye goes first. They are fun, interactive, clean and fresh. With this form of data collection, you can also target parts of your website that are attractive, informative or need redesign.

Does your website earn a thumb's up or a thumb's down?

CONTACT USERS AT THE TIME OF WEB BROWSING

Second, it is essential to contact users at the time they are browsing the site. If you wait too long to gather feedback or wait and hold a focus group, the opportunity could be overlooked.

As many of our users have heard, Qualtrics just redesigned our main tutorial and help website, Qualtrics University. This site is designed to help users in the tool.

To gather feedback about this new makeover, a pop-under was inserted to attract viewers to a survey to give their feedback. This type of contact is essential and proves very beneficial on the back-end. We thank all our users who have given us valuable feedback.

Screen shot of Qualtrics University pop-under

Also with Qualtrics, you can use embedded surveys, pop-ups, or a generic link to attract visitors. Even more, set up e-mail triggers for certain responses (if people are dissatisfied, confused, etc.) to improve web/customer relations.



GATHER CONTINUOUS FEEDBACK

Last, continually gathering feedback about a website is essential. Everyone can see something different. If you allow respondents to experience your site and then immediately target them for feedback, your results will be more helpful.

Another idea is to have a feedback survey always available on your website. Perhaps you have a "contact us" or similar page. This location is a perfect place to continually target web visitors.

Best of luck to all in attracting web visitors and gathering feedback! Do you have more tips? Share them with others and leave a comment!

Yesterday, Qualtrics was featured on the blog, Marketing By Deepak. This blog is a hub for marketing, social media, career and networking topics.

The author, Deepak, has an extensive background in marketing and social media for corporate and non-profit clients. He provides resources and best practices to thousands through his networking on Twitter, LinkedIn and other outlets.

In his post, "Conversation with Ryan Smith, the CEO of Qualtrics Survey Software and Expert in Increasing Response Rates" Deepak highlighted Ryan Smith, Director of Qualtrics and how Qualtrics survey software improves response rates.

Deepak said, "Because of Ryan’s leadership, I felt that I should share my experience with my readers and let them know what Qualtrics is all about. I asked Ryan how to increase response rates on surveys."

Deepak goes in depth with Ryan and explains some key tips to increase response rates. Deepak also highlights a webinar and some slides for review of these helpful tips.

Click here to view the post.

Deepak has interviewed several marketing influencers including Bryce Marshall, a Mobile Marketing Guru that spoke for The American Marketing Association; Hank Blank, Networking Guru of Orange County; and Jim Rochford, Marketing Communications Expert.