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Anonymous Survey Link

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Distributing

When you activate your survey, Qualtrics generates an anonymous link that a respondent can click on to take the survey. This link can be copied and pasted into emails, web pages, or documents.

This is the most basic option for distributing your survey. If you are wanting to send out unique links to a panel, visit the Distribute to a Panel page for more information.

Step-By-Step

Traits of the Anonymous Survey Link
  • Any responses collected through this link will be anonymous (No panel information attached to the response).
  • Saves the respondent’s progress through cookies. If the respondent starts the survey, leaves, and comes back to the same browser, they will start where they left off.
  • There is no limit to how many times this link can be used. Respondents can pass it on to other respondents to take.
use the Anonymous Survey Link
  1. Go to the Distribute Survey tab.
  2. If your survey is not yet activated, click the link that says Activate your survey to collect responses.
  3. Highlight the link that appears, and hit Ctrl+C on your keyboard to copy the link.
  4. Paste the link into an email or on a website to distribute.
Customize the Anonymous Link
The Anonymous Survey Link can be customized to display any text you wish. The Customize option creates anchor text for the hyperlink to the survey.

To customize the Anonymous Survey Link:

  1. Go to the Distribute Survey tab, and select the Survey Link page on the gray navigation bar.
  2. On the bottom-right of the Survey Link yellow box, click Custom Link.
  3. Next to Link Text, type the text that you would like to appear for the link.
  4. If you would like to paste your link into an HTML editor (such as a website editor), next to the HTML Link, copy the displayed code and paste it into your HTML editor.
  5. If you would like to paste your link into an email or other non-HTML editor, copy the blue underlined link at the top of the Survey Link yellow box, and paste it into your text editor.

More Information

Qtips
  • By default, the anonymous survey link collects the user’s IP address to help detect potential spam responses. In most cases this is not considered identifying information, but if your IRB board or ethics committee requires that it not be collected, you can turn it off by opening Survey Options and selecting Anonymize Response.
  • If your link will be printed on paper, consider using a link shortening service, such as http://tinyurl.com/. You simply give the service your long survey link, and it will give you a short, easy-to-type link that will direct participants to your survey. We are not affiliated with tinyurl.com but know that many of our clients have at success using it.