Panel Company Integration

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Strategy & Research
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Qualtrics
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About Panel Company Integrations

Qtip: Qualtrics provides Panel Services for an additional cost to set up panel company integrations, recruit respondents, and facilitate data collection projects. Fill out this contact form for more information.

If you are using a panel company to distribute your survey to specific respondents, you’ll need to set up your survey to track respondents properly. This page outlines a step-by-step process for your panel company integration.

Understanding Panel Company Integration with Qualtrics

Panel company integration can be complex to set up, so let’s break it down a little before we walk through the setup.

The panel company you are working with is providing you with specific respondents without actually revealing the confidential personal information of each participant.

In order to accomplish this, the panel company has assigned identifying fields or IDs to each participant by using standardized fields such as id, pid, uid, ticket, or others to store the identifying information. The purpose of the integration process is to record each participant’s identifying information inside of Qualtrics and pass back that information to the panel company upon survey completion.

Once the participant completes the survey, the recorded identifying information will be sent back to the panel company through a redirect link. Participants are redirected to the panel company’s website in order to receive compensation, and their identifying information included in redirect link will be used to confirm that compensation.

Warning: The redirect to a URL features available in Qualtrics (which are critical in this setup) are not available to free account users.

As part of the panel company integration process, you will send the anonymous link of your survey to the panel company you are working with. Once the panel company is ready to invite respondents to take the survey, they will create a unique link for each potential respondent by taking the link you sent them and adding the participant’s identifying information to the end of the link. Later on, when a participant clicks the link to the survey, they will carry with them their own unique information into the survey.

In addition, the panel company will send you three or four “redirect” website addresses (or redirect links). Every respondent that comes from your panel company (and does not drop out of the survey early) should be redirected back to one of those addresses. Depending on whether the respondent finished the survey completely (Complete), got screened out because they did not qualify to take the survey (Screen Out), attempted to take the survey after you have collected the responses you need (Over Quota), or gave low quality responses (Quality Check), they should be redirected to a different link.

All survey participants should be redirected to the panel company’s website, but depending on their status, they may or may not receive compensation. The redirect links must be modified to insert each participant’s identifying information. All of these steps mentioned will be explained in the following sections below.

You will need to give the panel company your anonymous link. The panel company will attach identifying information to the end of this link when distributing the survey so that they can track respondents.

To provide the Anonymous Link

Navigate to the the Distributions tab for the project you’re working on.
Get a Single Reusable Link option in Distributions Tab
Get a Single Reusable Link option in Distributions Tab
If you haven’t yet activated your survey, click Get a single reusable link.
Click the Anonymous Link tab and copy your Anonymous Survey Link.
Anonymous Link section with link displayed
Anonymous Link section with link displayed
Email the link to the panel company.

Modifying the Redirect Links Provided by the Panel Company

Your panel company may send you up to four redirect links to insert in your survey that correspond to different completion statuses: Screen-out, Over Quota, Quality Check, and Complete Response.

If you don’t have the redirect links, contact the panel company. These links will be used to send the respondents back to the panel company’s website for compensation upon completing the survey.

To modify the redirect links

Copy your links to Word or another text editor.
Example redirect links with dummy text
Example redirect links with dummy text
Look at the end of the links. You will see one or more of the following, followed by dummy text: &id= &pid= &uid= &ticket=

Dummy text highlighted at the end of redirect links
Dummy text highlighted at the end of redirect links
Qtip: These are identifying fields added to the end of the links and will be recorded in Qualtrics as embedded data (see Recording Identifying Fields below). Note that you might see other fields not included in the list above.
Go into the Survey tab for the project you’re working on.
Embedded Data Field option in Piped Text menu on a question in Survey tab
Embedded Data Field option in Piped Text menu on a question in Survey tab
Click in the question text for any question and click the Piped Text tab.
Select Embedded Data and enter the field name from the end of your links (so if you saw &id=, type in id; if you saw &ticket=, type in ticket) and select Insert.
A piece of code will be inserted in the question text box.
Piped Text code entered into question textbox
Piped Text code entered into question textbox
Cut the code from the question text box and go back to your links in the text editor.
Paste the code that you generated (e.g., ${e://Field/id}) in place of the dummy text, after the field name.
  • Before https://survey.panelcompany.com/wix3/p8501.aspx?stat=1&id=xxxxx

    Dummy text for first ID in redirect link
    Dummy text for first ID in redirect link
  • After https://survey.panelcompany.com/wix3/p8501.aspx?stat=1&id=${e://Field/id}

    Dummy text replaced with Piped Text code in redirect links
    Dummy text replaced with Piped Text code in redirect links
Repeat steps 3–8 for each field that you need to append to your link.

Example: a link with two fields at the end might look something like

https://survey.panelcompany.com/wix1/p8501.aspx?stat=1&id=${e://Field/id}&ticket=${e://Field/ticket}

Final redirect link with all appropriate piped text and no dummy text
Final redirect link with all appropriate piped text and no dummy text
Modify the other two links so that they end with the same information as the first link. Your final links might look something like this:
  • Screen-out Link: https://survey.panelcompany.com/wix1/p8501.aspx?stat=1&id=${e://Field/id}&ticket=${e://Field/ticket}
  • Over Quota Link: https://survey.panelcompany.com/wix2/p8501.aspx?stat=1&id=${e://Field/id}&ticket=${e://Field/ticket}
  • Quality Check Link: https://survey.panelcompany.com/wix3/p8501.aspx?stat=1&id=${e://Field/id}&ticket=${e://Field/ticket}
  • Complete Response Link: https://survey.panelcompany.com/wix4/p8501.aspx?stat=1&id=${e://Field/id}&ticket=${e://Field/ticket}

Adding the Links into Your Survey

The panel company will have specified which redirect link is for Screen-outs, Over Quotas, Quality Checks, and for Complete Responses. If you don’t have any screening criteria in your survey, you won’t need the Screen-out link. Similarly, if you don’t have any quotas in your survey, you won’t need the Over Quota link, and if you don’t have any quality checks in your survey, you won’t need the Quality Check link.

Warning: For participants to be guided to these redirect links correctly, it is imperative that your survey does not have any skip logic set to end of survey. Skipping participants directly to the end of the survey will bypass the integration.

To insert a Complete Response link

In your Survey tab, go to your Survey flow.
Toolbar expanded to left - survey flow button is highlighted
Toolbar expanded to left - survey flow button is highlighted
At the bottom of the flow (or beneath any relevant block), click Add a New Element Here.
Add a New Element Here option underneath block of questions
Add a New Element Here option underneath block of questions
Choose End of Survey.
End of Survey button in What do you want to add menu
End of Survey button in What do you want to add menu
Click Customize.
Customize option within End of Survey element
Customize option within End of Survey element
Click the checkbox for Override Survey Options.
Override Survey Options check box in Customize End of Survey menu
Override Survey Options check box in Customize End of Survey menu
Choose Redirect to a URL and paste in the Completes link.
image of the completes link in the redirect to url field
image of the completes link in the redirect to url field
Click OK.
image showing the OK button highlighted in the customize end of survey screen
image showing the OK button highlighted in the customize end of survey screen

To insert a Screen-out link

In your Survey tab, go to your Survey Flow.
Toolbar expanded to left - survey flow button is highlighted
Toolbar expanded to left - survey flow button is highlighted
Click Add Below on the question block where you added your screening questions.
Add Below option in topmost block in the Survey Flow
Add Below option in topmost block in the Survey Flow
Choose Branch.
Branch button in What do you want to add menu
Branch button in What do you want to add menu
Click Add a Condition.
Add a Condition option within brand new branch
Add a Condition option within brand new branch
Add your screening logic to the branch.
Branch Condition set based on a question
Branch Condition set based on a question
Qtip: For more information on working with branch logic, refer to our Branch Logic page.
Click OK.
OK button for newly created Branch and Condition
OK button for newly created Branch and Condition
Beneath the screen-out branch, click Add a New Element Here.
Add a New Element Here option nested underneath new Branch
Add a New Element Here option nested underneath new Branch
Choose End of Survey.
End of Survey Element from What do you want to add menu
End of Survey Element from What do you want to add menu
Click Customize.
Customize option in End of Survey element
Customize option in End of Survey element
Click the checkbox for Override Survey Options.
Override Survey Options checkbox in Customize End of Survey menu
Override Survey Options checkbox in Customize End of Survey menu
Choose Redirect to a URL and paste in the Screen-out link.
image of the screen out link in the redirect to url field
image of the screen out link in the redirect to url field
Click OK.
image showing the OK button highlighted in the customize end of survey screen
image showing the OK button highlighted in the customize end of survey screen

To insert an Over Quota link

In the Survey tab, go to the Survey options menu.
Survey options is open, quotas is selected at the bottom
Survey options is open, quotas is selected at the bottom
Choose Quotas.
Click Add a Quota.
Add a Quota button in middle of the page or bottom of the page
Add a Quota button in middle of the page or bottom of the page
Set up any quotas you want to include in your survey.
Qtip: For more information on setting up quotas, refer to our Quotas page.
Leave the quota action as End Current Survey.
Dropdown menu with End Current Survey selected
Dropdown menu with End Current Survey selected
Click Customize.
Customize option under End Current Survey dropdown
Customize option under End Current Survey dropdown
Choose Redirect to a URL and paste in the Over Quota link.
image of the over quota link in the redirect to url field
image of the over quota link in the redirect to url field
Click OK.
image showing the OK button highlighted in the customize end of survey screen
image showing the OK button highlighted in the customize end of survey screen

To insert a Quality Check link

In your Survey tab, go to your Survey flow.
Toolbar expanded to left - survey flow button is highlighted
Toolbar expanded to left - survey flow button is highlighted
Click Add Below on the question block where you added your quality check questions.
Add Below option in topmost block and Branch button within menu
Add Below option in topmost block and Branch button within menu
Choose Branch.
Click Add a Condition.
Add a Condition option within newly created Branch
Add a Condition option within newly created Branch
Add your quality check logic to the branch.
Example condition based on a Question and the OK button
Example condition based on a Question and the OK button
Qtip: For more information on working with branch logic, refer to our Branch Logic page.
Click OK.
Beneath the quality check branch, click Add a New Element Here.
Choose End of Survey.
End of Survey button from What do you want to add menu nested underneath branch
End of Survey button from What do you want to add menu nested underneath branch
Click Customize.
Customize button within End of Survey Element
Customize button within End of Survey Element
Click the checkbox for Override Survey Options.
Override Survey Options checkbox in Customize End of Survey menu
Override Survey Options checkbox in Customize End of Survey menu
Choose Redirect to a URL and paste in the Quality check link.
image of the quality check link in the redirect to url field
image of the quality check link in the redirect to url field
Click OK.
image showing the OK button highlighted in the customize end of survey screen
image showing the OK button highlighted in the customize end of survey screen

Recording Identifying Fields

Once you have inserted your modified redirect links into the correct areas of your survey, you will need to make sure you are recording the correct identifying fields for the integration to work.

You can check this by adding embedded data to the survey flow so that all of the identifying fields are properly recorded and can be sent back to the panel company’s website when they are redirected by the modified links.

To record identifying fields

Navigate to the Survey flow in the Survey tab.
Toolbar expanded to left - survey flow button is highlighted
Toolbar expanded to left - survey flow button is highlighted
Click Add a New Element Here.
Add a New Element Here option after End of Survey Element
Add a New Element Here option after End of Survey Element
Choose Embedded Data.
Embedded Data button in What do you want to add menu
Embedded Data button in What do you want to add menu
Enter the name of the identifying field (id, uid, gid, ticket, etc.) in the text box that reads Enter Embedded Data Field Name Here (do not click Set a Value Now since the value is being recorded from the survey link URL).
Name of Embedded data field without clicking Set a Value Now
Name of Embedded data field without clicking Set a Value Now
If you have more than one identifying field you are attaching to the end of the redirect links, click Add a New Field below and repeat step 3.
Add A new Field within Embedded Data Element
Add A new Field within Embedded Data Element
Click and hold Move to drag and drop the embedded data element to the top of the survey flow.
Move option within Embedded Data element
Move option within Embedded Data element
Click Apply.
Apply button bottom-right
Apply button bottom-right

FAQs

I am working with an outside sample provider and they gave me an "over-Quota" link. What do I do with it?

How can I use the information my panel company gives me in my Qualtrics survey?

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