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Qualtrics Accessibility

Accessibility

In adherence with the CSU's Accessible Technology Initiative and CSUSM's commitment to accessibility, Qualtrics has been modified to prevent survey builders from creating inaccessible surveys. To ensure that every survey created at CSUSM is accessible to individuals using screen readers and other assistive technology, CSUSM only enables certain question types in Qualtrics.

Qualtrics has known accessibility issues for users who use assistive technology, such as a screen reader. Learn about the limitations of Qualtrics for assistive technology users.

Accessibile Question Types:

  • Descriptive Text
  • Multiple Choice
  • Matrix - (except Bipolar and Maxdiff)
  • Text Entry
  • Side by Side
  • Drill Down
  • Timing 
  • Meta Info
  • File Upload*

* = While the File Upload question is an allowed question type, it may have accessibility issues for some mobility and vision impaired users. Survey creators may want to consider structuring their survey differently to avoid requiring a user to upload a file.

Inaccessible Question Types:

  • Graphic
  • Slider
  • Rank Order
  • Matrix - (Bipolar and Maxdiff)
  • Constant Sum
  • Pick, Group, and Rank
  • Hot Spot
  • Heat Map
  • Graphic Slider
  • GAP Analysis
  • Net Promoter® Score
  • Captcha Verification

Checking Survey Accessibility

Every time you create a new survey in Qualtrics, you should check to make sure it is fully accessible. The best way is to run the Qualtrics Accessibility Checker

Additional survey edits include:
  • Change the default survey navigation buttons to something more readable than ‘>>’: The default navigation button text is “>>” and “<<”, which is read by screen readers as “greater than” and “less than”. Click on Look & Feel then General then Next Button Text /Back Button Text to change the text to “Next” and “Back”.
  • Change the default survey title: You can do this under Survey Options then Survey Experience then Survey Title. The default title for all surveys is “Online Survey Software, Qualtrics Survey Solutions”, which is not descriptive. Screen readers typically read the survey title first, so having an accurately named survey is important to help screen reader users find your survey, especially if they have multiple tabs or multiple Qualtrics surveys open.
  • Number the survey questions: This is typically enabled by default, but if the Accessibility checker returns a red X for this, you can enable this setting under Tools then Auto-Number Questions.
  • Enable survey option to show export tags (i.e., “Show Question Numbers”): This helps assistive technology users keep track of the order of the questions. You can enable this under Survey Options then Survey Experience.

*Note: If you plan to use Survey Logic, you should add a disclaimer to the top of your survey that says: “Due to the use of survey logic, question numbers may not follow sequentially as you proceed through the survey.” This will help ensure that screen reader users do not believe that they have skipped a question accidentally.

Provide Feedback

We want to hear from you about this service. If you're having problems using this service or you have more information about the accessibility of this service that we should share with others on this webpage, please let us know by contacting Qualtrics@csusm.edu

You can also give Qualtrics feedback regarding accessibility of their applications and services at Support@Qualtrics.com