Ohio University officials have purchased an information gathering tool for students and faculty.
The license to use Qualtrics, a survey creation tool, has previously cost OU $29,500 when the technology was only in place in some colleges and departments.
With an extra $500, it’s now available university-wide.
The technology is currently funded by colleges and departments but will be “centrally funded,” in 2015.
“Qualtrics is like Survey Monkey on steroids,” said Sean O’Malley, communications director of OIT. “Student Senate could use Qualtrics to do student opinion polls, or student organizations could use it to sign up new members.”
The website allows users to create and monitor online surveys.
Objects, including video and audio, can be embedded into the surveys.
For example, student clubs could add an image of their new logo or flyer and ask others to vote on his or her favorite parts of the design.
After a survey is created using Qualtrics, the creators are provided a URL that can be shared to gather the responses.
Survey responses can be tracked in real time using tools included in the software. Users can create custom reports and analyze responses.
An OU ID and corresponding password are necessary to use the service, located at ohio.qualtrics.com
OIT will also be hosting a training event that will cover how to create and distribute Qualtrics Surveys on Tuesday from 12:10 p.m. to 12:50 p.m. in Baker
University Center room 242.
“Qualtrics Research Suite is an easy to use, powerful tool for creating online surveys. It supports a wide range of approaches, from simple questionnaires and event signup lists to sophisticated social science research instruments with extensive scripting, randomization and interactive question presentation,” according to a university news release.
@sethparcher
sa587812@ohiou.edu
This article originally appeared in print under the headline, "Versatile survey tool acquired."
