Online surveys or questionnaires

This page contains information on selecting an appropriate platform for an online survey or questionnaire and how to ensure that:

participants are given appropriate project information, including legally required data protection information, in a form they can retain indefinitely
participants have the opportunity to ask questions should they wish
participants' consent is obtained.

Selecting a platform

The University recommends Qualtrics as an online survey and questionnaire platform for research and encourages researchers to use it. The University has a licence for Qualtrics, meaning it is free to use for all those with a University login.

Current staff and students can access their account by going to the University of St Andrews Qualtrics site and using their University login details. Within Qualtrics, a range of training materials on how to use the software are provided.

Use of Microsoft Forms (via your University Office365 account) is also acceptable.

You must check with the University's Data Protection team before using any other platforms to process participants' personal data - email dataprot@st-andrews.ac.uk.

Participant information and consent

Before participating in a project, participants should always be provided with a participant information sheet that they can keep and provided with an opportunity to ask questions about the project should they wish. You must obtain their consent to participate.

When using online surveys or questionnaires to collect data, researchers should:

Provide an initial page before their survey starts, which contains a brief summary of the project, the information from the participant information sheet, the researchers contact details, and a downloadable participant information sheet.
- this is important so that participants are given the legally required data protection information in a form that they can retain.
Provide a final page containing a ‘Submit’ button, prefaced by a statement reminding the participant that clicking the final ‘Submit’ button of the survey at the end will constitute the participant providing consent to participate, in full knowledge of the information in the participant information sheet.

Example statements for both of these pages is provided below. The template participant information sheet is provided on the template documents web page.

Partial completion

Researchers should consider what will happen with participants data should they only partially complete the survey and fail to complete the final 'submit' phase that indicates consent. If partial data is of value and would not compromise the integrity of the dataset it may be worthwhile:

ensuring it is not a requirement for submission that all questions be answered
including a statement to let participants know that they can exit the survey at any time by skipping to the final page

(Note: replace the text inside the square brackets with text appropriate for your project)

You are being invited to participate in a research study titled [project title]. This study is being done by [researcher name] from the [School/Department name] at the University of St Andrews.

[Provide the information contained in the Participant Information Sheet, indicating the aim of the project, a brief description of what the participant will be asked to do, and how long it will take. If there is a reward associated with any participation, please provide brief details].

If you are interested in taking part, please download a copy of the participant information sheet here [provide download link] and retain this for your records before starting the [survey or questionnaire]. If you have any questions, please email or call [me or us] at [researcher’s University email address] or [researcher’s University phone number].

Your participation is entirely voluntary, and you can withdraw at any time. You are free to omit any question. [Make sure your survey/questionnaire allows for the omission of questions].

[Start button]

Online surveys or questionnaires

Selecting a platform

Participant information and consent

Partial completion

Online survey or questionnaire - template first page opening statement

Online survey or questionnaire - template final page closing statement