Qualtrics dashboards ('Reports' tab)

BACKGROUND

 

** 24/1/25: TOTALXM REPORTS ARE NO LONGER AVAILABLE SINCE WE DIDN’T ADOPT THEM AFTER THE OCT 24 - JAN 25 EVALUATION PERIOD **

The Reports tab is the second of two dashboard options available as standard with any Qualtrics survey.
It can be used as a standalone dashboard, in contrast to the Results tab which is more easily used together with TotalXM Reports (or ‘TXRs’ from now on).

Its focus is to allow you to quickly create reports “from the ground up where you control the layouts”.¹

Responses from other surveys can be brought into reports created in the Reports tab, matching the same ability available in TXRs.
Dashboards/widgets/pages created in the Reports tab are not copied when you make a copy of the related survey project.

The following sections in this guide provide a summary of more detailed information available on Qualtrics' support pages, for example:

SECTIONS IN THIS GUIDE

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INTRODUCTION

1. Accessing the survey Reports tab

Create a survey project or select one from the Projects screen then in this survey navigate to the Reports tab at the top.

As mentioned above, because you can build widgets based on responses in other surveys, you don’t necessarily need to have collected responses in the survey project you’re using for the report.
However it makes sense to create the report in the survey project that holds the most responses you will be using.

If there are no existing reports, click the +Create Report button.
Qualtrics will then create an empty report.

2. Pages
Dashboards created in the Results tab consist of pages that contain widgets and sundry content.
You can add more than one widget per question, and you can add as many pages as you wish.
Each page can hold up to 100 widgets.

3. Content comparison (Results vs Reports tabs)
The following dropdown compares which page content options are available in Results and Reports tabs (as at December 2024).

4. Widgets

Widgets represent visualisations/charts you create of responses provided to your survey.
They can also show other data that is automatically generated or collected by Qualtrics as part of the survey, such as response date, time taken to complete survey, estimated respondent location, and for text questions: estimated sentiment and emotional intensity.
Based on the type of information collected (eg number, text, choice, date) for a given question, Qualtrics will initially select what it thinks is a suitable chart type to illustrate this. You can replace these types with others, or adjust settings and styles for these suggestions to better represent your preferences.

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THE TOOLBAR

The Toolbar comprises the area at the top of the Reports tab.
When you scroll down in your report, everything above the Toolbar is pushed offscreen to provide more space until you return to the top of the screen.

We will break the Toolbar down into two areas in this guide: the Toolbar Menu and the Toolbar Banner.

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TOOLBAR MENU

The Toolbar Menu consists of three areas: Report name and creation; Menu options; and Status and location details.

Report name and creation
The report name and creation area controls display of the current report.
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a. Create new report
Multiple reports can be created within the Reports tab.
To create a new report, click on the dropdown arrow the right of the current report name and select +New…
Check you are in the New Report tab, then enter a report name, report size, orientation and overall margin.
If you want to specify the margin for each edge of the report, select the Advanced link and enter these.
Finally, click the Create button.

 

Note that you can have multiple reports with the same name.
See below under Menu options > File for steps on how to rename and delete reports.

b. Select current report
If you have more than one report saved in your Reports tab, you can select the report to display by clicking the dropdown arrow the right of the current report name and selecting the name of the desired report.

Menu options
The menu area consists of File, Share, Edit, View and Insert choices.
Here are the the options available off each choice.

1. File
   The File menu allows controlling mostly file-related aspects reports generated in the Reports tab.
   
   This menu also duplicates options found in the Settings shortcut in the toolbar banner.
   

   1. New…
      This option is used to create a new report. See the Toolbar Menu > Report name and creation > 'Create new report' section above for more detail.
      

   2. Copy
      Use this option to create a copy of the currently displayed report. The new version of the report will have ' (Copy)' at the end of its name.
      

   3. Export to QRF
      An exported QRF file should contain all settings and visualisations from the source report.
      Qualtrics doesn’t include the name of the survey project in the filename it suggests, so while it is possible to find this survey from within the QRF file, it might be quicker to include this in the filename when saving it.
      Since you can include content from other surveys in Reports tab reports, QRF files should not need to be used in the same survey project they were created in.
      
      QRF report files can be imported into the Reports tab by clicking the report name dropdown in the toolbar menu, clicking + New…., then on the ‘Import from QRF’ tab, then using ‘Choose a file’ to browse in your system to find and upload the file.
      This will involve checking the source surveys listed in the file and mapping these to surveys currently available in Qualtrics; Qualtrics will provide suggested mappings if it can find these surveys already.
      Qualtrics gives you the option to retitle the uploaded report.
      

   4. Delete
      To delete a report, select it via the dropdown arrow the right of the current report name. Then in the Toolbar Menu select File > Delete and confirm the deletion.
      

      
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   5. Rename…
      To rename a report, select it via the dropdown arrow the right of the current report name. Then in the Toolbar Menu select File > Rename.
      

   6. Settings… and Page Setup…
      These options provide much the same functionality across their Visualisation, Page and Locale tabs.
      On selecting either of these options, a dialogue box is displayed.
      - The Visualisation tab allows setting these options across the entire report: typeface including font size and colour for body text, table header, table body, and chart text; default table density, response count, metric, decimal places, weighting, table totals and cell character limits, colour palette, visualisation margin, response lower limit; and the ability to create custom metrics.
      Some of these options may be offered at the widget level, in which case they would only apply to the widget being edited
      - The Page tab
      The Page tab in this menu option is a duplicate of the options available when creating a page.
      See the Toolbar Menu > Report name and creation > ‘Create new report' section above for more detail.
      - The Locale tab provides options for length units and timezones.
      For the length unit display, you may only be able to select between Cm and Centimetres since our Qualtrics instance may not have been set up to include American measures such as inches.
      For the timezone, NIDA’s standard setting is Australia/Canberra UTC+10 (or UTC+11 during daylight savings).
      
      In addition to these tabs, there is the option to save these settings as defaults so that they can be applied to new reports.
      To save a default, select the dropdown arrow to the right of ‘Apply my default settings’ at the bottom of the dialogue box and click ‘Save as my default settings’.
      No confirmation is provided that the settings have been saved, however if you then make a change to a setting and then select ‘Apply my default settings’, your change should be reversed.
      Another option that can be used to restore settings is 'Apply Qualtrics default’
      
      

   7. Help Link
      Clicking the Help Link opens a new browser tab to https://www.qualtrics.com/support/survey-platform/reports-module/reports-section/paginated-reports-overview/?utm_medium=ReportsSection&utm_source=product&utm_campaign=AdvancedReportsOverview, which is a landing page on the Qualtrics website with more in-depth information on Reports tab options.
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2. Share
   The Share menu allows controlling access to reports generated in the Reports tab.
   
   This menu also duplicates two options found in the Banner: Download PDF and Manage Public Report.
   

   1. Download PDF
      Clicking this option creates a pdf of the currently displayed report.
      
      Once processing is complete, Qualtrics will then open a new browser tab showing the pdf which can then be downloaded using the browser’s standard download options.
      The pdf is given a random filename which can be changed when saved.
      A message is not added in to the Notifications pane (at the top right of the screen) when the file is created.
      

   2. Manage Public Report…
      The Manage Public Report is the single method available in the Reports tab for providing dynamic/online access to Reports tab reports.
      A password option is offered with the link created to allow more access control.
      
      To create the link, select the tick box next to ‘Public Report Available’ then click the Save button.
      Optionally then select the tick box next to ‘Password Protection’ and enter a valid password (suitability criteria are displayed)
      Select the Copy button next to the generated link to copy this to your device’s clipboard.
      The format of this link will be similar to https://nida.au1.qualtrics.com/reports/public/[arandomlygeneratedtextstring]
      
      To remove access to a report, select the report, click this Manage Public Report option, deselect the tick box next to ‘Public Report Available’, then click the Save button.
      A different url/password combination is available for each report created in the Reports tab.
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      See the Menu Options > View > Preview Public Report section below for information on how to check your report if you want to see how it looks before making it available to others.
      Use the Manage Public Report option in combination with the Preview Public Report option
      

   3. Schedule Email…
      To schedule an email, in the dialogue box off the Schedule Email option, click +New Email at bottom left.
      The email options then provided are similar to those found in Email tasks within survey Workflows tabs.
      
      After entering a destination email address, subject line and optional message body, options are available to then schedule the report to be emailed at a given time weekly or monthly.
      Times entered in 24 hour format are converted to the 12 hour equivalent
      Weekly emails can be selected by weekday.
      
      Monthly can be selected by day of the month, first and last days.
      
      A choice is provided to either send the report now or at the scheduled time.
      The schedule is created after clicking the Create button and is listed as a new tab in the Schedule Email dialogue box from which point it can be sent immediately, updated or deleted.
      
      The report is then attached. Its filename doesn’t appear to be related to the survey or report urls.
      
      
      The schedule can be re-reached at any point by selecting the Schedule Email option.
      

3. Edit
   The Edit menu allows performing actions with selected content in the report.
   If multiple people are editing the same content item (or if you have the same report open in more than one browser tab), you may see a message requiring you to reload the report:
   
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Note that there is not a Move option in the Edit menu.
To move content around the report, click on it until its border appears, and then drag it to its new location - a horizontal bar will show the current new position.

1. Copy
   Use this to copy a content item into the ‘clipboard’.
   To copy an entire page, use Shift to select the top and bottom items within the page. Once you have selected these and all items between them, use the Copy option.
   If you copy an item with filters applied to it, the copy will also have these filters applied.
   
   The equivalent Copy option is also available off the Options context menu when you have a content item selected.
   
   

   1. Paste
      You can paste item/s added to the clipboard to a new destination. Select the destination by clicking a piece of content you want the item/s added underneath.
      There is no equivalent Paste option off the Options context menu.
      

   2. Remove
      To remove a content item from the page, select it then click Remove on the Edit menu.
      Alternatives to this approach are:
      - clicking the Remove option is also available off the Options context menu when you have the item selected
      - clicking the Remove button that appears in the Settings pane to the right.
      
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      To remove a page, remove the page break between it and the preceding page.
      Any content on the removed page will then move up onto the preceding page.
      Remove the break by mousing over the ‘Page Break’ text until a red x appears, then click on this x
      
      
      Thus, to remove a page and its contents, delete the contents then remove the page break.
      Remove all the content by using Shift to select the top and bottom items within the page.
      After selecting all items on the page, click Edit > Remove.
      Alternatively a Remove All Widgets button should appear in the Settings pane at the right.
      
      

2. View
   The View menu allows controlling some overall aspects of report display which may make editing easier.
   For example, switching on the Page Grid option may make it easier to align images.
   
   There are four options that reveal the current layout: Page Margins, Page Grid, Outlines and Highlight Blank Spaces and each can be applied separately.
   They apply across all reports until changed.
   The following zoomed-in shot shows all these options applied.
   
   
   This menu also duplicates two options found in the Banner: ‘Preview Public Report’ and ‘Zoom’.
   

   1. Page margins
      This marks the outside limits of where content can be placed.
      For information on how to charge margin settings, see the section File > Settings… or Page Setup… > Page tab
      

   2. Page Grid
      This displays a square grid, which may be useful when aligning images or working with resized content object borders
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   3. Outlines
      This shows the border around content objects.
      
      

Note that this border is resizeable - for example an object can be made to occupy more vertical space by dragging the bottom resizing point downwards.
Content will then resize to fit the new dimensions if it can.
Some objects will allow only horizontal sizing (for example because their vertical size is automatically controlled by Qualtrics based on the amount of contained content), while others such as widget boxes allow side and edge dragging.

3. Highlight Blank Spaces
   This helps you identify where you might have unused space that could be removed to shorten your report.
   

4. Zoom
   This will allow you pick from a range of set zoom sizes
   
   or opt to fit the report to the maximum Content Area screen size excluding the Settings and Styles pane on the right.
   
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Note that Zoom doesn’t change the layout of a content item or its borders, so you may need to use options such as Outline to resize the item’s borders, or Filters to reduce the amount of data being displayed in order see content more clearly.

5. Preview Public Report
   You can preview your report if you intend to for example export it to pdf or create a public link to it.
   This option is available off the View menu or as a quicklink on the toolbar banner.
   
   

6. Insert
   The Insert menu offers options to add content to a report.
   
   
   While you can point in your report to data sources both inside and outside the current survey, you can’t push widgets from elsewhere into the Reports tab.
   This includes any widgets you may have created in the Results tab of the current survey, so you need to build the same widget in both tabs if you want it displayed in each.
   

   1. Survey Data

      1. Questions
         This allows you to select the question the responses to which you want illustrated in widgets in the report.
         Qualtrics will show you questions that are part of the survey the Reports tab is in.
         For selecting responses from other surveys, see the Insert > Other Projects below.
         
         The icons to the left of the question give you an idea of the question type used.
         For matrix table questions, you can select one or all of the statements in the question.
         
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         Once you select the question, Qualtrics will automatically select a visualisation/chart type it thinks is the most appropriate for the type of data collected by the question.
         You can then change this chart type to something else if desired.

Note that some widgets allow selecting multiple questions so that more than one set of responses can be visualised.
Chart types that allow this are bar and line charts, and data tables. For more information see here.

7. Survey Metadata
   This option lets you select information collected by the Qualtrics about responses provided, e.g. how long a user took to complete a survey or when they completed it
   
   

8. Embedded Data
   This option lets you select information that is either
   - automatically generated by Qualtrics based around the questions asked, or
   
   - collected in custom fields that survey designers can add to a survey that can then be used to combine information or control the survey in different ways.
   
   

9. Other Projects
   This option lets you select data from other surveys.

   1. Recently Used
      This will show you surveys you have already selected from in the current report.
      Depending on the survey selected, sources available to select from will depend on what information has already been collected by that survey.
      Sources may include responses, metadata and embedded data
      

   2. All Projects
      This will allow you to select data from sources new to your report.
      There may be some restrictions on which projects you can select from.
      For example, TotalXM Reports are not listed.
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10. Page Components
    

    1. Text area
       Two sub options are provided under the menu selection 'Text': Text Area and Filter Summary

       1. Text Area
          This allows you to insert a text box which you can then use to provide text for the report.
          See the text edit mode section under Toolbar Banner below for details on how to format added text.
          

       2. Filter SummaryAdding a Filter Summary inserts a text box that lists the currently active filters at report level.Filter Summaries do not list widget level filters. This can be useful to show what filters were in force when a report is shared, exported or downloaded. Since only one filter can be active per source survey, only one from each source will be listed here in this Summary box.