Qualtrics: Building Accessible Surveys

Not all question types in Qualtrics are accessible. When building your survey, choose formats that can be easily navigated using a screen reader or keyboard.

Question Types Incompatible with the New Survey Taking Experience

When using the New Survey Taking Experience, some question types are not supported. If enabled before building your survey, these options will not appear. If enabled after, you may receive a warning and be required to replace these question types.

These question types are not accessible:

• Constant sum (Sliders and Bars variations)
• Graphic slider
• Pick, group, and rank (Stack Items and Stack Items in Group variations)
• Rank order (Radio Buttons, Text Box, and Select Box variations)
• Matrix (Rank Order and Carousel variations)
• Hot spot
• Heat map
• Highlight

Compatible Questions BUT Not Accessible

Some question types are compatible with the New Survey Taking Experience but are not fully accessible and should be avoided:

• Matrix (Likert, Bipolar, MaxDiff, and drag and drop variations)
• Rank order (Drag and drop)
• Pick, group, and rank
• Signature
• Video response
• Org hierarchy (EX)

Compatible Questions AND Accessible

Use the following question types to support accessible survey design:

• Descriptive text
• Multiple choice 
• Net promoter score
• Matrix (only the following options: constant sum, text entry, and profile); (Note: your matrix must be set to mobile friendly for compliance. It will flag in the Expert Review checker otherwise)
• Text entry 
• Form field
• Side by side
• Constant sum (choices– a.k.a. text entry– only)
• Drill down
• Timing (Note: the auto advance option is not accessible.)
• Meta info
• File upload 

Provide concise and meaningful alternative text for images added to your survey. This ensures that users who rely on screen readers can understand the content of visual elements, even if they can’t see them.

Add Alternative Text to Images

1. Click on the Image icon in the Rich Content Editor.
2. Upload an image from your library. 
3. Right click on the image, and select Image Properties.
4. Enter the alternative text in the available field. 
5. Apply your changes by clicking OK.

If your survey contains special requirements, such as Request Response or Force Response, you must clearly indicate this to respondents. This can be achieved by adding a special statement to the question text.

For example, if you are using Forced Response, you may add this text to the question: "This question is required to move forward."

To ensure accessibility, all meaningful content should meet a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 for regular text. For large text (18+ pt. or 14+ pt. bold), a minimum contrast ratio of 3:1 is acceptable. Use online contrast checkers like WebAIM to ensure compliance with accessibility standards.

Qualtrics has set black text on a white background as the default for all text options. While survey builders can customize text color and background using the Rich Content Editor, they still must follow WCAG 2.1 AA color contrast guidelines. 

To ensure readability and minimize distractions, opt to use a simple font. Additionally, ensure that your font size is readable. For optimal accessibility, we recommend a font size of 12 pt. or higher.

Accessibility Tip: Standardize font size, style, and spacing in the Style section of the Look and Feel menu. This sets a consistent default across your survey and reduces the need to format each text box individually.