Survey Guidelines for Digital Accessibility
Creating accessible surveys helps ensure everyone can participate equally, improves data quality, and supports compliance with the university's accessibility guidelines.
Why Surveys are Important
Surveys are an important way to collect information and feedback from the university community. To ensure everyone has an equal opportunity to participate, surveys should be designed with accessibility in mind. The guidance below outlines general accessibility best practices, along with platform-specific recommendations where applicable.
NOTE: Google Forms and Microsoft Forms are generally more accessible than Qualtrics. If you choose to use Qualtrics, follow the accessibility best practices below to help ensure your survey is as accessible as possible.
General Survey Best Practices
- Alternative Text: Provide meaningful alternative text for all informative images, charts, and graphics included in the survey. For more information see our Guide to Writing Alternative Text.
- Videos: All videos must have accurate captions.
- Color and Contrast: Ensure sufficient color contrast for both text and non-text content. This includes chart bars, graph elements, etc. Also, do not rely on color alone to communicate information or indicate required fields, errors, or response options.
- Clear Instructions: Write concise, easy-to-understand instructions and place them before the related question or section.
- Keyboard Accessibility: Design surveys so they can be completed using only a keyboard, without requiring the use of a mouse.
- Accessible Question Types: Some survey question types are not accessible to everyone. Common question types that are often inaccessible are drag-and-drop, interactive images, and sliders.
- Sharing the Survey: Links should have descriptive names (i.e. "Statistics 201 First Day Survey" instead of "Click here"). If providing a QR code, also provide the URL and use a URL shortener if possible.
How to Use Qualtrics to Conduct a Survey
If you are creating a survey in Qualtrics please follow the guidelines below.
NOTE: The survey creator side of Qualtrics is currently inaccessible and is undergoing updates by Qualtrics to meet accessibility standards. If you are asked to create a Qualtrics survey for credit or participation in a course, please notify your professor that this is an inaccessible interface for assistive technology users.
Not all questions types in Qualtrics are accessible. Please use the lists below to ensure the question types chosen are accessible to all users.
Accessible Question Types
- Descriptive Text
- Multiple Choice
- Matrix - (except Bipolar and Maxdiff)
- Text Entry
- Side by Side
- Drill Down
- Timing
- Meta Info
- Slider
- File Upload
- Captcha Verification
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
The Qualtrics' Accessibility Checker can help check if your survey is accessible.
Run the checker by opening the survey from the Projects screen. Then click on Tools, select Review, and finally select Check Survey Accessibility. This will generate a report for the entire survey. The report will detail the accessibility issues found and provide suggested solutions.
If you have any questions please reach out to accessibility@olemiss.edu or attend our Digital Accessibility Office Hours.