Overview 

This article will review the interaction between Qualtrics LTI and the Qualtrics survey flow.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Qualtrics: Survey Flow
• Qualtrics LTI
  • The Sync
• Use Case: 1 Survey in Multiple Places
  • Example

Qualtrics: Survey Flow

In Qualtrics, every survey has a “Survey flow” that it will follow when somebody opens the survey. If you are a brand administrator, you may already be familiar with this.

Fig. 1: A screenshot of a Qualtrics survey’s Survey flow. It features a singular element, which will make the survey show the questions upon load.

As in Fig. 1, by default, a new Qualtrics survey’s Survey flow contains one element, which tells the survey to display the questions.

Other elements can be manually added, such as an Authentication block, a Branch, an Embedded Data block, and so on.

We used an Embedded Data element to set embedded data values in a survey.

Qualtrics LTI

A single Qualtrics survey may be added in multiple places to the LTI within Canvas: the Institute level, the Department level of one or more sub-accounts, and the Personal Survey areas of one or more users.

In order for Qualtrics LTI to send embedded data values to the survey when it is launched by a student, the survey’s Survey flow must be updated to include a list of the data fields that have been activated on that survey in Qualtrics LTI. Fortunately, Qualtrics LTI can do this for you automatically!

This occurs during a “Sync”. This sync is triggered when:

• the survey is added to the LTI (even if it was already added in e.g. a different account or as another survey type);
• when data fields are activated or deactivated on the survey (in any of its instances in Qualtrics LTI);
• when the ‘Sync’ button is manually clicked;
• when a survey is deleted and it doesn’t exist somewhere else in the LTI;
• and at 03:00AM UTC every day.

So, what happens during a sync?

The Sync

1. If the survey was removed from Qualtrics LTI, then the integration group is removed.
2. Otherwise:
   1. Qualtrics LTI will look at the data fields that have been activated on the survey.
      • When the survey is first added, there are no activated data fields by default.
   2. We then update the Survey flow, adding a new Group element to the beginning. For every embedded data field that has been activated on that Qualtrics survey — across the whole app — the embedded data field is added to the integration group.
      • Any data fields that were deactivated will be removed from the Survey flow.

Fig. 2: A screenshot of a Qualtrics survey’s Survey flow after it has been added to Qualtrics LTI and data fields have been activated on it.

Fig. 2 shows an example of a Qualtrics survey that has been added to Qualtrics LTI and has had three data fields added to it: “Course UUID”, “Custom text”, and “User timezone”.

When the survey is launched, Qualtrics will first ask Qualtrics LTI for the value of these data fields, which will then be passed back to the survey. The survey then carries on with the rest of the Survey flow (until it eventually opens the questions).

This Survey flow block is what powers the embedded data fields feature of Qualtrics LTI, and allows you to include embedded data in your data and analysis, and even as piped text into the survey itself!

Use Case: 1 Survey in Multiple Places

As mentioned above, this sync will trigger on the linked Qualtrics survey’s Survey flow when any user causes it to trigger. This means that, if the same Qualtrics survey is added in multiple places within Qualtrics LTI, the Survey flow re-synced every time it was added and every time an embedded data field was activated/deactivated.

Example

1. John Smith has added the survey ‘Physics Course Evaluation’ to his Personal Surveys. It has not been added anywhere else in Qualtrics LTI yet.
2. The Survey flow sync is triggered, causing the Qualtrics LTI integration group to appear in the Survey flow.
3. John Smith activates two data fields on the survey: ‘Custom text’ and ‘User timezone’.
4. The Survey flow is synced again, which causes ‘Custom text’ and ‘User timezone’ to appear in the Survey Flow.
5. Jane Doe adds the same survey, ‘Physics Course Evaluation’, to her Personal Surveys area.
6. The Survey flow sync is triggered. As there are no activated data fields on her copy of the survey in Qualtrics LTI, nothing changes in the integration group.
7. Jane Doe activates one data field on the survey: ‘Course name’.
8. The Survey Flow is synced again, which causes ‘Course name’ to appear in the Survey flow, alongside ‘Custom text’ and ‘User timezone’.
9. John Smith deactivates ‘Custom text’ on the survey.
10. The Survey Flow is synced again, leaving only ‘Course name’ and ‘User timezone’ in the Survey Flow.

This mechanism allows the survey to be shared by multiple users and multiple accounts while supporting all of the data fields. Just be aware that Qualtrics LTI will only fetch values for the data fields that are activated on the copy of the survey that is launched — so if Jane Doe also wanted to see the user’s timezone in her students’ responses, then she should activate the embedded data field ‘User timezone’ to the survey in her Personal Surveys area.