Once you have your surveys built and functioning like you'd like, here's how to start your application cycle and manage the process going forward.
- Set survey expiration dates - open and close dates for each of your surveys.
- Apply and Endorse surveys should open at the same time so that early applicants' endorsers have immediate access to the endorsement survey.
- Set the Endorse survey expiration date one week later than the Application survey date. If the applicant applies right before the deadline, the endorser still has time to do the endorsement.
- The Review start date should be after the endorsement survey has ended and once you have assigned reviewers to each application.
- You may consider not having an expiration date for the review survey - reviewers often don't finish their reviews on time and the review-close date is often extended.
- Once the endorsement cycle is closed, export the application data and mark which reviewers will review which applications.
- You can do this via Data & Analysis on the application survey, or from the contact list (Contacts in upper right → click contact list → List Options → Export List)
- Compose emails (outside Qualtrics) to each reviewer, with application IDs for the applications they need to review. (See Notify Reviewers on Building a Review Survey).
If an applicant makes an error on their application, you can send them a retake link from the Data & Analysis page. To the right of their record, there's a dropdown arrow. 1. Copy the retake link, 2. Go into the contact list and delete the original record for that application, then 3. send the retake link to the applicant. The applicant will see the application form with their previous answers filled out so they only have to adjust the error. A new appID is created. Please note that this will trigger new emails to be sent to any endorsers and they will have to endorse the new application.
Note: The applicant can change their endorser, but Qualtrics will not inform the old endorser that they no longer need to endorse.
Troubleshooting
- If an endorser reports receiving an error when trying to access the endorser form with the text, "Unable to log in with the information provided. (Duplicate panel member)" or "Too many failed log in attempts. Click next to continue.":
- Though the risk of duplicate IDs for applications is very low (they're random 6-digit numbers), it is possible.
- Ask the endorser to forward you the error, which should contain the AppID ("RecipientExternalDataReference"), or look up the AppID for the applicant this endorser is supposed to endorse.
- Data & Analysis on the application survey → Tools → Choose Columns → Embedded Data → AppID (Click outside the menu to get it to go away. This will add a column to your dashboard with all of the AppIDs.)
- Export the Contact List and search for the App ID.
- If it is associated with more than one application, navigate to the application in Data & Analysis that has not been endorsed.
- Check the box on the left side of that application, and select Edit from the With Selected menu on the left. Select Embedded Data -> appID from the Field Name dropdown, and change the Value to something other than the original appID. Click Update 1 Response. It may take some time to complete the edit, so you can click Hide.
- If you get an error when trying to download the application data, try unchecking the box to "Compress data as .zip file."