Qualtrics Accessibility Standards

To meet WCAG 2.1 standards, you need to use the New Survey Taking Experience (NSTE) layout.  As of June 3, 2026, all new surveys created are using the NSTE by default.

For surveys created before this date, it is necessary to enable the NSTE experience.  This must be done individually for each survey. 

1. Open the survey where you want to enable this experience.
   
   
   
2. Go to Look and feel.
3. Click
4. To the right will display “Try out the new survey taking experience”.
   
   
   
5. Click the NSTE option.
   
   
   
6. Click Get started in the lower right corner of the pop-up window.
7. Click Apply in the lower right corner, then Publish.

The survey has been updated.

For additional information, please visit Qualtrics Support page on New Survey Taking Experience.

Select Question Types that are Accessible

Not every question is accessible to screen-reading programs. Below is a list of question types that are accessible and those which are not.

Accessible Questions

• Descriptive text
• Multiple choice
• Net promoter score
• Matrix (only rank order, constant sum, text entry and profile)
• Text entry
• Form field
• Rank order (only text box, graphic, and radio buttons)
• Side by side
• Constant sum (only choices, a.k.a text entry)
• Drill down
• Timing (the auto advance option is not accessible)
• Meta info
• Captcha verification (V2)
• Slider
• File upload

Question Types That May Not Meet Accessibility Requirements

The questions do not meet WCAG 2.0 AA compliance and are flagged as such by the survey checker tool.

• Matrix (likert, bipolar, MaxDiff, and carousel, as well as any matrix table that is drag and drop)
• Rank order (Drag and drop and select box)
• Constant sum (sliders and bars)
• Pick, group, and rank
• Hot spot
• Heat map
• Graphic slider
• Signature
• Highlight
• Video response
• Org hierarchy (EX)

Building Accessible Surveys

In addition to being careful about the question types you use for your survey, there are a few other options you should include in an accessible survey.

Attention: Since these suggestions can be more subjective, ExpertReview and check survey accessibility may not be able to detect them. Ultimately, you are responsible for verifying the accessibility of your own survey.

• Make sure your survey follows all accessible theming guidelines.
• Add alt-text to all images. Screen readers can read alt-text out loud to visually impaired respondents.
• Choose accessible survey questions. Not all survey questions are accessible question types.
• Always double-check the contrast, color schemes, and font size in your rich content editor or Look and feel when taking color-blind and other visually impaired respondents into account. For example, red font on a green background would be unreadable to respondents with red-green colorblindness, and a light gray text on a white background can be difficult for other visually-impaired respondents to detect without a screen-reader. Make sure that the colors of your theme create contrast between the font and the background, and that your font size isn’t too small.
• If you are adding validation to a question, including request response and force response, then you should indicate that the question has special requirements in the question text.
• Take care when copying/pasting text from other sources because copied HTML can cause issues with screen readers. If HTML issues arise, try strip formatting.
• Do not include labels in any of your question types, as these will not be visible to screen readers. Labels in NPS questions (“Not at all likely” and “Extremely likely”) are not visible to any screen readers so as not to bias respondents.

For more information on accessible question types and building accessible surveys, visit the Qualtrics Support page on Survey Accessibility.

When finished creating a new survey, run the ExpertReview for a final check. This section on Using the Check Survey Accessibility Tool provides instructions on using the ExpertReview.