There are a vast number of online tools available to collect data or to share and disseminate your research. You may wish to send out an online survey, build a website for your project, or use a video conferencing tool. On this page, you’ll find guidance on selecting the appropriate tool for your research.
Survey tools
Online questionnaires and surveys help researchers to collect and analyse quantitative and qualitative data. The University has a subscription to Jisc Online Surveys, which enables you to create custom surveys for free for up to 5000 participants. Jisc Online Surveys is GDPR compliant and ISO 27001 certified, which means that you can safely and securely use it to collect personal and sensitive data. You can add participant information sheets and consent forms to the introductory page of your survey, and the ‘screening’ functionality ensures that respondents can only continue with the survey if they have provided explicit consent. To create an account with Jisc Online Surveys account, log a ticket with the IT Service Desk (staff login).
For qualitative and mixed-methods data collection and analysis, you can download the software package Nvivo for free from the University of Westminster Webstore.
You also have access to MS Forms through your University of Westminster account. A number of schools have local subscriptions to Qualtrics Surveys, an online data collection and analysis tool. These are managed locally, so contact your school administrator to find out if you have access.
The University also maintains a list of approved suppliers (staff login) for market research surveys. Contact the Research Development Team at [email protected] to discuss contracts and costings.
Websites and blogs
All schools, staff, and students can request a WordPress site or blog for their research or teaching project by completing the WordPress Site Request Form (staff login). All requests must first be approved by a web governance committee, and you will need time to build your site in a test area before it goes live, so you must ensure that you request your site as early as possible: it can take 4-6 weeks to set up your site.
You can also request domain names to link all the research blogs for one research group, centre, or community, such as cti.westminster.ac.uk.
The University WordPress sites are managed centrally by ISS, ensuring that your website is maintained and updated securely. All sites include a University-branded header and footer to ensure that the site meets the new UK accessibility legislation for public body websites, and to ensure that your website is GDPR and SEO compliant (that is, your site must meet the standards regarding content, links, and accessibility that are required to be indexed by Google, and include a privacy notice). Your template is otherwise open to customise as you wish: you can apply a wide range of plugins (for social media accounts, for example), and you can still hire external website design companies to design University managed WordPress sites, although this will increase the amount of time before your website can go live. You must ensure that such companies are on the list of approved suppliers (staff login). Contact the Research Development Team at [email protected] to discuss contracts and costings.
Using WordPress also ensures that you can capture and preserve your website in a data repository at the end of your project by using free web archiving software such as Conifer to take an interactive capture of your website. Customisable platforms such as Wix and Google Sites are popular but cannot be captured by software such as Conifer, Heritrix (used by the Internet Archive and the British Library’s UK Web Archive), or MirrorWeb, which we use to archive University websites for the University of Westminster Archive.
You must not use Wix or Google Sites if you intend to collect personal information through your site.
When uploading content to your site:
- you must ensure that you use Creative Commons images that are licensed for re-use (you must not use any material for which you do not own the copyright)
- you must ensure that explicit consent for public use has been obtained for any photographs from events - for more information see our Working with data page
- you must ensure that you abide by the University’s Digital Accessibility guidance. The University will carry out a periodic review of web pages associated with the University for the purpose of assessing compliance with current legislation and guidance; you can find more information on the SharePoint page ‘Policy for Website/Blog Owners’ (staff login required).
Video and audio conferencing
You may wish to use video and audio-conferencing software to interview participants for your research or to host a virtual workshop or conference. The University’s preferred real-time video and audio conferencing platforms are Microsoft Teams and Blackboard Collaborate Ultra (staff login). Download the quick guide below to find out how to schedule a Collaborate session and email the session link to participants.
The use of Zoom should be minimised and University-supported systems should always be used in preference. ISS strictly recommends not using Zoom for anything that is commercially or personally sensitive. Should you choose to use it then please ensure that you carefully review the privacy and security settings before use, and read our Security Advice for Zoom Video Conferencing as well as our Guidance for Use of Zoom Video and Audio Conferencing (a staff login is required to access these).
Please note: If you intend to record your workshop or conference, you must obtain informed consent from all participants. Before you record any meeting, seminar, or workshop in Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, Skype, Blackboard Collaborate, or Zoom, please familiarise yourself with and adhere to the University's Privacy Notice for Recording of Meetings in Microsoft Office 365 Teams and guidance for use of Microsoft Teams for recording (staff login). The guidance details what staff need to do for recording consent, where recorded meetings get stored, and guidelines for educational use.
Video/audio recordings should be stored or transferred as soon as possible to OneDrive or SharePoint to be secured within the University’s managed cloud environment.
Alternative video and audio conferencing suppliers are available on the list of approved suppliers (staff login). Contact the Research Development Team at [email protected] to discuss contracts and costings.
Eventbrite
Eventbrite is a popular event organising platform, used widely at the University to help organise and deliver official University events. You must ensure that you're aware of your responsibilities towards your participants’ data, and so organisers should familiarise themselves with the University’s guidance on using EventbriteGo to University Sharepoint site about Eventbrite (staff login to access).
Contact us
For further guidance and support, please contact the Research Data Management Officer at [email protected]