To get the most out of REDCap, please refer to these helpful hints:

September 2023

External Module Spotlight – Hide Submit Button: Often times when a survey is created that contains fields such as First Name or Date of Birth, most project creators will opt to set that field as required to ensure proper data collection. This prevents survey participants from moving onto the next part of the survey even if they try to click the submit button. Utilizing this simple external module will allow for the same functionality but with added flexibility for your project needs.

  • How it Works: This module introduces a new action tag, @HIDESUBMIT that disables the submit button until the appropriate conditions are met to enable it.
  • How to Set Up: Navigate to the External Module link on your REDCap dashboard. Select Enable a Module and then select this module to activate it.
  • How to Use: This external module includes nine new action tags for hiding the submit button. They are as follows:
    • @HIDESUBMIT – Hides all save buttons on data entry forms and both the Submit/Next Page button and “Take this survey again” button on surveys
    • @HIDESUBMIT-FORM – Hides all save buttons on data entry forms
    • @HIDESUBMIT-SURVEY – Hides the “Submit/Next Page” button and the “Take this survey again” button on surveys
    • @HIDESUBMITONLY – Hides all save buttons on data entry forms except for “Save & Add New Instance”, and the Submit/Next Page button on surveys
    • @HIDESUBMITONLY-FORM – Hides all save buttons except for “Save & Go To Next Instance” on data entry forms
    • @HIDESUBMITONLY-SURVEY – Hides the Submit/Next Page button on surveys
    • @HIDEREPEAT – Hides the “Save & Go To Next Instance” button on data entry forms and the “Take this survey again” button on surveys
    • @HIDEREPEAT-FORM – Hides the “Save & Go To Next Instance” button on data entry forms
    • @HIDEREPEAT-SURVEY – Hides the “Take this survey again” button on surveys
  • Example Showcase – Hiding the Submit Button on a Survey: A participant is filling out an intake survey that asks for information such as DOB and Weight. This information is necessary to capture. We want to hide the submit button while providing a message that some questions still need to be answered.
    • Create a descriptive field that will serve as the “message” for our participants. In this field, add the action tag @HIDESUBMIT-SURVEY in the field annotation box. Next we will add branching logic to this field. We want this message to appear when required fields still need to be answered. Using DOB and Weight as examples, create branching logic in this descriptive field. It should look like this: [weight]=’’ OR [dob]=’’ . Utilizing the action tag and the branching logic, participants will not be able to see the submit button but instead will see your message encouraging them to complete the remaining questions.

 

REDCap Tip Spotlight – Host surveys on other websites: Have you ever wanted to host your REDCap survey on another webpage as part of one seamless experience? This tip will allow you to embed your REDCap survey into another webpage with minimal effort.

  • How it Works: Embeds a REDCap survey page into another website. Note: The website where this survey will be embedded must support HTML and iFrames in order for this to work.
  • How to Set Up: The only prerequisite is to enable surveys on your project.
  • How to Use: This tip utilizes a small portion of HTML code to embed the REDCap survey on another webpage.
    • Simply replace the placeholder text inside of the source field with your survey URL to enable this code to work.
    • The code is as follows:

<p style=”text-align: center;”><iframe height=”592″ src=”Insert REDCap Survey URL Here” style=”border-top:1px solid #DDDDDD;” width=”798″></iframe></p>

  • Note: “px” refers to pixels. For reference: 96 pixels is equivalent to 1 inch. The included measurements for width and height will fit most standard laptop and desktop screens. Users are encouraged to experiment with the height and width for their project needs.

 

  • Example Set Up Walkthrough:
    • Enable surveys on your project
    • Navigate to the Survey Distribution Tool link on the left hand side
    • Copy the survey URL into your clipboard
    • Remove the placeholder text and paste your URL into the source field
    • Copy the completed code snippet to the hosting website

July 2023

Action Tag & Smart Variable Combo Spotlight – Hide fields based on Role: Do you have times where you want to set certain fields to be visible only to certain members of your project? REDCap provides an easy way of accomplishing this using a combination of Action Tags and Smart Variables.

  • How it Works: By using a combination of the @IF Action Tag and [user-role-label] Smart Variable, users can set fields to be viewed only by certain roles.
  • How to Setup: Before showcasing how to set this up, we must first review the two key aspects of this trick.
    • @IF: Allows a variety of action tags to be set based on conditional logic. The syntax for this action tag is as follow:
      • @IF(condition, action tags to use if condition is true, action tags to use if condition is false)
      • Example: @IF([yes_no] = ‘1’, @HIDDEN, @HIDECHOICE=’3’ @READONLY)
      • In the example above, if the variable [yes_no]’s value equals 1, then the @HIDDEN action tag will be implemented. Otherwise, it will implement the other two action tags.
      • If you wish not to output any action tags for a certain condition, set a pair of apostrophes/quotation marks as the places – e.g., ‘’ or “”.
    • [user-role-label]: The name / label of the user role that is assigned to the current user.
  • How to Use: Go to the Online Designer and locate the instrument you want to edit. Find the variable(s) you wish to hide based on role, then add your syntax. Here are a couple of examples:
    • @IF([user-role-label]=’researcher’,@HIDDEN,’’)
      • This line of code hides the field label if the current user viewing it has a user role of researcher.
    • @IF([user-role-label]=’researcher’,@HIDDEN,@READONLY)
      • This line of code hides the field label if the current user viewing it has the user role of researcher. Otherwise, the field will appear but only viewable as read only. No edits can be made.
    • @IF([user-role-label]=’researcher’,@HIDDEN,@IF([user-role-label]=’PI’,@READONLY,@HIDDEN))
      • This line of code hides the field label if the current user viewing it has the user role of researcher. However, if the current user role is PI, then the field will show up but as read only. Otherwise, the field remains hidden for every other role.

 

Action Tag Spotlight  – @MAXCHOICE & @MAXCHOICE-SURVEY-COMPLETE: Do you have questions in your project that are multiple choice where after a certain amount of responses for a specific answer you want to block further participants from choosing that answer? These two action tags allow you to set limits on the number of individuals that can select a certain option for your questions.

  • This action tag can be utilized within a radio button, checkbox or dropdown list field. Both action tags follow the same format. The format for using this action tag is as follows:
    • @MAXCHOICE(x=i,y=i,z=i)
    • Where x,y and z represent the answer code for your specific question and i represents the limit of how many response can select that answer before it becomes greyed out.
    • For example: Assume you are asking a question to your participants about selecting a time slot for an upcoming meeting with members of your staff. You have options for 11:00 AM, 11:30 AM and 12:00 PM. 11:00 AM is coded as 1, 11:30 AM is coded 2 and 12:00 PM is coded 3. The 11:00 AM slot has 2 openings. 11:30 AM has 4 openings and 12:00 PM has 2 openings. To code this you would write:
      • @MAXCHOICE(1=2,2=4,3=2)
    • The difference between @MAXCHOICE and @MAXCHOICE-SURVEY-COMPLETE is that the latter will only count the answers when the record has for that instrument has been marked as “Complete”. The former will count the answer towards the limit regardless of how the instrument is marked as.

May 2023

External Module Spotlight – Custom Footer: Do you need to add a banner to your footer or perhaps want to have finer control over the look and feel of it? This external module allows you to set up custom footers for your forms and surveys. Note: This external module uses HTML to create custom footers.

  • How it Works: This module allows you to create custom footers for your survey pages. Banners, logos and more can be added via HTML code snippets.
  • How to Setup: Navigate to the External Module link on your REDCap dashboard. Select Enable a Module and then select this module to activate it. Once this is activated you can make adjustments by clicking on the Configure button next to this External Module’s name.
  • How to Use: Clicking on the Configure button will open up a list of options in the Custom Footer EM.
    • Enabled on: This setting controls when you want your custom footer to appear. The options presented are:
      • Disabled: The custom footer is not active.
      • Project / Data Entry Pages: The custom footer will only appear in Data Entry Forms. Survey Pages will not be affected.
        • Note: Your logo will also appear on the bottom left hand side of your Project Dashboard when this option is invoked.
      • Survey Pages: The custom footer will only appear in Survey Pages. Data Entry forms will not be affected.
      • Both: The custom footer will appear in both Data Entry forms and Survey Pages.
    • Custom footer for project / data entry pages: This is where you will insert your HTML code to design your footer. This text box is specifically for the Project / Data Entry Forms.
    • Custom footer for survey pages: There are two sub options presented:
      • Same as project / data entry pages: Uses the same HTML code as the Project / Data Entry pages box.
      • Different: If this option is selected a new text box will appear. You can insert a new custom footer in here that will only appear for Survey Pages. Data Entry Forms will not be affected.
    • Custom footer for protected email page: This option is identical to the previous one. It has the same two sub options for Same and Different. This option will only affect the custom footer for the protected email page.
  • Additional Tips: Because this external module uses HTML, there are a wide variety of customization options:
    • A logo image can be made clickable and take users to a new website.
    • Two images can be put side by side if you have multiple logos for your project.
    • The custom footer can be text only. The text can be customized with in-line CSS within the code snippet.
    • A demonstration of this custom footer can be seen by clicking here.

REDCap Tip Spotlight  – Add Field Notes to Matrix: This trick allows you to add field notes into your matrix fields.

  • How to setup: The setup process for this is straightforward. Follow the steps below:
    1. Ensure you have your matrix field set up how you want it before proceeding to the next step.
    2. Download the data dictionary of your project.
    3. Open the data dictionary and locate the column name Field Note.
    4. Locate the row(s) with the matrix option(s) you want to add a field note to.
    5. Add your text to the Field Note column for each row.
    6. Save your data dictionary.
    7. Return to your project and upload your newly updated data dictionary. Ensure there are no errors before committing your changes.
    8. Your matrix field should now have field notes displayed.
      • Note: If you move or change anything within the matrix field after upload there is a possibility the field notes might disappear. If this happens, repeat the process listed above to re-add them.

March 2023

External Module Spotlight – Auto-Scheduling: Are you conducting a longitudinal study where participants need to be scheduled for an event but want to automate the process of scheduling? This external module combines with REDCap’s innate scheduling calendar to allow project coordinators to generate event schedules for participants automatically.

  • How it Works: This module allows you to automatically schedule an event within REDCap’s scheduling calendar. This module can only be used with longitudinal studies.
  • How to Setup: Navigate to the External Module link on your REDCap dashboard. Select Enable a Module and then select this module to activate it. Once this is activated you can make adjustments by clicking on the Configure button next to this External Module’s name.
    • Note: In order to use this external module, REDCap’s Scheduling feature must be activated. To activate it, navigate to the Project Dashboard and enable the Scheduling module under the Enable optional modules and customizations
  • How to Use: The Auto-Scheduling module once enabled, will work automatically and begin generating event schedules following a record save. By navigating to the External Module section and opening the Configuration menu of this module you will be presented with two configuration options: An event name dropdown and a baseline date field drop down. These settings can be used in one of four ways:
    • Generate schedule on record creation: This is the default setting where both the event name dropdown and baseline date field dropdown are left blank. This will automatically create a scheduled event for a record upon being saved and use the CTSI REDCap server’s current date as the baseline date field.
    • Generate schedule on first data entry for specified event: By selecting an event from your project under the event name drop down, a scheduled event will be created only when a record is saved from that specific event. Like the previous option, the CTSI REDCap server’s current date will act as the baseline date field.
    • Generate schedule using baseline date value entered in specified field: By selecting a date field from your project under the baseline date field dropdown, a scheduled event will be created. This time however, the date of the scheduled event will be set by the value of the date field that was selected beforehand. This option will work in any event from the project.
    • Generate schedule using baseline date value entered in specific event: By selecting a date field from your project under the baseline date field dropdown and selecting an event from the event name dropdown, a scheduled event will be created when a record is saved in the specified event and will use the date from the baseline data field rather than the REDCap database server time.

Action Tag Spotlight ­­– @PASSWORDMASK: This action tag masks the value of a text field so that it is not visible on the webpage after it has been entered (like password fields on login pages)

  • How it Works: Masks text after it has been entered.
  • How to Setup: Add the @PASSWORDMASK action tag to your designated text field.

January 2023

External Module Spotlight – Auto Record Generation: Do you have multiple REDCap projects where you’d like to migrate some specific data from one project to another? The Auto Record Generation external module allows data from one REDCap project to be migrated over to another. This process is activated by a “trigger” field being saved. The module is designed to migrate any or every data field in the source project that matches a data field in the destination project by both name and type. Note: Events and repeating instruments are NOT currently supported.

  • How it Works: This module allows you to create a “trigger” event to migrate data over from the source REDCap project to a destination project.
  • How to Setup: Navigate to the External Module link on your REDCap dashboard. Select Enable a Module and then select this module to activate it. Once this is activated you can make adjustments by clicking on the Configure button next to this External Module’s name. You will be presented with these options:
    • Project in Which to Generate New Record: This dropdown field shows a list of all REDCap projects that you currently have access to. If you do not see a certain project in this dropdown, you must be added as a user to the desired project.
    • Field to Trigger Record Generation: The data field in the project that will trigger the data migration. Note: This value can also be set to if a certain instrument is complete. Example: The trigger can be activated by selecting the value instrument_complete where instrument in this example is the name of that instrument.
      • Tip: Make sure to update the configuration if you change the name of the instrument!
    • Name for New Record: This determines the new record name for the destination project. If left blank, it will use auto-numbered record IDs. This setting accepts data pipping as you would in other REDCap data fields. Example: If the field [full_name] has the value “John Smith” and you want to use this as the record ID you would use [full_name] as the value for this setting.
    • Overwrite data in destination project record every time data is saved in this project: This Yes/No setting manages whether the data from this project needs to be migrated to the destination project every time the record is saved. The default behavior is to only migrate the data the first time the triggering field is saved on a particular record. If “Yes” is selected, the data will be migrated over every time the trigger field is saved, and will overwrite the data found in the destination project’s record.
    • Data Field to Pipe to New Record: This setting specifies what data gets migrated to the destination project. A + and – symbol are present as ways for you to add or remove fields from this setting. The fields name in the source project and the destination must match and they must be the same type of field for this setting to work. If no option is specified then every field in the source project that matches a field in the destination project will be migrated when the trigger occurs.

Action Tag Spotlight ­­– @RICHTEXT: This action tag adds a rich text editor toolbar to a Notes Box field to allow users to control the appearance (by way of styling and formatting) of the text they are entering into the field.

  • How it Works: Adds a rich text editor to Notes Box type fields.
  • How to Setup: Add the @RICHTEXT action tag to your designated field. Be sure to add this only to Notes Box type fields as it will not work with other field types.

December 2022

External Module Spotlight – Check for Duplicates Across Multiple Projects: Some teams may operate multiple REDCap projects for their research. At times, these multiple projects can have data elements that overlap. Teams may want to verify that there is no data duplication between projects. This external module provides a tool for you to check for duplicate data across two or more projects. It checks for duplicate records (as defined by a certain number of matching fields) across one or more projects. If the data within those fields matches across multiple records, a duplicate is reported.

  • How it Works: This module will allow you to check for duplicates by comparing the data in your current project with another project you select. The module allows you to specify which particular field you want to search for to see if a duplicate exists.
  • How to Setup: Navigate to the External Module link on your REDCap dashboard. Select Enable a Module and then select this module to activate it. Once this is activated you can make adjustments by clicking on the Configure button next to this External Module’s name. You will be presented with these options:
    • Project ID(s): Select which project you want to compare. A dropdown list will be presented with all projects you have access to. You can only compare projects that you are currently a member of. A “+” sign button will allow you to add more projects to compare.
    • Field(s) to match in All Projects: Select which fields you want to match. A dropdown list presents you with all fields present in the current project. A “+” sign button will allow you to add more fields to compare.
      • Note: All data in the fields compared must match to be considered a duplicate.
      • Note: The text must be identical to register as a duplicate. (i.e., Capitalization, date format, etc.)
    • How to Execute: Once you have your projects to compare set up and the fields you want to look for selected, save your settings. Navigate to your dashboard and look under the External Modules link. You will now see two options labeled Check for Duplicates in this Project and Check for Duplicates in All Projects. By clicking on either one of these you can initiate a check for duplicates.
      • Check for Duplicates in this Project: This option checks for duplicates in the current
      • Check for Duplicates in All Projects: This option checks for duplicates in the projects specified in the Configure settings of this External Module.

 

Action Tag Spotlight ­­– @FIELD-NOTES-DISPLAY: This action tag allows for additional customization of the Field Note box within the field editor of a REDCap project. The Field Note box is found on the bottom right-hand side of the popup editor.

  • How it Works: When you want to change the appearance of your Field Note to display the text in a way other than right below the field (the default behavior), you can add the @FIELD-NOTES-DISPLAY action tag and select from one of three different customization options for display the Field Notes box.
  • How to Setup: Add the @FIELD-NOTES-DISPLAY action tag to your designated field. Format your action tag to look as such:
    • @FIELD-NOTES-DISPLAY=”x”
    • Where x is one of the following three options:
      • Hover: Displays the Field Note text when the field is hovered over.
      • Tooltip: Displays the Field Note text as a help icon which is shown when the tooltip is hovered over.
      • Popover: Displays the Field Note text as a help icon which displays the text when clicked.

November 2022

External Module Spotlight – Form Field Tooltip: Do you want to keep your survey clean and user friendly but want to include additional information or instructions for your participants without overwhelming them? This external module allows you to add tooltips to your Data Entry Forms and Surveys! Tooltips appear as small, circular i symbols in Data Entry Forms and Surveys that when clicked, reveal additional information to the user.

  • How it Works: To make use of this EM, select the External Modules link on the left-side dashboard of your project. Select Enable a Module and finally select the Form Field Tooltip module to activate. Once activated, you can access the Configure option which is where all of the work for your tooltips will take place.
  • How to Setup: Once you have a Data Entry Form or a Survey ready and you want to add tooltips for certain fields, head on over to the Configure option for this External Module. You will be presented with a popup menu that that has three main options:
    • Field Name Dropdown: This dropdown allows you to select the desired field you want to add a tooltip to.
    • Tooltip Contents: This section functions like a normal text editor. You can write out whatever tips or other pieces of information you want to include in your tooltip here. Various text formatting options are available such as bolding, italics, colors, text alignment and you can even add tables in your tooltip.
    • The ‘+’ button: When you want to add more tooltips for other fields, simply click on the ‘+’ button at the top to add another section. Repeat the process for each field you want to add a tooltip for.
    • The ‘-‘ button: This appears when you have more than one tooltip. This deletes the current tooltip for that section.
  • Where will the tooltip icon appear?
    • Data Forms: The tooltip will appear right above the field you selected you wanted a tooltip for.
    • Surveys: The tooltip will appear at the very end of the label of the specific field that was chosen.

 

Action Tag Spotlight ­­– @CHARLIMIT: If you need to restrict the number of character a user can enter into a Text Box or Notes Field the @CHARLIMIT Action Tag can help accomplish this task. Using this Action Tag will not only restrict the character limit to your desired amount but it will also display the number of characters remaining to the user as well.

  • This action tag can be utilized within a Text Field or a Notes Field. The format for using this Action Tag is as follows:
  • @CHARLIMIT=’x’
    • Where x is the maximum number of characters you want to allow for this particular field.
    • Single quotation marks (‘x’) or double quotation marks (“x”) are both acceptable.
      • Note: This Action Tag cannot be used at the same time as the @WORDLIMIT Action Tag in that specific field.
      • Note: This Action Tag does not get applied during any data imports.

 

Action Tag Spotlight ­­– @WORDLIMIT: This is the ‘sister’ Action Tag to the @CHARLIMIT Action Tag. It functions similarly to @CHARLIMIT but limits the number of words rather than characters.

  • This action tag can be utilized within a Text Field or a Notes Field. The format for using this Action Tag is as follows:
  • @WORDLIMIT=’x’
    • Where x is the maximum number of words you want to allow for this particular field.
    • Single quotation marks (‘x’) or double quotation marks (“x”) are both acceptable.
      • Note: This Action Tag cannot be used at the same time as the @CHARLIMIT Action Tag in that specific field.
      • Note: This Action Tag does not get applied during any data imports.

October 2022

External Module Spotlight – Event Navigation Tweaks: This external module provides additional features that enhance the flow of navigating through events and arms on data entry forms. Additional changes are made to the “Add / Edit Records”, “Record Status Dashboard” and “Record Home” pages.

  • Data Entry Form Enhancements: A new option button labeled “Change” will appear when viewing a data form for a particular record at the very top of the form. Click this button will open up a popover display showing navigation links to the first form and the current form in other events!
    • In multi-arm projects, events are shown only for arms where the record has data in it.
  • Record Home Page Enhancements: When working within multi-arm projects, a new button menu will appear below the “Choose action for record” drop down. From here, you can switch between the various record home pages for the current record in other arms! Note: This enhancement does not work in single-arm projects.
  • Designate First Arm as Primary Arm: It is now possible to set the first arm in a multi-arm project as the primary arm of the project. This restricts the creation of new records to the primary arm only. Records can still be added manually to other arms via the Record Home page.
  • Record Status Dashboard Enhancements: The “Create Record” option is now only viewable from the primary arm instead of from any arm.

Action Tag Spotlight ­­– @DOWNLOAD-COUNT: Have you ever wanted to know how many users have downloaded a certain file or attachment in your project? This action tag provides a way to automatically count the number of downloads for either a File Upload field or a Descriptive Field attachment.

  • This action tag can be utilized with a “Text Box” field or a “Notes Box” Field.
  • If your instrument has a “File Upload” field or a “Descriptive Field” with an attachment, this action tag will automatically count the number of downloads from either of these two fields.
  • Create a new “Text Box” field or “Notes Box” field and in the “Action Tag” field insert the Action Tag as @DOWNLOAD-COUNT(variable_name) where “variable_name” is the variable name of the “File Upload” or “Descriptive Field” you want to count.
  • For example: If you want to find out how many downloads the “Descriptive Field” with the variable name “pdf_download” has had, you would write the following: @DOWNLOAD-COUNT(pdf_download). This will display the number of downloads from the “pdf_download” field. Note: When using this action tag within a longitudinal study, the two fields must be within the same event, and in a repeating instrument context, they must be on the same repeating instrument.

September 2022

External Module Spotlight – QR Code Shortcut: QR Codes are simple and effective methods to provide additional means for participants to access information and allow them to use their smartphone’s scanning capabilities to easily visit the study website. This external module allows you to quickly and easily create QR codes to be displayed right in your survey! Once this module is enabled for your project you can use this feature anywhere in your project! A great example of use case would be adding a QR Code at the end of a survey.

  • To create a standalone QR Code link, create a new field with the Descriptive Text field type and make sure the checkbox for “Use the Rich Text Editor” is checked.
  • Next, create a new anchor or link element in the textbox. You can click on the “Insert/Edit link” box to type in your URL to create a new anchor and then click on the “Source Code” button to add the HTML class to the anchor element. This module converts any HTML anchor tag (e.g., <a></a> tags) with the class “em-qr-code” in a survey or data form into a QR code.
  • Alternatively, you can copy the HTML template code below, paste it into your project and then modify the link: <a href=”https://www.tuftsctsi.org/” target=”_blank” class=”em-qr-code”>https://www.tuftsctsi.org/</a> .
  • Save your work and test it out. You should now see a working QR Code in the data form or survey you inserted it into. This QR Code is clickable as well!
  • Note: The HTML code will work for other field types as well! Mix and match with other field types to suit your needs.

Action Tag Spotlight – @MAXCHECKED: The field type Checkboxes (Multiple Answers) is a very commonly used field type in REDCap projects for obtaining multiple answers to a single question. Sometimes though, you may want to limit the total number of answers a participant can checkoff. The Action Tag @MAXCHECKED gives you the flexibility of setting a hard limit on the number of answers someone can check off for this question.

  • The format for this action tag is @MAXCHECKED=# in which # is a positive integer. For example; if you want to limit participants to three choices the correct format would be @MAXCHECKED=3
  • Note: This action tag only works with checkbox fields and does not get enforced during data imports.

General Tips – User-Friendly Survey Buttons: Often times, it can be unnecessarily cumbersome for participants to answer radio or checkbox questions where the buttons appear too small on their screen or is too difficult to click on mobile phones. Enhanced radio and checkboxes is an option in REDCap’s survey settings to make radio buttons and checkboxes more user friendly by adjusting the button sizes and layout.

  • To enable this feature go to the Online Designer. Select the instrument / survey you want to add this to and select Survey Settings. Scroll down to the option labeled “Use enhanced radio buttons and checkboxes” and from the drop down menu select “Enhanced radio buttons and checkboxes” then save. Your survey will now have mobile friendly radio buttons and checkboxes!

August 2022

External Module Spotlight – Date Validation Action Tags: Many projects have fields such as “Date of Birth” or “Date of Previous Visit” in which you may want to setup a strict minimum and or maximum value range to ensure users cannot input dates in the past or future. While these restrictions will indeed warn the user if their inputted date value is invalid, it will not fully stop them from entering the invalid date and progressing to the next question. Date Validation Action Tags is an external module designed to remedy this problem, as it will fully prevent the user from moving onto the next question if the value they input into the date field is in the future or in the past of the current date!

    • This external module adds the following new action tags:
      • @PREVENT-FUTUREDATE – This action tag prevents any future date values from being entered. Any date value from the current date to past dates is acceptable.
      • @PREVENT-PASTDATE – Prevents any past date values from being entered. Any date value from the current date to any future date is acceptable.
    • These action tags are mutually exclusive. Attempting to apply both action tags will prevent any date restrictions from being applied to that field.

 

Smart Variable Spotlight – [record-dag-name]: If your project uses DAG’s (Data Access Groups) you can use this smart variable to determine the DAG that the current record belongs to!

    • Example: A REDCap project has a DAG of department names at Tufts University. These include Economics (economics_dept), Chemistry (chemistry_dept) and Biology (biology_dept). If in this example the fictional Record #34 was part of the “chemistry_dept” DAG the [record-dag-name] smart variable would return “chemistry_dept” for the value!

 

Smart Variable Spotlight – [survey-duration:instrument:units]: Do you want to know how much time it took for a user to complete a survey? The [survey-duration:instrument:units] smart variable allows you to see the amount of time that passed between the start of the survey being taken and when it was completed.

    • The “units” portion can be set to one of the following: ‘y’ representing years, ‘M’ for months, ‘d’ for days, ‘h’ for hours, ‘m’ for minutes and ‘s’ for seconds. Do note that ‘M’ and ‘m’ are case sensitive for months and minutes respectively.
    • Example: Suppose you have an instrument “Demographics” and you want to find out how long it took for your users to complete this survey when looking at the records in the Record Status Dashboard.
      • Within the survey you can set up a descriptive field labeled “Survey Elapsed Time”. Add the @HIDDEN-SURVEY action tag to this field so that it is not visible to participants taking the survey and only appears when checking the form itself in the Record Status Dashboard.
      • Inside of the descriptive field label add the smart variable with the proper data. In this case, we want to see how long it took for the “Demographics” survey to complete in seconds. Therefore, our smart variable should appear as “[survey-duration:demographics:s]”
      • Note: If you need to find the variable name of your instrument, consult the codebook.

July 2022

  • Did you know that you can set up REDCap to send surveys to specific emails? This allows you to send specific surveys to different email address instead of designating only one email field for the whole project. You can access this through the survey settings and find Survey-specific email invitation field.
  • Are you using longitudinal data collections and would like to add a question to the instrument to be answered in a subsequent event instead of the first one? You can do this using the branching logic with smart variables such as [event-name]<>[event_1]. This will have the field to never show up on the first event but will have it show up on the subsequent events for this instrument.

June 2022

  • Are you conducting a project that will need a different public survey for different types of participants, e.g. different unlinked age groups? By enabling the longitudinal data collection in your project setup and then designating your preferred survey instrument as the default survey for each group (or arm), you will be able to have a different public survey links for different types of groups of participants!
  • Looking for more fine-tuned control of your surveys? Automated Survey Invitations can be used to schedule surveys to be sent at a specific day and or time! They can also be triggered based off responses to previous surveys as well!
  • Are you adding a date field such as date of birth to your survey but don’t want the “Today” or “Now” button to insert today’s date? The action tag @HIDEBUTTON will disable those buttons!

May 2022

  • Did you know you can turn a field label into a link? Adding the following HTML tags to a full or part of a field label will convert it to a link: <a href=’URL’ target=’_blank’>field_label</a>.
  • Want to add a YouTube video in your project? Create a “Descriptive Text” field in your instrument and then create the variable name. In the field box you will see an optional field that allows you to embed a YouTube video within the survey. Using this feature you can supplement your survey with video to enhance the experience for your participants.
  • Troubled by the lack of customization options for images in your survey or simply want to add some pictures to your survey? By going into the “Survey Settings” page of your instrument you can use HTML to add images to your survey using the <img> tag. To use this tag, you will need to have your image hosted online with a URL that links directly to the image. Using this tag will allow finer control of images in your survey. You can even customize the image with in-line CSS formatting to adjust size and justification.

April 2022

  • Do you have multiple different survey questions with the same answer choices? You can build the surveys that use repetitive choices faster by using the ‘copy existing choices’ option. When building forms where you are using the same set of choices for different multiple choice fields, click on the ‘copy existing choices’ link (above the Choice dialogue box in the ‘Add New Field’ pop-up).
  • Are you running a collaborative project? To ensure information security, set up a Data Access Group (DAG). When the DAG tool is in use, groups of users can see records created by users within their group, but blinded to the entire set of records. Although DAGs can be created at any time, it is best to set it up before the project goes live. If you need to redirect your participants to submit their survey responses to different DAGs, use the “Public Survey Dag URLs” External module.  Please sign up for the drop-in session [link] to get this or other external modules activated.

March 2022

  • Do you have multiple different survey questions with the same answer choices? You can build the surveys that use repetitive choices faster by using the ‘copy existing choices’ option. When building forms where you are using the same set of choices for different multiple choice fields, click on the ‘copy existing choices’ link (above the Choice dialogue box in the ‘Add New Field’ pop-up).
  • Are you running a collaborative project? To ensure information security, set up a Data Access Group (DAG). When the DAG tool is in use, groups of users  can see records created by users within their group, but  blinded to the entire set of records. Although DAGs can be created at any time, it is best to set it up before the project goes live. If you need to redirect your participants to submit their survey responses to different DAGs, use the “Public Survey Dag URLs” External module.  Please sign up for the drop-in session [link] to get this or other external modules activated.

February 2022

  • Did you know you can add a text box to a matrix field? By utilizing field embedding you can insert a text box into a matrix option to allow for more flexibility with matrix fields allowing you to add a “write in” option. When creating your matrix field options, set one or more of the options to a field that you want to embed. Example: 1, {example_field_variable}
  • Did you know you can easily compare and contrast information between two records in REDCap in real time? The Data Comparison Tool under the “Applications” menu will allow you to see the similarities and differences between two records with the differences being notably highlighted!

July 2021

  • Would you like to give your surveys modern look and feel? You can use Field Embedding and a descriptive field to make fields on forms and surveys look like a webpage. Create the desired field first. The field must exist before it can be embedded elsewhere. Then add a descriptive field to the survey and choose “Use the Rich Text Editor.” From there, you can add tables and cells, change border lines, and embed fields using the field variable and {}, for more information, please read: https://collaborate.tuftsctsi.org/redcap/redcap_v10.6.16/DataEntry/field_embedding_explanation.php.
  • Do you wish the list of choices was more manageable and user-friendly? If you need to use checkboxes for lists larger than 10 options, you can use the “Two-column Checks” external module to show checkboxes as two columns. Please keep in mind: (1) This module will only work on surveys; and, (2) Checkboxes must have LV alignment.

June 2021

  • Have you ever wished that you could customize REDCap to send tailored notifications?You can use the Alerts and Notifications feature (available to users with “Project Design and setup” permissions) that allows you to create and send customized email notifications to the study staff, participants, or other collaborators with ease. This may sound similar to the existing Automated Survey Invitation (ASI) feature; however, the Alerts and Notifications feature allows for more flexibility. ASI allows a single alert to be used for a survey, whereas Alerts and Notifications allows for an unlimited number of alerts that can be used on both survey and data entry forms.
  • Have you ever wanted to customize where the survey link appears within your survey invitation text? You can control where the link goes and what it looks like, modify the emails, or remove the survey link completely.To better understand and use this feature, you should familiarize yourself with two smart variables: [survey-link] and [survey-url].
    • “[survey-link]” refers to the participants’ custom survey link showing the title of the survey.
    • “[survey-url]” refers to the full web address location for the survey which the participant can copy and paste into a browser.

May 2021

Do you need participants to have the option to submit the same type of information multiple times as different instances under the same record (e.g. medications history)?  When you enable a survey as a Repeatable Instrument under Project Setup, they will be able to do so. Please keep in mind:

  • This is a great way to avoid having to make repetitive variables on your survey (e.g. [pet_1], [pet_2], etc.) when a participant is reporting multiple things of the same type.
  • If a survey is set up as repeatable, the participant will see a link to make a new instance of it on their survey queue. This can be used to collect information on a periodic basis – for example, you can send out an Alert to participants on a daily basis that includes the [survey-queue-url] smart variable, which will take them to the survey queue to fill it out.
  • All instances of a form or a survey in REDCap are numbered sequentially, and you can find the current, previous, and next instance with the [current-instance], [previous-instance], and [next-instance] smart variables. Want a question to only appear the first time someone takes a repeating survey? Set its branching logic to be ‘[current-instance]=1’!

April 2021

Wondering how to split up your project into instruments (i.e., forms or surveys)? Here are some things to keep in mind:

  • It is very helpful for the project data entry process when instruments correspond to workflow steps and REDCap can help you track the completion of each step. When you create an instrument, a variable called [instrumentname_complete] is automatically made, with its value corresponding to the color of the dot on the Record Status Dashboard. This has three possible values: Incomplete (0, a red dot), Unverified (1, a yellow dot), and Complete (2, a green dot). It’s up to you to decide how to use these statuses for forms filled out internally; for surveys, these are filled out automatically, with Unverified corresponding to a survey that has saved data but not all pages or required variables filled out, and Complete meaning all pages/required fields have data.
  • It is also advisable to consider that instruments somewhat align with user access requirements, as permissions to view/edit/no access can be set on a per-instrument basis. In User Rights, you can control who has access to see or modify an instrument on a user-by-user or role-by-role basis. People without access to a form will not see it on the Record Status Dashboard. This can be used to simplify the interface for people who only need to access certain data, and to protect PHI and other confidential information from users who don’t need to see it.

March 2021

  • Concerned about bots filling out your public surveys? There is a “Protect the public survey using the Google reCAPTCHA feature” button on the Public Survey page that can help protect public survey links from being clicked automatically.
  • Remember that public surveys can be accessed by anyone who has the link, and cannot be restricted by IP/location. Do not post links online unless you want people from around the world to fill out your survey! This is especially true if you are promising a reward (like a gift card) for completing the survey.

January 2021

  • Looking to track changes in your REDCap data and investigate potential data issues?
    • Every action within a REDCap project is logged, including data changes, alerts and survey invites sent out, and even page views. By going to the Logging page (located in the left-hand column of a project), you can view logs sorted by event type, date range, record, and user. This is very useful for investigating data issues that come up, and logs are downloadable as .csv files, allowing you to provide sponsors with a full auditing log of your project.
    • To see what data has been in a field, and what changes have been made over time, you can press the H button next to it to see the Field History. This means that any data saved in a field is recoverable, even if accidentally overwritten.
    • The only time when you can clear out the logs is when you choose to Move project to production. When a project is moved to production, you will have the option to maintain or delete existing records and logs; make sure to think through whether you need to keep any of your data before doing this! Projects should always be moved to production after being thoroughly tested but before collecting real data – when you move a project to production, only test data should be in it.

December 2020

  • Wondering if you should use autonumbering or a custom format for your project’s Record ID’s? Here are some things to keep in mind:
    • As the Record ID cannot be hidden from users of your REDCap project, you should make sure to never include PHI (such as a medical record number) in a custom record_id.

     

    • The Additional Customizations section under Project Setup features several options that can augment your Record IDs, including a Custom Record Label and the option for a Secondary Unique Identifier, which can be used to assign study ID’s after the record is established.

     

    • Once you’ve saved a record, never change the Record ID unless truly necessary. Doing so can break links and cause data auditing issues, so consider using a secondary identifier for any ID’s that may require being changed.

November 2020

  • If you are managing a project with many users, it is often a good idea to check the User Rights section to clean up those who no longer work on the project, and remove users whose accounts have been suspended due to leaving their institutions. You should always know who has access to your project, and removing old users still maintains auditing logs of their work.
  • The Field Comment Log is an excellent way to mark data for review and resolve data issues within REDCap. To use it, simply click on the speech bubble symbol next to a field during data entry to leave a comment, or go to the Field Comment Log page in the left-hand column.
  • As an alternative to field comments, under Additional Customizations in Project Setup, REDCap gives you the option to enable the Data Resolution Workflow, a powerful tool that allows users to flag data issues and track their resolution. While more complicated to use than field comments, it allows you to easily track what issues are open and respond to them directly.

September 2020

  • Interested in using REDCap to create a remote, paper-free consent process for your study?  REDCap’s “E-Consent” functionality, available under “Survey Settings,” allows you to mark a survey as being a consent form. Once enabled, participants will be able to provide certain information, including a signature, and review the form it before submitting it. The consent form will then be archived with the participant’s information, version number, date, and IP address.

August 2020

  • Are you a PI or Manager supervising staff members who use REDCap? Please remember to check out the User Access Dashboard and Sponsor Dashboard on the My Projects page. Here, you can see who has access to your projects, request password resets, and request account extensions for external users (those not from Tufts CTSI partner institutions).
  • Normally, when you request a REDCap account, the Sponsor is set to whomever is listed as PI. If you believe your sponsor was set erroneously, or would like to reassign users for whom you are the sponsor (for instance, delegating this role to a study manager), please contact us at informatics@tuftsctsi.org.

May 2020

  • Interested in modifying the appearance of surveys, or making them information-only? REDCap now has the Survey UI Tweaks external module available for use:
    • Features include Renaming Buttons, Randomizing Matrix Questions, and Measuring Survey Duration.
    • Many customizations can be configured on a per-project or per-survey level for maximum flexibility.
    • To activate this for your project, go to External Modules (located in the left-hand column), press View Available Modules, and then click Request Activation.
    • For more details about how to use this module in your project check, please review these slides (PDF).

March 2020

  • The REDCap 9.5.5 upgrade brought many new features, including Missing Data Codes which let you indicate where data is absent, incomplete, or invalid; and Rich Text Editing, which allows you many more options for adjusting the look of questions and emails. If you would like to try these out, it’s always a best practice to create a test project (or a copy of an existing project) before implementing them on an in-production project.
  • For an in-depth look at more features of the 9.5.5 upgrade, check out the full release notes and slideshow.

February 2020

  • As part of the REDCap 9.5.5 Upgrade in February 2020, Tufts CTSI has enabled the REDCap Mobile App, which is a platform for offline data collection on Android and iOS mobile devices. This is a free, specialized app for cases where data must be collected without internet access; it cannot administer REDCap surveys. Collected data is manually synchronized with the main database when an internet connection is present.
  • For more details about the Mobile App, what it’s for, and how to use it, please read the guide here (PDF).

January 2020

  • Do you want to personalize your project for the study team as well as for the participants? You can add your study logo to the top of a project in addition to the participant surveys. Contact informatics@tuftsctsi.org and have a link to a banner image ready, and we will help you place the banner at the top of your entire project.
  • Best Practice: Make sure to specify your project’s type under “Project Settings” on the “Project Setup” page. If it is a research study, make sure that the PI’s name and email are listed, as well as the IRB number. Ensuring the PI’s name and contact information are on the project will serve as proof of project and data ownership in case of staff turnover.

December 2019

  • Want to present different users with different options for a question, but still use a single variable for analysis? First, make multiple question fields with the same label but different responses. Set up branching logic to only show one of the fields at a time. Then, create a calculated field to be used as the variable for analysis, which you can set to be hidden with the @HIDDEN action tag. The calculated field can be made to equal the value of the question seen by the user with an “if” statement, which uses the syntax “if([variant_a_shown], [variant_a], [variant_b])”.
  • Would you like to include instructional videos or add explanations to questions to enhance participant experience? REDCap supports embedded audio and video, with several different options for video under the “Descriptive” field type, as well as full support for the HTML <audio> tag in any field type, which allows you to play a recording with a question.

November 2019

  • REDCap now has two more External Modules available for use by investigators: StringUtils and Date Calculated Fields.
    • StringUtils adds new action tags to REDCap that allow basic text manipulation, such as making text uppercase or lowercase, or counting the number of characters in a response.
    • Date Calculated Fields must be activated by an administrator, but once active allows date fields to be instantly piped from one to another, regardless of date format, and allows investigators to add or subtract days in the process.
  • For more details about these features and how to use them (including a recap of how External Modules work), check out these slides.

October 2019

  • Interested in using features that go beyond REDCap’s base functionality? Tufts CTSI has now enabled external modules in REDCap, which allow you to use features developed by other hospitals and universities in the REDCap consortium. Three modules, Sticky Matrix Headers, Field Notes Display, and QR Code Shortcut, have been enabled for all REDCap users. A fourth, Instant Field Concatenation, is available to be activated in your project on request. Read our slides (PDF)  that introduce these external modules and the functionality they bring.

September 2019

  • Are you nervous about trying out certain features in your project after it was put in production? Create a copy of your project, adding “TEST” to the name, and try new features on the TEST version before repeating it in the real project. Always back up your project (both the data dictionary and the data itself) and discuss the consequences of a new feature before implementing it.
  • Often, when dealing with repeating instruments, key values will stay the same each time the form or survey is filled out. To have a variable appear as its previous value automatically, you can set the Field Annotation to @DEFAULT=”[x][previous-instance]” for the variable “x”.  You can then compare “[x][current-instance]” and “[x][previous-instance]” to see if there has been a change.  You can use the same approach in longitudinal projects with defined events, where the syntax is “[previous-event-name][x]” and “[event-name][x]”.NOTE: when piping, event names always go before the variable name. The instance of a repeating instrument always comes after the variable name.

August 2019

  • Reports are highly customizable, and can be assigned to be visible to different project members. This can allow project members to quickly and easily see only the data in which they are interested.
  • In the “User Rights” tab you can create roles with custom permissions, including permissions that are form-specific. If you have team members who should never be accessing a particular form, it is a best practice to hide it from them by adjusting their permissions.

July 2019

  • Do you want to warn users that they have entered an unexpected value in a way that isn’t covered by the built-in field validation options? You can create a descriptive field as a warning, explaining the issue and expectations and use branching logic to show it only when the parameters are true/false.
  • You can choose to send an email to a participant thanking them for taking a survey. To set it up, access “Survey Settings” and personalize the “Survey Completed” message by using piping.

June 2019

  • Make your surveys stand out by making a custom theme in the “Survey Settings” page.  You can save this theme and apply it to any of your surveys.
  • You can use piping to allow subject-specific options in a multiple choice or dropdown field.  Just use [variable] as the label for an option and it will automatically be piped in.  If [variable] is empty the option will display as “____”, so try to make sure that [variable] is filled out before a subject sees this.

May 2019

  • Did you know you can use the action tags @HIDDEN-FORM, @HIDDEN-SURVEY, @READONLY-FORM, and @READONLY-SURVEY to present users with additional fields when viewed as a form as opposed to a survey? You can use these options to hide calculated fields in surveys while still using the value for piping or branching logic.
  • Want research participants to complete surveys in different order, or even skip entire sections?  Use the “Survey Queue” button on the Online Designer page. You can present participants with different pages based on their responses, or set up a “Front Page” survey that redirects to different instruments based on the responses.

January 2018

  • Do you want to apply formatting in your REDCap projects and survey forms? REDCap supports the use of HTML tags to format text in question labels and response lists. Examples of HTML tags in REDcap can be found here. More information about can be found on W3Schools.com. Some tags may not be supported by the current version of REDCap.
  • Would you like to see the date and time a respondent took a survey before the report is run? Action tags will allow you to do that and more. The action tag @READONLY will make the field read-only, so its value cannot be changed. You can apply multiple action tags to the same variable. For example, you can make a field automatically capture today’s date and make that same field read-only so that your survey participants can’t change that value. To do that, use action tags @NOW @READONLY
    Best Practice: Do not change variable names or values of categorical field types once you begin collecting real data.

November 2017

  • Need to save time developing data collections instruments or stay compliant with data collection standards? The REDCap Shared Library is a global repository of data collection instruments that can be downloaded and used in your REDCap projects. Navigate to the Shared Library and view any of the library’s instruments on the library web page or as a PDF. It will also allow you to import any instrument from the library into your REDCap project. To begin searching for instruments in the Shared Library, click the ‘Download’ button on the Online Designer page.
    Best Practice: it is best to download instruments from the library every time you need it. Copying instruments or sharing  the data dictionary may break important features of the instrument and cause it not to work properly.
  • Worried about making a significant change to your instruments? You can save a snapshot of your current data dictionary by simply clicking the ‘Create snapshot of instruments’ button on the “Online designer” page. All snapshots can be accessed and downloaded at any time on the Project Revision History page. There is no limit to how many snapshots can be created. Creating a snapshot can be useful to allow you to revert all your fields back to a specific point in time, if desired, by taking the snapshot from the Revision History page and uploading it on the Data Dictionary Upload page.
    Best Practice: Take a snapshot of the current data dictionary before committing the new data dictionary. This allows you to remain worry-free and your fields/forms will be preserved automatically, even in the case of an accident occurring (e.g., wrong data dictionary was uploaded).

September 2017

  • Want more data at your fingertips? The record status dashboard (a feature that allows you to get a quick, high-level overview of the current state of data entry in your records) can be customized. The custom dashboard allows you to choose header orientation, column grouping, instrument and event selection, and sort records based on values. You can create multiple dashboards on the project highlighting different aspects of your data.
  • Ever wish you had an easier way to make a selection out of a long list of choices? You can now use the Auto-complete for Drop-down Fields feature which transforms a drop-down into a combo-box that functions as a normal drop-down list, but has the additional capability of employing a text search on the options in the drop-down. This will help you to find an option more quickly.

August 2017

  • Always keep a copy of your most recent data dictionary, and save the project and the data before making significant changes!
  • Are all of your calculations up to date on your long-term project? Use the data quality tool to review and fix the incorrect values for calculated fields. The data quality tool is located on the left hand side on the applications panel and can evaluate for missing values and field validation errors, and can run any custom data quality check of your design.
  • Need to personalize your survey to refer to someone by name, or use a previously provided answer in future questions? Use piping, a feature that allows you to add previously collected data into text on a survey.

July 2017

  • Does your survey response rate seem slow? Having a progress bar on survey pages can help boost survey response rate. REDCap’s default configuration doesn’t allow for creation of a progress bar, but you can add one using HTML. The following HMTL code can be copy/pasted into any section of REDCap that accepts HTML, and will provide a static progress bar based on the number of sections in the survey. We recommend you use a section header or a descriptive field for your progress bar. This tip was based on an idea by Luke Stevens of the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Melbourne, Australia.The HTML is:<div style=”width:100%;border:0;margin:0;padding:0;background-color:#A9BAD1;text-align:center;”><div style=”width:66%;border: 0;margin:0;padding:0;background-color:#8491A2″><span style=”color:#8491A2″>.</span></div></div>”
  • Running a collaborative project? To ensure data and information security, set up a Data Access Group (DAG). When the Data Access Group tool is in use, groups of users (DAGs) are blinded to the entire set of records, but can see records created by users within their group. DAGs can be created at any time, but it is best to do it before data collection begins.

February 2017

  • Once you begin data collection, moving your project to Production ensures you’re maintaining data accuracy and integrity. The post-production change control process provides an additional check to ensure that data that was already collected is not deleted, re-coded or overwritten unintentionally.
  • Need to transfer data from paper surveys, charts, etc., and worry about data accuracy? You can request to activate a Double Data Entry feature before you begin your data collection. This feature designates two users per study and a reviewer. The reviewer has the ability to merge records created by both data entry users, after viewing differences and adjudicating those differences using the Data Comparison Tool. This creates a third, final record in the set.

January 2017

  • You can build surveys that use repetitive choices faster by using the ‘copy existing choices’ option. When building forms where you are using the same set of choices for different multiple choice fields, click on the ‘copy existing choices’ link (above the Choice dialogue box in the ‘Add New Field’ pop-up).
  • When you perform a data quality check, you can exclude discrepancies to prevent them from displaying again. Click the ‘exclude’ link for a result in the table of discrepancies for a rule, and that result will not be counted next time in the number of discrepancies for that rule, nor will it be displayed in the table of results. Excluded results can be viewed again by clicking the ‘view’ link at the top of the results table for that rule. To remove the exclusion status, click the ‘remove exclusion’ link in the results table.

October 2016

  • When the project is in production mode and significant changes need to be made, it is wise to copy the project and make changes to the copy. This way, you can test all new branching logic or calculated fields without affecting the Production Project.
  • When creating a project in development mode, it is a good idea to test your instruments by entering data into your forms. Once you have completed the project’s instruments, you can then move the project to Production status and have the option to delete all test data.

September 2016

  • Did you know that annotation tags correspond to action that is performed for the field when it is displayed on the forms or data entry fields and not visible anywhere on the page? @HIDDEN annotation, when added to the field annotation table, hides the field to survey participants, but can be seen on the data export. The field will stay hidden regardless of the branching logic rules.

July 2016

  • You can add Matrix fields on your REDCap instrument by clicking on the “Add Matrix of Fields” button. This will allow you to create a field where users can enter data in a matrix form.
  • If you are the project owner, you can lock records of your data so no one else can edit them.
  • Did you know you can create a drop-down list using the data inside your projects using the Dynamic Query (SQL)? You can choose to add this field and click on “how to use this” for more information.

June 2016

  • REDCap allows some customization of form appearance using HTML code. These include font size, font color, and spacing/indentation of field label text.
  • Section header fields follow branching logic for all fields until the next section header. To hide a section header, all fields until the next section header must also be hidden.

May 2016

  • You can track who has responded to your survey by using the Participant List option, and you can identify individual responses by using the Participant Identifier feature. These tools are found in the Manage Survey Participants section of your project.
  • You can schedule to send your online survey on a specific date or based on certain conditions being met. For instructions, please refer to Automated Invitations in the Online Designer.

April 2016

  • If you add a calculated field after collecting the data used in the calculation, you will need to re-save the form containing the calculation. This will trigger REDCap to perform the calculation and populate the field.
  • Using the “automated invitations” feature, you can schedule survey to be sent at a specific date and time, as well as based on a specific response to a previous form or survey.

March 2016

  • Use conditional logic in your database by using an “if/then” statement in calculated fields.
  • You can use the logging tool to troubleshoot issues that arise due to a change in data value, calculations and branching logic that are no longer working, etc. In the log, filter by record, user, and event type.

February 2016

  • To export your data dictionary to a PDF file, follow these steps: Project Home; Codebook; Print Page; Change; Save as PDF.
  • Did you know you can track discrepancies in your data via the Data Quality Module? You can also add custom rules in the module to track data population for specific fields.