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REDCap Survey Tips and TricksREDCap Survey Tips and Tricks
University of Iowa
Institute for Clinical and Translational Science (ICTS)
https://www.icts.uiowa.edu/confluence/display/ICTSit/REDCap#REDCap-REDCapAdvancedTopicsTraining
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Survey Tips and TricksSurvey Tips and TricksFred McClurg, [email protected] Davis, [email protected]
https://icts.uiowa.edu/confluence/download/attachments/53149797/REDCap_Survey_Tricks.pdf 2
Survey Form DesignSurvey Form Design
There are two survey types:1.Public2.Private
Some effort should be spent deciding which survey type to use. 3
Public of Survey TypePublic of Survey Type
The public survey type uses the same URL for all participants. For example:
https://redcap.icts.uiowa.edu/redcap/surveys/?s=3MEqbk
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Pre-Populated Survey FormPre-Populated Survey Form
It is possible to pre-populate any number of the fields in a public survey form in order to define default values.
This is done by appending key/value pairs to the query string of the survey URL.
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Pre-Populated Survey FieldsPre-Populated Survey Fields
A researcher, for example, could pre-populate several form variables, so the participant has a defaulted value. Consider the following variables:
pid_survey Participant ID first_name First Name last_name Last Name survey_date Today’s Date study_week Week Name
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Creating Key/Value PairsCreating Key/Value PairsValues can be pre-populated by adding key/value pairs to the query string.
The “key” is the variable nameThe “value” is the form value
The key/value pairs should be specified with the variable name first, followed by an equals sign, and end with the field value in following format:
pid_survey=123first_name=Fredlast_name=McClurgsurvey_date=2012-04-24study_week=1
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URL Encoding ValuesURL Encoding ValuesAny special characters found in the value must be encoded. A special character is any character that is not a-z, A-Z, 0-9, “_” or “.” These characters are encoded by converting them to their hexadecimal equivalent.
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Character URL Encoded Value
Space “ ” %20
Comma “,” %2C
Newline %0A
There are a number of online URL encoders on the internet to assist in the process of converting a character string to an encoded string. Example:http://meyerweb.com/eric/tools/dencoder/
Defining the Query StringDefining the Query String
The key/value pairs are delimited with an “&” between each pair. The query string is built by placing the key/value pairs after the “?” on the public survey URL.
The variables mentioned previously could be pre-populated in a survey by using the following URL:
https://redcap.icts.uiowa.edu/redcap/surveys/?s=3MEqbk&pid_survey=123&first_name=Fred&last_name=McClurg&survey_date=2012-04-24&study_week=1
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Pre-populated Survey ResultsPre-populated Survey Results
The resulting survey would look similar to the following:
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Public Survey DisadvantagesPublic Survey Disadvantages
The public survey has the disadvantage in that you lose the capability to monitor which participants have not responded to the survey. As a result, it is not possible to send a follow-up reminder to those that have not completed the survey.
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Handling Multiple SurveysHandling Multiple Surveys
The survey capability in REDCap was not designed to handle multiple surveys. However, there are some things you can do that will facilitate this functionality.
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Specifying Participant IdentifierSpecifying Participant Identifier
Additional information can be appended to a participant’s email address inside of REDCap. This will serve several purposes:
1.Provides a string that can be sorted.2.Aids in grouping the email.3.Identifies date email was sent.4.Acts as a unique identifier.5.Serves as a mechanism to identify the participant’s survey response. 13
Appending an Email IdentifierAppending an Email Identifier
When building a participant list, any information following a comma after the email address is interpreted as a comment. However, this comment can be utilized as a way to identify which invitation has been sent. This becomes especially important when sending the same survey to the same email address over multiple dates. The syntax is:
[email protected], identifier 14
Adding information to listAdding information to listA time stamp in the format of YYYYMMDD would provide an appropriate unique identifier and would indicate when the email was sent. In addition, it is easy to sort. For example:
[email protected], 20120422 (Week 1), [email protected], 20120422 (Week 1), [email protected], 20120429 (Week 2), [email protected], 20120429 (Week 2), [email protected], 20120506 (Week 3), [email protected], 20120506 (Week 3), 124
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Specifying Participant IdentifierSpecifying Participant Identifier
An optional time stamp and participant identifier can be appended after the email address.
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Survey Invitation SubmissionSurvey Invitation SubmissionThe timestamp and participant identifier provide some organization to the survey invitation.
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New Email Invitation ListNew Email Invitation List
A new email list with each address also possessing an associated timestamp and the participant identifier, should be added to the participant list within REDCap before the survey invitations are sent.
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New Email Invitation ListNew Email Invitation List
The email list with unique identifiers will enable you to use the link “Check All Unsent”.
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Response MonitoringResponse Monitoring
When the participant identifier begins with a time stamp, this column can be sorted by day the email was sent.
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Survey ResponsesSurvey Responses
The participant identifier information is appended to each survey response. This makes locating a specific record easier.
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Additional Identifying FieldsAdditional Identifying Fields
Additional fields could be added to a survey in order to assist in administration, post-processing and reporting. For example:
Participant IDToday’s DateWeek (Event) of the Study 22
Additional Identifying FieldsAdditional Identifying Fields
In addition to the comment in the email field, the Participant ID can be also be specified as a question in the survey.
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Additional Identifying FieldsAdditional Identifying Fields
The timestamp of the form submission is available upon export of the data, however, it is not available to be displayed in a report within REDCap unless the information exists as a field within the survey.
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Additional Identifying FieldsAdditional Identifying Fields
A survey question prompting the user for the current week (or event) in which they are responding would also assist in grouping the data.
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Survey Response ReportSurvey Response Report
An example report of the survey responses.
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• Monthly REDCap Newsletter Upcoming Training Walk-in Hours Schedule Helpful Tips New REDCap Functionality Frequently Asked Questions (and
answers) REDCap Best Practices
• REDCap LISTSERV Subscription: https://list.uiowa.edu/
scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=REDCAP&A=1
REDCap NewsletterREDCap Newsletter
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REDCap DocumentationREDCap Documentation
• Training within REDCap: FAQs (Help & FAQ Tab):
https://redcap.icts.uiowa.edu/redcap/index.php?action=help
Video (Training Resources Tab):https://redcap.icts.uiowa.edu/redcap/index.php?action=training
• Local REDCap documentation:https://icts.uiowa.edu/confluence/display/ICTSit/REDCap
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