Sue LowryBiostatistical Design and Analysis Center (BDAC)Clinical and Translational Science InstituteAcademic Health CenterUniversity of Minnesota

Examples of How to Use REDCapfor Research and Administration

What is REDCap?Research Electronic Data Capture

It is a secure, web-based application used to build and manage

online surveys and databases.

It is available for you to use at no cost to you.

What is REDCap?

• REDCap was developed by Vanderbilt University

• It’s used extensively by clinical and translational science researchers

• It’s being used by more than 200 UMN staff, faculty and students on over 60 projects that are in production and over 60 other projects that are in development

• There are projects at the U of MN that are being used for research, for operational support and for quality improvement projects

What is REDCap?

• REDCap functionality includes– Validation of data types (e.g. number, date, time, email,

phone number)– Range checks for numbers and dates– Branching logic to hide fields until appropriate, based on

values in other fields (e.g. hide questions about pregnancy unless participant is a female)

– Calculated fields (e.g. enter height and weight and see calculated BMI)

What is REDCap?

• With REDCap, you are in total control of your project.– You define the data to be captured, including how it will be

displayed and stored.– You can make changes to your project at any time, even

after data collection has begun.– You control access to your project and use the audit trail

to monitor activity.

What is REDCap?

• Your data is secure in REDCap– Access is restricted by X.500 or, for those without an X.500,

a REDCap-specific username and password– Data is stored on a secure server and is backed up nightly– It includes audit trails of all data changes, views and exports– You can optionally de-identify the data during export

• There are over 100 standard instruments that can be downloaded (e.g. APACHE II, CES-D, HAM-D, PSQI, PSS-10, SF-36)

How do you use REDCap?

Log in at https://redcap.ahc.umn.edu/

You can get there via ctsi.umn.edu

-- or --

You will need to log in with a valid X.500 username and password OR, if you don’t have an X.500, a REDCap-specific username and password.

After logging in, your projects will be listed in the My Projects tab.

You develop your data collection instruments (surveys and data entry forms) in the online designer.

In the online designer window, and other places throughout REDCap, there are instructions and videos available to help you learn how to use it.

ReadWatch

Learn

There are many types of fields available.

When developing your forms, you choose the field type for each field.

For text fields, you can optionally chose from several types of validation.

For multiple choice fields, you supply the choices.

You can also specify the alignment – Vertical and on the right or on the left

or horizontal

You can also create calculated fields. There is help on how to format equations.

Branching logic is available. You can hide fields until they are appropriate.

If female, ask if she’s given birth

If she’s given birth, ask how many times

Each of your projects can have multiple data collection instruments, which will be listed in the menu on the left part of the screen.

You can create PDFs of any of the data collection instruments – with or without data.

• Projects start out in development mode. This is when you develop and test your data entry instruments and reports and when you or your statistician test the data exports.

• Although you can make changes to most things after the project is in production mode, it is better and easier to do it while it is in development mode.

The Applications menu shows tools that are available in all projects(but you might not have access to all the tools in some projects)

You can create and run reports, which can be downloaded to Excel. From a report, you can click the identifier to open the forms for that record.

You can get graphs of your multiple choice field data …

… and graphs and some basic statistics about your numeric data.

You can export your data to•Excel•SPSS•SAS•R •STATA

And you can de-identify data when you export it.

You have control over who can do what in your database.

You control who has access to items in the Applications menu

And you control who has access to your data collection instruments with No Access, Read Only or View & Edit rights.

In a longitudinal project, forms can be used in multiple events

You can schedule events in a longitudinal project

Events are then added to the project’s calendar.You can open the forms that are associated with that event.

To invite people to complete one of your surveys online, you can use a public link or invite specific people via email and track who has responded.

Want to learn more about REDCap?

The Training Resources tab has many training videos.

The Help & FAQ tab has a lot of helpful information.

The Home tab has a link you can use to register for a 1.5 hour REDCap Demo.

I’m available to answer questions about REDCap (after you’ve attended a demo).

Thank you

We’ll take questions at the end.