Clinical Research Center

Certain research studies seek to capture the same data over time in order to track change and progress. Longitudinal projects in REDCap enables smooth, timely data collection and minimizes the set-up burden of repeated instruments. Applying longitudinal mode allows any form or survey to be reused at multiple times. This eliminates the need to recreate […]

Have you ever wanted REDCap to automatically send a confirmation email whenever a respondent completes your survey? The use of a confirmation email is a great way for you to thank the respondent. It is also a useful way to send respondents a copy of any pertinent information related to the survey they just completed. […]

Have you ever wanted to emphasize text in your survey to alert your study staff or highlight an important question? REDCap does not have this customization built into the online designer but you can add HTML to customize your forms and surveys. What is HTML? HTML stands for “Hyper Text Markup Language” and is a […]

Now that projects can have repeating forms, you may want a clearer description between repeated iterations of each form. In order to easily distinguish between the repeated forms, you can set up a custom label to help identify which form is which. Setting up a label for any given form is done through the “repeatable […]

For some studies, it may be beneficial to impose a limit on the amount of a time a survey participant has to complete a given survey. For example, if you send participants a weekly survey, you might want to require that survey be completed within a week of receiving the invitation so that the participant […]

Have you ever wondered how to include an automatic time stamp as part of your official REDCap data set? Consider using either the @NOW or the @TODAY action tags. When @TODAY is applied to a text field, REDCap will automatically track the date in which the survey was opened and record the data to that […]

Have you ever wanted to personalize your surveys to help increase your completion rate? If so, then you might want to try REDCap’s “Piping” feature. Piping allows you to display any entered variable, such as someone’s name, in that survey throughout the survey itself or in the thank you message at the end. For example, […]

Ever find yourself zooming in on REDCap surveys just so you can tap the correct tiny button? With new mobile-friendly radio buttons and checkboxes, you can avoid fat-finger syndrome once and for all. These larger, enhanced buttons make it easier to complete surveys and enter data on smaller devices like tablets and phones. Note: the […]

If you run a continuous survey, you may want to run a weekly or monthly report to get an overview of what was submitted. Follow these steps to set up reporting in your REDCap project. Step 1: Add a timestamp variable. First, add a text variable with the YMD validation and tag that field with the […]

Have you ever wished you could better organize how REDCap displays your various projects within the “My Projects” tab? You now have the option of creating project folders to address this issue. To create a project folder, navigate to the “My Projects” tab and click the newly added “Organize” button. The following popup will allow […]

Having a progress bar can be a nice visual aid for survey respondents and may help reduce survey dropout. REDCap doesn’t have the capability to create a progress bar out of the box, but you can add one with some clever use of HTML. The following HMTL can be cut and pasted into any section […]

Ever wish you could make a certain field read-only? Well, action tags will allow you to do that and more. Action tags are a relatively new addition to REDCap and can be applied to any variable. Each action tag has a corresponding action that is performed when displayed on data entry forms and surveypages. For example, […]