Welcome to the University of Minnesota's REDCap Training Central This tool is intended to provide detailed information on various features in REDCap that users commonly inquire about. It is our intention to expand this tool with updated and expanded information regarding new topics / features. Feel free to visit this survey as often as needed to support your REDCap training needs.
Which topic(s) would you like to see? (Selected topics will be displayed below.)
REDCap is a secure, HIPAA compliant, web application designed specifically to support data capture for research.
We have a one page flier that gives a very brief introduction to REDCap.
Logging on:
If you have a Internet ID account: Go to https://redcap.ahc.umn.edu/ and login with your UMN Internet ID and password, using the same password that you use to log into your UMN email. Your Internet ID is the part of your email address before the "@umn.edu". Do NOT try to login using your email address. Your email address is not a valid REDCap username. If you've forgotten your Internet ID password, go here . If you don't have a UMN Internet ID Video about logging into REDCap at UMN (1 min) - How to log into REDCap specifically at the University of Minnesota, including the REDCap URL and what username and password to use. Download the REDCap Basic User Guide to learn how to create a basic project in REDCap including enabling surveys and using the public survey link
Gaining access to an EXISTING project:
Contact the project creator. Ask them to add your username to their User Rights section. NEW project:
Complete the REDCap New User Training z.umn.edu/RCtrain (not case sensitive)). After you've completed the training, you'll receive an email. A REDCap admin will enable your ability to create projects within 1 business day. Adding users to your project:
If you want someone who doesn't have an Internet ID to be able to access your project, you can go to the Home tab in REDCap, click on the "Request New Non-UMN User " link and fill out that form. The REDCap administrators will receive an email about it and will create an account for them. The new user will receive an email with their account information and we'll send you an email with the username that you can then add to your project.
For security reasons, REDCap Administrators do not add users to your projects. To allow other users to access your projects:
Click on User Rights. (left menu under Applications) Add them by entering their Internet ID. (not their email address) If the user you are adding has logged into REDCap before, their name will appear in a dropdown menu. Users who have never logged into REDCap will not appear in the dropdown menu. You will need to add their username manually (instead of using the dropdown menu). Choose appropriate privileges. To make user management more managable, you might want to use user roles and assign users to those roles. See the FAQ tab under User Rights section for more information. Learning more about REDCap:
Come to the twice-a-week REDCap office hours You can use our UMN REDCap Training Central These videos, which are included in the REDCap New User Training that was mentioned above, can help you in getting started: A Brief Overview of REDCap (5 min) - A quick summary of what REDCap is and what it can do.REDCap at the University of Minnesota (4 min) - A short slide presentation about using REDCap at the University of Minnesota.Logging into REDCap at UMN (1 min) - How to log into REDCap specifically at the University of Minnesota, including the REDCap URL and what username and password to use.An Overview of REDCap Data Entry (16 min) - A focused exploration of basic data entry workflow. Suitable for training data entry staff.A Detailed Overview of REDCap (14 min) - An overview of basic functions and features within a REDCap project. This will serve as a starting point for learning about the basic concepts of REDCap, what REDCap projects are, how to create them, and how to use them. CTSI's REDCap information page gives more information about REDCap, giving answers to questions such as: What is REDCap? Is anyone using this tool? How is REDCap supported? What is the cost? Do I need to install this software? Who can help me? What are the advantages of using REDCap? What are the limitations of REDCap? How should I describe REDCap in a grant or IRB application? How should I cite REDCap? Training videos from Vanderbilt Help & FAQ Training videos from UC Denver Do's and Don'ts from John Hopkins University (JHU) (Note: at UMN we usually use 99 for Other)Although it is safe to store Protected Health Information (PHI) in REDCap, if you don't really need to have it in REDCap, you should avoid storing it in REDCap so that you don't have to worry about protecting it there. Here are some links to web pages about protecting PHI: The REDCap Consortium website is resource for information about REDCap around the world and also has video resources. De-identifying Data for Research - UMN's Health Information Privacy & Compliance Office's information on de-identifying data for research. Although REDCap has features that support HIPAA compliance, if you don't need to store these identifiers in your database, then you shouldn't. Go to the Training Resources tab in REDCap and view the other videos that cover areas that you want to learn more about. There are also context-sensitive videos available from several pages within REDCap. A Brief Overview of REDCap: A Summary of Basic Features and Functionality (.doc)REDCap Data Entry User's Guide & Reference Manual (.doc)Unsecured Email Authorization Form in REDCap (.docx)Slides from a presentation titled "Comparing Excel, Access and REDCap as Data Management Tools for Human Health Research Data" (.pdf) The 02/09/2012 ONRS Research Seminar "Examples of How to Use REDCap for Research and Administration": Please note that the ONLY part of the University of Minnesota's REDCap that can be considered to be Part 11 compliant is the eConsent framework, and that is only if you follow the instructions in the job aid. Please see the eConsent section for more information. Only FDA oversight studies need Part 11 compliance and for studies that require Part 11 compliance, you can enter data in REDCap, it just cannot be the source of the data (so no online surveys or data that is entered as you are talking with a participant) other than eConsent surveys if you follow the instructions in the job aid mentioned in the eConsent section. On Jan 18, 2019, Timothy Schacker, MD, Vice Dean for Research, sent this email:
Good morning,
While the use of electronic systems to collect and store research data is common in research, for sponsor-investigators who are conducting studies regulated by the FDA, it is particularly important to understand Title 21 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR Part 11) and its requirements for the use of electronic technology. Part 11 applies to records in electronic form that are created, modified, maintained, archived, retrieved, or transmitted under any records requirements set forth in Agency regulations. Part 11 also applies to electronic records submitted to the Agency (FDA) under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (the Act) and the Public Health Service Act (the PHS Act), even if such records are not specifically identified in Agency regulations (§ 11.1). FDA Part 11 guidance. At the University of Minnesota, there are two primary data storage systems, REDCap and OnCore. Review a comparison of the study data capture functionality for these systems to decide which application to use. However, neither system is Part 11 compliant at this time (they do not meet FDA standards for the electronic signature function), so additional requirements must be followed as outlined below. Researchers can use REDCap to store their data, IF they keep their source documents (paper documents, data collection forms, EPIC, etc.) and ensure the source data is signed/initialed and they notate when they manually entered the data into REDCap. The PI sign off on the final Case Report Forms also needs to be completed on a paper form. At this time, it is not possible to have data automatically pulled into REDCap from EPIC or another EMR source and assume it's part 11 compliant. Researchers MUST keep the source documents with the raw data to ensure a paper trail. In a similar way, researchers can use OnCore’s electronic Case Report Forms (eCRFs) to store study data, but will need to keep source documents (paper documents, EPIC, etc.) and ensure the source data is signed/initialed and notate when they manually entered the data into OnCore. There is a plan to introduce a new Part 11 compliant electronic data capture feature into OnCore by late 2019 and investigators will be notified when the tool is verified as compliant. In the meantime, the requirements outlined above will continue to apply. If you have any questions or need clarification, please contact Lisa Johnson, lisaj@umn.edu Sincerely, Timothy Schacker, MD Vice Dean for Research
If you want someone who doesn't have an Internet ID to be able to access your project, you can go to the Home tab in REDCap, click on the "Request New Non-UMN User " link and fill out that form. The REDCap administrators will receive an email about it and will create an account for them. The new user will receive an email with their account information and we'll send you an email with the username that you can then add to your project.
For security reasons, REDCap Administrators do not add users to your projects. To allow other users to access your projects:
Click on User Rights. (left menu under Applications) Add them by entering their Internet ID. (not their email address) If the user you are adding has logged into REDCap before, their name will appear in a dropdown menu. Users who have never logged into REDCap will not appear in the dropdown menu. You will need to add their username manually (instead of using the dropdown menu). Choose appropriate privileges. To make user management more managable, you might want to use user roles and assign users to those roles. See the FAQ tab under User Rights section for more information.
The documenation for the API is available at https://redcap.ahc.umn.edu/api/help/index.php You can also get to that documentation from within a REDCap project after you have been given access to using the API for the project. Some suggestions from PennState (This was taken from http://ctsi.psu.edu/ctsi-programs/clinical-services-core/redcap-home/using-redcap/tips-tricks/ , but that web page no longer exists): Always keep a copy of your Data Dictionary (Downloaded to Excel) Do not change variable names or values of categorical field types once you begin collecting real data Group variables together that follow the data entry work flow Keep forms fairly short to minimize risk of data loss Use categorical field types (yes/no, multiple choice, etc.) whenever possible When using text fields, add field validation to minimize data entry errors Involve a statistician early during the development of the database Using the multi-page surveys feature will allow the participant to complete the survey in sections with each completed page uploading to REDCap Enable the Save and Return later feature for large surveys Chris Battiston at Women's College Hospital has created a powerpoint file called Instrument Design and Best Practices.pptx that you might find helpful. Anytime you have a calculated field that has branching logic, you should surround the actual equation with an if function that basically said to only do the calculation if the field is going to be displayed - otherwise set it to blank ("") (two quotes with nothing between them).
You basically want
if ( branching_logic, [then] equation, [else]"" )
For instance, if your branching logic is
[field_a] = '1'
and your equation is
[field_b] * [field_c]
then, when you surround that equation with the if statement, it becomes
if ( [field_a] = '1', [field_b] * [field_c], "" )
If all you're doing is a survey, and if there is no protected health information being collected, then either Qualtrics or REDCap should work. If you want to enter some other information on a second form and/or the survey includes protected health information, then I would recommend using REDCap. - Sue Lowry (January 2016)
Some things that I (Sue Lowry) learned while attending some Qualtrics sessions in November 2015:
It looks like Qualtrics gives you a lot more control over the look and feel of the surveys, with lots of slick field types. Some of the other things that I saw today that REDCap doesn't have are: Block / Question / Options randomization - You can tell Qualtrics to randomly select between 2 or more blocks of questions each time a survey is filled out. Or you can have it randomly order a set of questions or even randomly display 4 out of the 10 questions in a selection. Or you can have it randomly order the options in a multiple choice question. You can have Qualtrics send an email based on the answer to a question, such as a suicide alert, or send an email to the respondent if you have their email address. We have a REDCap plugin that can do that, but it's not built into REDCap. They have something called "Loop and merge" where you can have a set of questions in a block and have Qualtrics repeat that block of questions a number of times based on either a numeric field or once for each selection in a "check all that apply" type question. But Qualtrics is JUST for surveys, not for project that have a combination of multiple forms and/or surveys. I'm sure there are other things that REDCap can do that Qualtrics can't, but I don't know enough to be able to say for sure that Qualtrics can't do some things. From Mayo in 2016:
Qualtrics features not available in REDCap
Qualtrics export formats: .tsv Graphically, Qualtrics has a nicer display look: Web Browser format (page at a time), Mobile device format (1 question at a time). Multi language support. Nice library of pre-built surveys, blocks and questions. Additional survey flow features not available in REDCap: Question Randomizer, Web Service, authenticator, embedded data, table of contents Additional survey question types: Side by Side, Constant Sum, Hot Spot, Drill down, Gap Analysis, Timing, Pick Group Rank, Heat Map, Graphic Slider, record browser information Additional Survey applications: Survey Scoring REDCap features not available in Qualtrics
REDCap export formats: SAS, STATA, R, SPSS, .csv Qualtrics has no data quality rules. Longitudinal projects are not available. Audit logging. REDCap help information is more apparent and readily available. Better survey automation and chaining of multiple surveys. A survey in REDCap can also be used as both a survey and a case report form. Here are some web pages on other institutions' websites that compare REDCap and Qualtrics (all but one have disappeared - the one that is left may be out of date and say things that are no longer true):
To copy a form within a project:
In the online designer page that lists the instruments, click on the "Choose action" drop down for the form you want to make a copy of and select "Copy" and answer the questions in the pop up window, clicking on "Copy instrument" when ready. Click on the name of the new instrument and make the required changes. Alternate old method: Download the data dictionary Edit the data dictionary: Select the rows from the form that you want to copy Copy them (Ctrl-C or Edit/Copy) Move to the bottom of the data dictionary Paste the copied rows after the last row Edit those rows, changing the form name (letters, numbers and underscores only, all lower case) and variable names. (Remember, variable names need to be unique across all forms.) Save your changes (Save as a CSV file, which is what it was exported as. Excel will question you, but insist on a CSV file.) Upload the data dictionary In the online editor, you can move the new form up to where you want it and fix the form name if it’s not quite what you want. To copy a form to another project:
In the project that has the form that you want to copy, in the online designer page that lists the instruments, click on the "Choose action" drop down for the form you want to make a copy of and select"Download instrument zip". In the project to which you want to add the new form, in the online designer page that lists the instruments, click on the "Upload" button and select the file that you just downloaded. Alternate old method: Download BOTH data dictionaries Open the data dictionary that has the form you want to copy Select the rows for the form that you want to copy Copy the rows (Ctrl-C or Edit/Copy) Open the data dictionary to which you want to add the form Move to the bottom of the data dictionary Paste the copied rows after the last row Edit those rows, optionally changing the form name (letters, numbers and underscores only, all lower case) and variable names. (Remember, variable names need to be unique across all forms, but since the form is new, you might not need to rename either the form or the variables.) Save your changes (Save as a CSV file, which is what it was exported as. Excel will question you, but insist on a CSV file.) Upload the data dictionary in the project to which you want to add the new form In the online editor, you can move the new form up to where you want it and fix the form name if it’s not quite what you want. To create a NEW project:
Complete the REDCap New User Training z.umn.edu/RCtrain (not case sensitive)). After you've completed the training, you'll receive an email. A REDCap admin will enable your ability to create projects within 1 business day. This is also covered in the REDCap Basic User Guide .
In REDCap projects that are for multi-site studies, you can set up a Data Access Group (DAG) for each site and people who are assigned to a DAG can only see data for that DAG. Here are brief instructions on setting up and using DAGs: To add a new DAG, click on DAGs in the Applications menu. (It's on the same line as User Rights.) Then, in the Create new groups area, enter the new DAG name, then click on the Add Group button. To add people to a DAG, in the Assign user to group section, select the username from the drop down list, then select the DAG from the next drop down field and then click on the Assign button. If there are some people who should have access to more than one DAG (but not all DAGs), you can use the grid at the bottom of the page to allow those people to switch between DAGs by checking more than one DAG for those users. For those users, they will see a new button at the top of the appropriate REDCap pages that allows them to switch between DAGs. For instance, they should see it when they are on the Record Status Dashboard page, but not while entering or viewing data in a record. Vanderbilt University has created a wonderful video about importing data: Data Import Tool - A Tutorial . The password to the videorecording is dataimport. Please note that when they give an email address for people to use, that is meant for the Vandbilt users. Emails regarding REDCap at the University of Minnesota should be sent to redcap@umn.edu. Double Data Entry video from UC DenverThe attachment below is a "how-to" for Double Data Entry Module. It covers how to enable DDE, how to assign DDE User Rights, how data entry works for data entry personnel, how data comparison and merge works for the data reviewer, and answers some common DDE FAQs. An eConsent Guidebook is available to walk you through how to create forms, how to submit to the IRB, and how to capture signatures. The process outlined in the guide can be used in creating a 21 CFR Part 11 compliant e-Consent survey in REDCap. eConsent is the ONLY portion of REDCap that is Part 11 compliant. For studies that require Part 11 compliance, you can enter data in REDCap, it just cannot be the source of the data (so no online surveys or data that is entered as you are talking with a participant). Understanding Part 11 Compliant Systems Note that REDCap's eConsent is ONLY COMPLIANT for 21 CFR Part 11 IF you follow the instructions in the guidebook . Here is a link to some YouTube videos about REDCap's e-Consent. There is a recording of a demo of using a project that was set up using the U of MN's e-Consent template. It is at time 5:15 to 11:59 at https://mediaspace.umn.edu/media/t/0_sofs9s7o and another demo of setting up the project at time 20:06 to 25:30 plus some time for questions. Colorado CTSI eConsent video (Information about setting up a basic REDCap eConsent if you do not need Part 11 compliance)Clinical Research Update: "Remote Informed Consent: the same, but different, but still the same" video from the University of Kentucky discusses eConsent in general and in REDCap and 21 CFR Part 11Here is a guide for "Using REDCap for eConsent " by Vanderbilt Institiute for Clinical and Translational Research. Please keep in mind that some of the information is specific to Vanderbilt University such as the templates that are set up for their users.
Once a project is in production mode, only a REDCap administrator can delete or change an event or remove a form from an event. Even a REDCap administrator should not delete an event once there is data for the event. If you need changes made to your events and event/form associations, you should first delete any data that is in instruments that you are removing from an event and then you can click on the "Contact REDCap administrator" button at the bottom of the left-hand menu in a REDCap project and send an email with your request. How can I get data exported from a longitudinal project to have only one data row for all records including needed variable relabeling? JHU REDCap Training Central (click on the link to open this survey from John Hopkins University (JHU) and select the options that you are intrested in ub the checkboxes at the bottom of the page)There is also information about field tpes in the REDCap Basic User Guide . To change the format of text in the labels in an instrument You can only do this if you have "Project Design and Setup" rights to your project. You can use some HTML code to format your text. See the "Is it possible to change the format (colors, text) of the form, field or text display? " question in the Data Collection Instrument Design section on the Help & FAQ page. JHU REDCap Training Central (click on the link to open this survey from John Hopkins University (JHU) and select the options that you are intrested in ub the checkboxes at the bottom of the page) If you go to the Help & FAQ page in REDCap and use the "Select a topic" dropdown to select "Licensing", you can see information about the REDCap license and who is allowed to use our installation of REDCap. To lock a REDCap project when data collection is complete and data cleaning is complete: Go to the Project Setup tab. Go to the Other Functionality tab. Click on the "Move to Analysis/Cleanup status" button, which stops the creation of any new records, but allows cleaning the data in existing records. Click on the "Modify" button next to "The data in this project is currently: Editable (existing records only)" and then click on the "Lock entire record" button. Both of those actions are recorded in the audit log, which can be viewed on the Logging page. Multi-Language Management
We hold REDCap Administrator's office hours (aka REDCap Q&A sessions) twice a week, except on University Holidays.
Tues 10-11am & Thu 2-3pm .
Join the Zoom sesstion at https://z.umn.edu/redcap_office_hours_zoom . (If you haven't used zoom in your browser before, then it will require you to install a small plugin in your browser the first time you use it. This should only take a few seconds.) If you don't have a microphone on your computer, you can use your phone to call in: 1-(651) 372-8299 and enter 816 259 4700 #. Please type your Internet ID and your REDCap questions into chat upon entering the session.
DO NOT SHOW PHI/HIPAA WHEN SHARING YOUR SCREEN.
You are welcome to stay and listen to other's questions and the answers.
You can come with specific questions about a specific project or more general topics like "How do I set up a survey?" or "How do reports work in REDCap?".
Plugins are applications that are not part of REDCap, but work with REDCap.
You can only set up a project bookmark if you have "Project Design and Setup" rights to your project. To add a project bookmark to your project, in the Project Setup tab, click on the "Add or edit bookmarks" button and fill in the fields as suggested below and then click on the Add button. These plugins are not officially part of REDCap, and thus may stop working after some future upgrade, but are currently available and we'll try to keep them working. Note: These are available at the University of Minnesota. They may or may not be available at other institutions.
Annotate Forms: This plugin allows you to annotate your forms with variable names and option values to create a PDF with this information for documentation.
It annotates fields and multiple choice options by adding the variable name in parentheses after a field label and the value of an option in parentheses after the option label. (YesNo and TrueFalse fields are not annotated with the value. Their values are always 1 for Yes/True and 0 for No/False.) Since this actually changes the forms, you should not do this while people could be using the forms for entering data or completing surveys. If other people are using the forms, you could make a copy of the project and run this on the copy of the project that other people aren't using. If you add an Annotate Forms bookmark, make sure that you also add an Unannotate Forms bookmark.
Suggested Link Label: Annotate Forms Link URL/Destination: /redcap/plugins/annotate_for_pdf.php?an_or_un=an Link Type: Simple Link User Access: Limit to users with Project Design & Setup rights Opens new window: unchecked Append record info to URL: unchecked Append project ID to URL: checkedSuggested Link Label: Unannotate Forms Link URL/Destination: /redcap/plugins/annotate_for_pdf.php?an_or_un=un Link Type: Simple Link User Access: Limit to users with Project Design & Setup rights Opens new window: unchecked Append record info to URL: unchecked Append project ID to URL: checked Double Data Entry (DDE) using 2 projects: This plugin allows you to do your second entry of double data entry in a separate project (usually named the same as the first project, but with " - Second Entry" added to the end), comparing only the forms, fields and events that are in the second project. That way, if you only want to do double data entry on a limited set of forms and/or fields and/or events, you can do that. You CANNOT merge records using this method of DDE. You should just make sure that the data in both projects is correct and you will probably only be analyzing the data in the first project. Before you can use this plugin, you'll need to contact redcap@umn.edu to set it up for you. You will need to provide:
Your Internet ID The name of both projects and an indication of which is the main project. Including the pid value will also help. You can find that in the URL when you're in a project. Look for the value after "pid=" in the URL. Suggested Link Label: DDE Comparison Link URL/Destination: /redcap/plugins/dde_2_projects_from_index.php Link Type: Simple Link User Access: You should only give access to users who need it Opens new window: checked Append record info to URL: unchecked Append project ID to URL: checked
Forms For Pasting Into Word: This plugin will display the forms and fields in a format that you can select, copy and then paste into an editor where you can format it the way you'd like for creating a hard copy of your forms.
Suggested Link Label: Forms For Pasting Into Word Link URL/Destination: /redcap/plugins/print_forms.php Link Type: Simple Link User Access: You can give access to all users Opens new window: unchecked Append record info to URL: unchecked Append project ID to URL: checked Forms With Data For Pasting Into Word: This plugin will display the forms on which some data has been entered for the given record, displaying the fields labels and the data in a format that you can select, copy and then paste into an editor where you can format it the way you'd like for creating a hard copy of your forms. This is to be run while you are on a form for an existing record.
Suggested Link Label: Forms With Data For Pasting Into Word Link URL/Destination: /redcap/plugins/print_forms_with_data.php (You can optionally add "?lws=y" to the end of the URL to get a version with less white space (/plugins/print_forms_with_data.php?lws=y)) Link Type: Simple Link User Access: You can give access to all users Opens new window: unchecked Append record info to URL: checkedAppend project ID to URL: checked Large Data Export: This plugin allows you to export data from a project which has gotten too large to do a full data export using the REDCap data export. It does not give you any options for restricting which columns or which rows to export and it ignores the user rights settings for data export - it just exports everything.
Suggested Link Label: Export Data Link URL/Destination: /redcap/plugins/export/index.php Link Type: Simple Link User Access: Limit to users who are allowed to export all of the data Opens new window: unchecked Append record info to URL: unchecked Append project ID to URL: checked Longitudinal Reports: This plugin will allow you to create and run reports in a longitudinal project. This plugin treats each field in each event as a separate field, so you can (and must) select the event and field for each item in the report. This allows you to have more control in the report than the built in report builder allows. This plugin does NOT allow for exporting of the data.
Suggested Link Label: Longitudinal Reports Link URL/Destination: /redcap/plugins/longitudinal_reports/index.php Link Type: Simple Link User Access: You can give access to all users or only give access to users who need it Opens new window: unchecked Append record info to URL: unchecked Append project ID to URL: checked Return Codes: This plugin will allow you to find a participant's return code for a survey for which you invited participants through REDCap with participant identifiers or with a designated email field.
Suggested Link Label: Return Codes Link URL/Destination: /redcap/plugins/survey_return_codes.php Link Type: Simple Link User Access: You should only give access to users who need it Opens new window: unchecked Append record info to URL: unchecked Append project ID to URL: checked Wide To Long: This plugin allows you to export data from a form with repeated sections such as an Adverse Events form, but in a format of one record per occurrence. Before you can use this plugin, you'll need to contact redcap@umn.edu to set it up for you. You will need to provide:
Your Internet ID The name of the project The name of the form that the data is on The variable names of the first and last fields in the section (e.g. ae1_desc through ae15_sae) Suggested Link Label: Export xxxx (where xxxx is replaced by the name of the data you're exporting) Link URL/Destination: /redcap/plugins/wide_to_long_v2.php?set=aes (or whatever code you're given in place of "aes") Link Type: Simple Link User Access: You should only give access to users who need it Opens new window: checked Append record info to URL: unchecked Append project ID to URL: checked
Randomization is a process that assigns participants/subjects by chance (rather than by choice) into specific groups, typically for clinical research and clinical trials. The randomization module in REDCap will help you implement a defined randomization model within your project, allowing you to randomize your subjects (i.e. records in your project). In this module, you first define the randomization model with various parameters. Based on the defined parameters, the module creates a template allocation table, which you can use to structure the randomization table you will import. Note: It is recommended that only people with experience in randomization set up the Randomization module. The module also monitors the overall allocation progress and assignment of randomized subjects.
User privileges can be set to allow only certain users to be able to set up the randomization, perform the randomization, or view the allocation dashboard to view progress. If someone is given 'Randomize' privileges, they will be able to view and modify any existing data already collected for the randomization strata fields (if stratification is used) when they are performing the randomization, even if they do not specifically have form-level rights to view the form on which a strata field exists. Thus Randomize rights trumps form-level rights in this way, but only for the randomization strata fields.
Here is a video that describes it more thoroughly: Randomization video from amanda Miller at UC Denver
For those that prefer a written document, you can use the Settup Up the Randomization Module in REDCapv2.docx document, which is from Taryn Stoffs at the University of Florida.
The REDCap_Randomization.pptx file, which is from Joe Wick at the Mayo Clinic, may also be helpful.
The Using REDCap for clinical trial randomization video, which is from Philip Jones at the Lawson Health Research Institute, is a much longer video and includes information about setting up a project in REDCap and information about simple and stratified randomization and how to set up a randomization schedule in Stata.
(From https://www.seton.net/redcap/faqs/preserve-special-characters-e-g-spanish-accent-marks-redcap-project/ )
To retain all the special characters in your REDCap project:
When you download a data dictionary file from REDCap, it comes out encoded as UTF-8, which is correct if you want the special characters to display correctly. As soon as you open it in Excel and save it, Excel automatically changes the encoding back to ANSI. When you upload that dictionary back into REDCap you see jumbled characters.
There are two solutions to this problem:
Downloading this addin to Excel: http://jaimonmathew.wordpress.com/2011/08/23/excel_addin_to_work_with_unicode_csv/ When saving a data dictionary with special characters, just click the “Unicode CSV” tab and click Save, instead of saving it regularly. Upload this saved dictionary to REDCap. Alternatively, you can save the data dictionary in Excel, then open it in Notepad or Notepad++, and then click save as to change the encoding to UTF-8. The basics of surveys are covered in the REDCap Basic User Guide . If you go to the Help & FAQ page in REDCap and search for the word wizard, you'll find a link to a survey wizard that can help you understand the basics of using surveys in REDCap as well as a second wizard that can help you understand using Automated Survey Invitations (ASIs). CHOP's REDCap Resources page - website that has a lot of good information about surveysSurveys - video from UC DenverSurvey Login - video from UC DenverREDCap Advanced Tutorial 3: Survey Queue - video from UC Denver Survey Queue - video from Vanderbilt UniversityAutomated Survey Invitations (ASI) - video from Vanderbilt University (a bit outdated but a lot of good information)Virtual REDCap Surveys Workshop - video from BC Children's Hospital Research InstituteA series of 6 videos - videos that cover everything you need to know to get up and running with REDCap surveys - from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.The survey, survey queue, survey settings and automated survey invitation sections of the video from the U of Miami Here are some instrument templates that you can download to add to your REDCap project. Each link will take you to a page with instructions.
When using Twilio to send SMS messages/survey invitations, some mobile carriers have started blocking texts containing the word "COVID", and some are blocking messages longer than 160 characters. While you're developing the forms in your projects, download the data dictionary at least once a day. Then if something gets really messed up you can upload the last good data dictionary and won't lose weeks worth of work. Uploading a data dictionary REPLACES ALL of your forms and fields with what's in the data dictionary - it doesn't just add to your existing forms. If you're waiting for your email verification email, check your spam folder because many people have found it there. Allowable HTML tags: (each tag starts with a "< " and ends with a ">" Use this link to show a progress bar at the bottom of your survey. Steps prior to moving to Production (from http://ctsi.psu.edu/ctsi-programs/clinical-services-core/redcap-home/using-redcap/ Develop and test thoroughly all instruments created in the project. Create roles needed for the project in the User Rights application. Add users and assign to roles as needed. For research projects, correctly and completely fill out the project purpose information (Project Setup / Modify project title, purpose, etc.). If you are testing your project and have enough required fields to make it difficult to manually enter data into all of the required fields, you can use this bookmarklet with javascript to help you complete REDCap forms quickly for testing. This was developed by Andrew Martin at Stanford University. To use this: Open your browser's bookmarks and create one that contains the following: When you are in a form into which you want to enter fake data, click on the bookmark and watch the magic. Also see the long list in the Tip of the month section below. REDCap version differences The following are word documents that list most of the changes between the major versions of REDCap that we have installed.
Training resources available at other institutions (Keep in mind that some of the information provided might be specific to the institution)
Institution Resource Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP)
CHOP has excellent resources including the following topics
Data Management and Best Practices Survey Design & Methodology REDCap Surveys e-Consent Surveys Branching logic Randomization Module Data Import Tool Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center
The Cincinnati REDCap Resource Center includes information on training, how-to articles, regulatory guidance, and overall end-user information.
University of Miami
A video that is an introduction to building clinical trials databases with REDCap. This video is 1.5 hours long, but it does a rather thorough coverage of most of the things that are important to think about and do when setting up a REDCap project for a clinical trial. It has "chapters" so that you can start watching and come back later and watch the next chapter.
Here is a list of the topics covered:
Chapter 1 - Introduction Chapter 2 - Screening (04:01) How to create a project How to organize your projects Allowing surveys Making an instrument How to add a variable Types Validation Branching logic Field embedding Calculated flield Action tags Survey queue Chapter 3 - longitudinal assessment (31:29) Enable longitudinal Defining events Schedule module Chapter 4 - Intake (39:35) Piping Field embedding (again) Chapter 5 - Blood (47:07)) Making an instrument (again) How to add a variable (again) Date fields Text fields Branching logic (again) Sending emails Automated survey invitations Alerts and notifications Entering data Chapter 6 - Randomization (53:27) Why bother Randomization methods Making a randomization dataset Telling REDCap about the randomization How to do the randomization in REDCap Chapter 7 - Export and Summary (1:03:03) Describing data in REDCap Exporting with point and click tools What is an API Exporting with an API Using tidyREDCap to summarize Chapter 8 - eConsent (1:17:02) How to create a project (again) IRB Issues File reposity Online designer (again) Modify questions Survey queue (again) Survey settings The consent proces Chapter 9 - Conclusion ((1:25:50) What is next? Institute of Translational Health Sciences (ITHS) at the University of Washington
Tip of the month (Please keep in mind that they might be on a different version of REDCap than we are and might have different processes and might have different modules enabled.)
Thanks to Scott Carey at John Hopkins University for the idea for the REDCap Training Central and some of the links and materials.