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Instrument Design
Once your REDCap project is created, you will be configuring your project and creating instruments to use during data collection. As REDCap is very customizable and can be used for various use cases, we will only touch on the basics of configuring a REDCap project here. If you have certain use cases that require a more in depth explanation, we have a whole range of knowledge artlces that can be of help.
Online Designer
You will most likely be spending the majority of your time within the Online Designer when creating instruments for your REDCap project. The Online Designer is a graphical instrument design interface that allows you to create data collection instruments very quickly. This can be accessed either from the left hand navigation panel, or from the Project Setup page.
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When you enter the Online Designer, you will be greeted with a list of instruments that are configured for your project. In this page, you can create an instrument from scratch, upload a ZIP file of an instrument that has already been configured, or search within the REDCap Shared Library to find an instrument that has already been created by a fellow REDCap community user. you will also be able to copy, delete, download, and rename instruments when you select the "Choose action" button.
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There are other buttons visible here, but we'll get to that later.
Creating an Instrument
For now, select the first instrument that is in the list of instruments. You can do this by clicking on either the pencil icon that shows up next to the form name, or the form name itself.
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You will then be taken into the instrument to configure individual variables and fields.
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Creating New Fields
Here, you will be able to add new fields by selecting the "Add Field" button. In REDCap, data is associated with a variable, which will have various attributes such as variable name, labels and other features such as validation, action tags etc. The variable and its associated attributes is called a field.
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When creating a field, a variable name, a field type, and a field label are required. Other attributes are optional and can be used to add further information and conditions to a field.
Field Types
You can create multiple types of fields:
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Field types can be categorized into five types:
Unstructured field types
Structured field types
Special field types
Display field types
Matrix field types
Unstructured field types
Unstructured field types are used to collect free text information. These include the Text Box and Notes Box field types.
Text Boxes are great for collecting short pieces of free text. Validation can be added for data such as dates, numbers, emails, and phone numbers. If collecting numeric values, you can also set maximum and minimum ranges.
Notes Boxes are great for collecting longer pieces of text, such as clinical notes, comments to elaborate on a previous answer, or descriptions.
Structured field types
Structured field types provide a limited set of pre-defined answers for selection during data entry. These include drop-downs and radio buttons for single answer choices, and checkboxes for multiple answers.
Multiple Choice - Drop-down List and Multiple Choice - Radio Buttons are great for providing pre-defined choices and having only one choice selected during data entry. For these field types, choices can be programmed to carry certain numerical values depending on user need. There are also pre-baked choices within REDCap, namely the Yes/No and True/False field types. For these field types, the numerical value is pre-assigned to the choices.
Checkboxes are used when you want multiple answers to be selected for a single question or variable. Again, just like the single answer field types, numerical values can be assigned to choices depending on study preference.
Special field types
Special field types allow you to upload files to REDCap, collect signatures, and calculate values. These include the Signature, File Upload, and Calculation fields.
Signature fields allow people to digitally sign while data entering within REDCap. The application captues a small JPEG file and stored the image within the file system. This field can be an integral part of your project if you require e-Consent to be enabled.
You can upload files into REDCap using the File Upload field. REDCap simply stores the file. This useful for collecting photos, consent documents, or scanned documents.
Calculation fields are used to calculate values from data associated with other variables. The end result for a calculation field must be a value, and the calculation field can only access data from variables within that particular record. There are also various special functions and smart variables that can be used to aid with calculation. These fields are useful for creating scoring tools or simple calculations.
Display field types
Display field types, as the name suggest, let you display different types of media within a REDCap data entry screen. These include descriptive text and section headers.
The Descriptive Text field is very versatile and can be used to display many different things. In most cases, this field is used to display text information, such as further instruction or clarification for certain variables. If needed, HTML can be entered into this field to modify the styling of the text to the user's liking.
This field can also be used to upload certain files that can be downloaded, such as audio or pictures. Video hosted outside of REDCap (such as YouTube or Vimeo) can also be embedded in this field for viewing during data entry.
Section headers can be used to separate different blocks of variables. These can also be used to create separate pages within surveys.
Matrix field types
Matrix field types are a little distinct from the others, as they are a grouped set of variables together. These are useful when you have multiple variables that rely on the same choices. When adding a matrix of variables, you can use either radio buttons or checkboxes as options. The columns of the matrix are the options, and the options for all of the variables within the matrix will need to match. Rows will be the variables (questions).
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Designing and configuring REDCap instruments
Data Entry
After creating fields, enter some data. This is where most action happens for most REDCap users.
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