Surveys
Initial Considerations
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Create your project and develop your instruments (see Create a REDCap Project)
Enable use of surveys in your project
Go to "Project Setup"
In the top box "Main project settings" you'll see the option of Enabling a survey. Click on it (Circled in Red below)
Next click on "Online Designer" (Circled in red below)
A table like the one shown below will display. Select "Enable" for every instrument you want to be a survey in your project (circled in red below)
After enabling a survey, the Survey Settings page is displayed. This is where you design your survey, such as choosing the font, text size and the survey’s color theme, and configure its settings, such as the question display format (all on one page or multiple pages), setting up an expiration date, enabling Text-to-Speech functionality, entering the survey completion text, and setting up confirmation emails for respondents.
The Survey Settings page has several sections:
Survey Instructions: allows you to provide instructions to your participants.
Survey Design Options: This section allows you to customize how your survey looks. You can add
a logo, used enhanced radio and checkbox buttons, edit survey text font and size and change the
survey theme. As you customize you can see the changes in the Survey design preview box
Survey Customization:
Question Numbering - You can select either Auto-numbered or Custom-numbered for the survey questions
Question Display Format - The survey can be one page or multiple pages. To break the survey into sections for multiple pages, use the Begin New Section (with optional text)
field type. Each section will be its own page of the surveyThis is particularly useful setting for long surveys that you may worry about participants "quitting" before finishing the survey. When the participant selects "next page" the data collected on the previous page is saved, even if they do not complete the entire survey.
Allow Participants a PDF - This option will display a button for the participant to download a PDF file of their responses for the survey they just completed.
Survey Specific Email Invitation Field - A survey-specific email invitation field can be enabled for any given survey, in which you can designate any email field in your project to use for sending survey invitations for that particular survey. Thus, you can collect several email addresses (e.g., for a student, a parent, and a teacher) and utilize each email for a different survey in the project. Then you can send each person an invitation to their own survey, after which all the survey responses get stored as one single record in the project. The survey-specific email field is similar to the project-level email invitation field except that it is employed only for the survey where it has been enabled. In this way, the survey-level email can override an existing email address originally entered into the Participant List or the project-level email field (if used). This feature allows users to have data entry workflows that require multiple surveys where the participant is different for each survey. (Note: The email field can exist on any instrument in the project, and you may use a different email field on each survey. You may also use the same email field for multiple surveys.)
Required Fields – If enabled the * must provide value will appear beneath all ‘Required’ fields. . Note: If there is a long list of required questions the red text can sometimes be aesthetically displeasing to participants.
Aggregate Results - After completing the survey, participants can view ALL responses in aggregate graphical format and/or as descriptive statistics. Also, the individual respondent’s answers will be
highlighted in yellow.Text-to-Speech - Allows text on survey page to be read audibly to participants. When enabled, icons will be displayed next to all text on the survey, and when clicked, the text will be read out loud to the participant (must have device speakers turned on).
Survey Access - This section allows you to implement response limits, time limits to complete a survey once an invitation is sent, set an expiration date for the survey and an option on allowing
respondents to save and return to survey at a later time.Response Limit - You can set the maximum number of responses to collect. Prevents respondents from starting the survey after a set number of responses have been collected.
An important note about using the Response Limit feature is that if the limit has been reached for a given survey, then the survey will no longer show up in a participant's Survey Queue (if enabled), the Survey Auto-continue option (if enabled on the Survey Settings page) will skip over this survey, and also Automated Survey Invitations (if enabled) will no longer be scheduled for the surveyRECORD DELETION NOTE: If records/responses are deleted from the project after the
response limit has been reached, in which the number of responses falls below the limit
again, then the survey will begin showing up in the Survey Queue again, the Survey
Auto-continue option will begin working normally again, and Automated Survey
Invitations will begin to be scheduled again. However, in this case, any invitations that
did not get scheduled via Automated Survey Invitations after the limit had been reached
will *not* get automatically scheduled again if the response count falls below the limit
due to the deletion of records/responses, in which case those invitations would have to be
scheduled manually.LONGITUDINAL NOTE: If your project has the longitudinal module enabled, then
please keep in mind that the Response Limit will be applied to each event individually
where the survey is utilized. For example, if the response limit is set to 50, then even
though the survey on Event 1 has reached the limit, the survey on Event 2 and so forth
will still be open if the survey on those events have not reached the limit.
Expiration date and time - You can set the time after which the survey will become inactive
Save and Return Later - If you’re survey is long or you want to allow respondents to save the survey and return to it later, you can enable that here. This option provides respondents with a 'Save & Return Later' button on the survey page, which allows them to save their progress and return where they left off to complete the survey any time in the future. Allow respondents to return without needing a return code: By default, when respondents click the 'Save & Return Later' button on a survey, they will need the return code provided to them in order to return to the survey later to begin where they left off.
But this behavior can be modified by checking the checkbox, which will allow anyone with only the survey link to return to the survey and view all previously entered responses WITHOUT needing a return code. NOTE: If you are collecting identifying information (e.g., PII, PHI), for privacy reasons it is HIGHLY recommended that you leave the option unchecked so as to enforce a return code.
Survey Termination Options - This section allows additional options on what you want to happen when a respondent completes a survey
Auto-continue on to next survey – When enabled this will automatically start the next survey instrument after finishing this survey.
Linking surveys together is only supported inside the same event and must be enabled for each survey you wish to link. This feature allows you to have separate survey instruments
strung together to appear as though they were a single survey to the survey participant. This is especially useful for complex longitudinal project where different combinations of
instruments are given in separate events. If enabled and this is the last survey, the selected termination option below will be used. NOTE: If you wish to utilize more
advanced conditional logic to control which survey that the participant goes to next, you should use the Survey Queue feature, which can be enabled in the Online Designer.Redirect to URL or Survey completion text - – This will redirect the respondent to a webpage when a survey is completed.
Survey Completion Text - This is the text that will appear when the respondent submits the survey. It is not emailed to them, it merely appears on the screen when they click
Submit. You can edit this text, use piping and some HTML.E-Consent & Auto-Archiver - See E-Consent Knowledge Article.When enabled, upon survey completion, a compact PDF copy of
the survey response will be automatically stored in the project's File Repository, from which the archived PDFs can be downloaded at any time.
NOTE: This feature is highly recommended to use while eConsenting participants via a survey. This feature only works when the instrument is completed as a survey.Send Confirmation Email
Note that in Send Confirmation Email you can attach brochures / PDFs about your study, etc. Since email is not considered a secure form of
communication this is NOT recommended if the survey contains identifying information (PHI).If it is a participant list survey, you have the participant’s email
If it is a public survey and this “Send Confirmation” feature is enabled, the participant will see a question that says “do you want to receive a confirmation email” and ask for their email. The system will send the confirmation but the email will not be linked to the record.
Click Save Changes to complete process of customizing each of your survey instruments
Set Automated Invitations:
After clicking Save Changes, you are returned to the Online Designer page. New buttons appear next to your instrument:
Survey Settings: Allow you to modify the settings you just made
Automated Invitations
Click on the Automated Invitations button
Follow the 4 steps to define the parameters for the automated survey invitations that will be sent out for the specific survey instrument..
Step 1: Compose Message
Step 2: Specify the Conditions for when the survey invitation will be sent
Step 3: Define timeframe for sending invitation once conditions in Step 2 are met
Step 4: Activate the Auto invite
Define Survey Queue if desired (see Knowledge Article on Survey Queues)
Located in Online Designer
Allows you to daisy chain multiple surveys together based on conditions
Allows you to send different surveys to different populations (eg male / female, patient/ care giver by placing logic in survey distribution
Can split up forms for greater flexibility
Complex studies
Longitudinal studies
Don’t need to send email for each survey – This functionality chains the surveys together
Need to set up Survey Queue for each arm
Assign survey order, and assign surveys to events and arms (See Defining Events)
This is particularly helpful if you have multiple surveys that should be completed in a specific order, and if you would like the next survey to auto-populate after the previous survey has been completed.
Drag and drop the surveys in the Online Designer to customize their order
Review the survey termination option for "auto continue to next survey" in the survey settings
If your project has multiple events (time points) and/or multiple arms (often for groups of participants), you can designate which surveys are completed when, and by who
Set Email Notification if desired
Survey Distribution Tools (public survey link or email distribution list)
From the toolbar on the left side of the page, select Survey Distribution Tools
At the top of the page, select whether you desire a public survey link or to define a participant list
Public Survey Link:
Publish to a website or send via email
Anonymous (unless the survey asks for identifying data from the participant) •NOTE: Since this method uses a single survey link for all participants, it allows for the possibility of participants taking the survey multiple times, which may be desired in some cases
Participant List
Sends customized email to participants in list
Participant can complete survey one time
Configurable reminders
Tracks responses
Option to identify responses
Use Survey Invitation Log to view invitations that have been sent or are scheduled to be sent (such as those scheduled via Automated Survey Invitations)
Refer to specific Knowledge Articles for each type of distribution
TEST your survey project
It is important to TEST all aspects of your project. Create as many records to test every aspect of the project
If the project is a simple single survey, without branching logic or anything else, 5 cases should be more than sufficient.
If the project is a multi-arm longitudinal study with Automated Survey Invitations, Randomization and Form Render Skip Logic, then you may require upwards of 100 – 150 test cases
Remember to identify PHI fields. This is done from the Project Set Up tab:
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Order of instruments in a survey
Public survey links can only be used for the first instrument on your project. To use it, the first instrument needs to be enabled as a survey (See instructions: Enable Survey. )
Auto-numbering is mandatory for the project
Enabling theSurvey Specific Email Invitation field within Survey Settings
Allows you to override the project level email field for that specific survey instrument. This is useful when you may have a specific survey that should be associated with a participant record, but needs to be completed by someone other than the participant. For example if your participants are patients battling cancer, and you have many surveys for the participants regarding symptoms, hospital visits, and goals, but you'd also like to collect a survey for participants' caregivers regarding caregiver burden, you can create that survey but assign a different email field to send to.
the email of the caregiver would need to be collected prior to this survey, typically in a data collection form, and validated as an email text field (see article on Field Validation)
Designing instruments to be Automated Invitations even if your project is not a survey.
If your first instrument is a data gathering instrument about an upcoming seminar, you can design a second instrument as a survey whose purpose is to send automated invitations / reminders to interested attendees. You must capture the attendee's email in the first instrument and set the second instrument as a survey itself. Then in the Automated Invite, create logic that will send the event reminder to the attendee at a designated date / time. You must also enable Designate an email field from the Project Set Up page:
In this example, the second instrument will exist as a blank survey instrument. The automated invitation "compose message" section will have default text for a link & URL to the survey, you'll need to delete this default text, since the link/URL would lead the participant to a blank survey. The automated invitation would just be used to schedule a reminder email to participants who meet specific logic from the first instrument (i.e. signed up for an event)
Adding participants after a survey has been distributed:
If users want to use a participant list, it does not need to be entered before the project is moved to production. The participant list can be added during production.
Many studies that want to distribute surveys via email may not have their participant list ahead of time; they may attain them as the recruit participants. This is the typical approach for clinical trials.
As records are added with recruitment, emails get automatically added to the participant list.
Creating anonymous surveys for incentives
Make the survey optional non-anonymous (i.e. put a field at the end something like "Please enter your email if you'd like to be entered into a drawing for a $50 gift card as a thank you for participating in this study" Then you can do a drawing and email the winner(s). People who don't want to list their email don't have to.
Use branching logic to populate a link to a gift card for every Nth participant. Organize hidden fields that will count # of responses, then create N fields for N # gift cards you'd like to give out, each with a link to a gift card that populates at the end of the survey.
Allow each survey respondent to receive a personalized link to the survey
Disable auto-numbering for records in your project so you can assign the [record_id] as the unique study ID that will link their REDCap data to their genomic data
Create an instrument form (not a survey) as the 1st instrument in the project to collect a "fake" email, label this field [email]
designate an email field for sending surveys (in Project Setup) → select [email] as that field
Create your survey instrument that you'd like to distribute via unique link
left menu > designer
after you create the instrument, make sure you click "enable" as a survey
create an excel document with the following headers
add the ID numbers you'd like in remaining rows of column A (this can be as simple as starting a 1 and continuing until you've reached the # of unique links you want to produce (i.e. the number of participants you're recruiting)
add a fake email to every row of column B associated with an ID in column A (for example: test@gmail.com)
save the excel document as a .csv file
import the data to your REDCap project:
left menu > data import > select csv file > import
attain the unique links in your participant list:
left menu > survey distribution tools > participant list > select the desired survey instrument from the dropdown > see individual links for each record here or download all as excel
Re-using data collection surveys (example: pre and post surveys are almost identical) Using longitudinal design for survey at PRE and POST events (time points) vs having 2 surveys: pre-survey and post-survey at a single event.
if the questions asked at both PRE and POST are the same, it is recommended to have 1 survey, and use a longitudinal design with 2 events (PRE and POST) and assign the survey at both events
if the questions are different, or questions at POST depend on answers at PRE, it is recommended to have 2 surveys: pre-survey and post-survey. Branching logic can be used to populate specific questions in post-survey based on pre-survey answers (see branching logic article)
if questions are similar enough that you’d like to create the pre-survey, then copy to create the post-survey which can be modified based on specific needs follow these steps:
(need screen shots for copy instrument)
Adding questions to existing surveys
Adding a question to the existing survey will not delete any data that has already been collected. Existing records will just have a blank for the new question when you export their data.
Adding a question to the existing survey will not change the public survey link, so anyone who has the link already but hasn't completed the survey, can still access it both before and after you make the change.
Prevent a person from leaving the survey before they finish filling it out.
In the Survey Settings enable the option to click the "Save & Return Later" button to stop the survey and return at a later time to complete it
Minimizing Data Loss
For long surveys – consider multiple surveys and group into survey queue, with the auto-start option: surveys will appear to participants as one survey only. Advantages: data will be saved at the completion of each survey; there will be less chance to lose data in case of poor Internet connection
You can also consider splitting survey to multiple pages with section headers
Targeting Surveys to Specific Groups
Survey queues may be used as 'branching logic' at a survey level. For example, if there is a set of questions that are specific to a given gender, instead of adding a branching logic to each question, create a survey with this set of questions only and specify the condition in the survey queue e.g. [gender] = "1"
The same logic can be useful when scheduling automated invitations
Deleting or Disabling a survey in Survey Settings.
There are 2 “delete” buttons for any given project.
1 is in Online Designer – deletes entire form and data is lost
1 is in Survey Settings – reverts survey back to a form. Data is still available
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