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REDCap projects can be very simple (single survey) or very complex (a multi-site study with several arms and a combination of both surveys and data entry forms for separate groups of participants).
In either case it is crucial to thoughtfully design & plan your REDCap Project in advance, especially if it is going to involve surveys.

This overview has summarized the ‘need to know’ information in 3 steps to help you get started:

  • Initial Considerations

    • Important facts about surveys

  • How to enable your project to use surveys

    • Public vs Private survey

  • Understanding Survey settings

  • Survey Distribution Methods & Survey Responses

  • Additional information & FAQs

    • (1) Initial Considerations

    • Is your survey language IRB approved?

    • Does your survey already exist in the REDCap shared library?

    • Will you be sending surveys via a public link, to specific emails or both?

    • How do you plan to enroll participants in the study?

    • Will there be follow-up surveys based on specific criteria?

    • How to you plan to publish the results?

    • What are your reporting needs?

    • Do you have multiple surveys that should be completed in a specific order?

    • Do all participants complete every survey (in a multiple-arm study)

    • Should you use a survey queue?

    • Will participants be allowed to go back to change their answers?

    • Do you want to save partially completed surveys?

    • To whom should the survey and its results be visible?

    • Will the study occur over time with multiple surveys sent out at various time intervals?

    • Are surveys only intended for the record participant, or are there associated surveys for someone related to the record participant? (caregiver, clinician, child, parent)

    A thought-out design and an even more thorough testing of your survey study prior to moving to production will greatly enhance the success of your project and avoid unwanted pitfalls.

    (2) Important facts about surveys:

    • A public survey link can only be used for if the first instrument on in your project is enabled as survey.

      • Responses will be collected anonymously (unless the survey contains questions asking for identifying data from the participant).

    • If you wish distribute surveys via the participant list to different groups of people you must either use a separate project (one for each group) or use branching logic. Again, design and testing is key!

    • The project itself must be enabled to use surveys

    • Once enabled, consider which type of survey will fit your project needs. The 2 method methods are listed below…

    1. Public Survey -published to a website or sent via email.

    • Often used for anonymous survey collection (unless the survey asks for identifying data from the participant).

    • 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 necessary in some cases.

    2.Private Survey

    • If the first instrument on the project is not enabled as a survey, this means a Private Survey is being made.

    • Private Surveys typically use the Participant List to send emails and track who responds to your survey. 

    Regardless of the Survey type you choose (Public/Private), you should become familiar with the Survey settings available to use:

    Next, consider how you will distribute your survey(s)…

    (3) SurveyDistribution Methods:

    NOTE: You must EXPAND the below sections to view the full content. Click the (>) carrot to expand.

    Expand

    Distribution Methods:

    Available to use with PUBLIC SURVEY?

    Available to use with PRIVATE SURVEY?

    • Public survey link 

    A link to share with the desired sample pool of participants. When a new participant opens the link and completes the survey, a new auto-generated record number is created with the participant's responses. 

    More detail (Public Survey)

    Yes

    No

    • Participant contact list 

    Participant contact lists can be used if you would like to add a list of potential participants and send mass survey invitations to that list.

    The contact list is ideal when you plan to add a list of multiple emails all at once, versus adding records and including an email field in a demographic data form for individual participants recruited one-at-a-time.

    More detail (Participant Contact list)

    Yes

    Yes, however certain criteria must be met.

    More detail: (Private Survey / Participant Contact List)

    • Automated invitationsSurvey Invitations

    Survey invitations can be scheduled to occur when specific logic is met. Logic can be survey-specific so invitations can be customized for each survey.

    More detail: (Automated Survey Invitations)

    Yes - if you Designate & Enable a survey participant email field

    Yes

    • Individual invitations

    Individual participant record pages can be opened, and a specific survey can be opened, then an individual email invitation can be sent or the survey can be opened for in-person data collection.

    More detail:( Individual Survey Invitations)

    Yes

    Yes

    • Survey Access Code or QR Code

    When email is not an option, Survey Access Codes and Short Code can be used to get a respondent started quickly on a survey.

    More detail: (Survey Access Code and QR Code)

    Yes

    Yes

    • Survey Queue

    Used to connect separate surveys on your project.  When the first survey is complete, it does one of the following:

    -Goes directly to the next survey that is programmed to open based on logic.

    -Shows a list of surveys that are to be completed as well as the surveys that the participant has already completed for that event

    (More detail: Survey Queue)

    Yes

    Yes

    • Stealth Survey Queue

    Works similarly to the basic survey queue, but keeps the Survey Queue table hidden from participants.

    • The Stealth Survey forces "Auto Start" feature to be enabled for all queue-activated surveys.

      • This is useful if users wish to use the Survey Queue to automatically guide survey participants to the next survey without displaying the queue of surveys.

    • More detail (Stealth Survey Queue)

    Yes

    Yes

    How do I know who has responded to my survey?

    You may use Survey Notifications to receive an email every time a participant completes a survey. Otherwise the way you view who has responded, varies depending on how you distributed your survey.

    See below for explanations:

    • Public survey link - Access the ‘record status dashboard’ since a new record is created each times someone completes your survey, consider using Survey Notifications.

    • Participant contact list - Responses are shown within (Participant Contact list)

    • Automated invitations, Individual invitations, - Navigate to your ‘Survey Distribution tools’ > click ‘Survey Invitation log’

    Additional Information & FAQs:

    How do I stop a survey based on the answer to a question?

    Survey Security considerations:

    E-consents:

    Other: