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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:

(1) Initial Considerations

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.

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  • 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)

(2) Important facts about surveys:

  • The project itself must be enabled to use surveys

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

  1. Public Survey -can be 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.

  • The public survey link will only work for the FIRST survey in your project, if you have additional surveys that need distributed (after) the first, you must specifically setup a mechanism to distribute the follow up survey(s)

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, ASI’s, Participant List, and/or individual survey invites to deliver survey(s) to participants. These methods are covered in the below section.

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

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

(3) SurveyDistribution Methods:

Warning

IMPORTANT:

Public survey link only works to distribute the firstsurvey in yoru porject, all proceeding surveys must be specifically enabled with a trigger mechanism to be distributed, whether that be automatic or manually.

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

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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 Survey 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 - but only 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) and ‘record status dashboard’

  • Automated invitations, Individual invitations, - Navigate to your ‘Survey Distribution tools’ > click ‘Survey Invitation log’ this log will allow you to view previous and past invites sent/completed.

Additional Information & FAQs:

E-consent:

  • How to setup e-Consent and ensure the participant receives a pdf copy of their completed e-consent document automatically!

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

How do I ensure a participant no longer receives future survey(s) if they’re no longer in the study?

Other:

Survey Security considerations: