Initial Considerations
A public survey link can only be used for the first instrument on your project. To use it, the first instrument needs to be enabled as a survey (instructions how to enable survey are at: Enable Survey.
Using a public survey link is the simplest and fastest way to collect responses for your survey. Responses will be collected anonymously (unless the survey contains questions asking 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 necessary in some cases.
The Process
To set this up, do the following:
- Enable the first instrument to be a survey. Instructions how to do this are at: Enable Survey
- Click on "Survey Distribution Tools" in left side bar (circled in red below)
- Now click on "Public Survey Link" (Circled in red below). Here it will show the Public Survey URL (Circled in green below). You can give this to anyone that you would like to have fill out the survey.
Additional Considerations
- We do not recommend you distribute any monetary compensation (e.g. gift cards) via public survey link, which could prompt fraudulent responses.
- REDCap does not record the IP address of survey respondents. If you have an unusual number of responses, we cannot identify if you have bots completing your public survey.
- Adding an optional participant identifier is a great way to later identify respondents for: monetary compensation, follow-up surveys, or verification of appropriateness as a responder.