Examples of How to Use REDCap
for Research and Administration
Sue Lowry
Biostatistical Design and Analysis Center (BDAC)
Clinical and Translational Science Institute
Academic Health Center
University of Minnesota
What is REDCap?
Research Electronic Data Capture
It is a secure, web-based application
used to build and manage
online surveys and databases.
It is available for you to use at no cost to you.
What is REDCap?
• REDCap was developed by Vanderbilt University
• It’s used extensively by clinical and translational science
researchers
• It’s being used by more than 200 UMN staff, faculty and
students on over 60 projects that are in production and
over 60 other projects that are in development
• There are projects at the U of MN that are being used
for research, for operational support and for quality
improvement projects
What is REDCap?
• REDCap functionality includes
– Validation of data types (e.g. number, date, time, email,
phone number)
– Range checks for numbers and dates
– Branching logic to hide fields until appropriate, based on
values in other fields (e.g. hide questions about
pregnancy unless participant is a female)
– Calculated fields (e.g. enter height and weight and see
calculated BMI)
What is REDCap?
• With REDCap, you are in total control of your project.
– You define the data to be captured, including how it will
be displayed and stored.
– You can make changes to your project at any time, even
after data collection has begun.
– You control access to your project and use the audit trail
to monitor activity.
What is REDCap?
• Your data is secure in REDCap
– Access is restricted by X.500 or, for those without an X.500,
a REDCap-specific username and password
– Data is stored on a secure server and is backed up nightly
– It includes audit trails of all data changes, views and exports
– You can optionally de-identify the data during export
• There are over 100 standard instruments that can be
downloaded (e.g. APACHE II, CES-D, HAM-D, PSQI,
PSS-10, SF-36)
How do you use REDCap?
Log in at https://redcap.ahc.umn.edu/
-- or --
You can get there via ctsi.umn.edu
You will need to log in with a valid X.500 username and password
OR, if you don’t have an X.500, a REDCap-specific username and password.
After logging in, your projects will be listed in the My Projects tab.
You develop your data collection instruments (surveys and data entry forms)
in the online designer.
In the online designer window, and other places throughout REDCap,
there are instructions and videos available to help you learn how to use it.
Watch
Read
Learn
There are many types of fields available.
When developing your forms, you choose the field type for each field.
For text fields, you can optionally chose from several types of validation.
For multiple choice fields, you supply the choices.
You can also specify the alignment – Vertical or horizontal
and on the right or on the left
You can also create calculated fields. There is help on how to format equations.
Branching logic is available. You can hide fields until they are appropriate.
If female, ask if she’s given birth
If she’s given birth, ask how many times
Each of your projects can
have multiple data collection
instruments, which will be
listed in the menu on the left
part of the screen.
You can create PDFs of any of the data collection instruments – with or without data.
• Projects start out in development mode. This is
when you develop and test your data entry
instruments and reports and when you or your
statistician test the data exports.
• Although you can make changes to most things
after the project is in production mode, it is better
and easier to do it while it is in development mode.
The Applications menu
shows tools that are
available in all projects
(but you might not have
access to all the tools
in some projects)
You can create and run reports, which can be downloaded to Excel.
From a report, you can click the identifier to open the forms for that record.
You can get graphs of your multiple choice field data …
… and graphs and some basic statistics about your numeric data.
You can export
your data to
•Excel
•SPSS
•SAS
•R
•STATA
And you can de-identify
data when you export it.
You have control over who can do what in your database.
You control who has
access to items in the
Applications menu
And you control who has
access to your data
collection instruments with
No Access, Read Only or
View & Edit rights.
In a longitudinal project, forms can be used in multiple events
You can schedule events in a longitudinal project
Events are then added to the project’s calendar.
You can open the forms that are associated with that event.
To invite people to complete one of your surveys online, you can use a
public link or invite specific people via email and track who has responded.
Want to learn more about REDCap?
The Training Resources tab has many training videos.
The Help & FAQ tab has a lot of helpful information.
The Home tab has a link you can use to register for a 1.5 hour REDCap Demo.
I’m available to answer questions about REDCap (after you’ve attended a demo).
Thank you
We’ll take questions at the end.