REDCap Overview
Institute for Clinical and Translational Science
Fred McClurg
Neil Nuehring
What is REDCap?
REDCap (Research Electronic Data
Capture) is a web-based application
used to create forms and manage
databases in order to support data
capture and surveys for research
studies.
(Research Electronic Data Capture) is a web based application used to
create and manage databases and surveys in order to support data
capture for research studies.
REDCap Form Types
• Survey
 Intended for a subject or participant
 Can be anonymous
• Data Capture
 Intended for a research team member
or collaborator
Who can use REDCap?
Any University of Iowa investigator or research
team can use REDCap.
You can log into REDCap via:
https://redcap.icts.uiowa.edu
Video training modules are available via:
https://redcap.icts.uiowa.edu/redca
p/index.php?action=training
Why choose REDCap
over Excel and Access?
• Access to REDCap is authenticated
 Uses University of Iowa LDAP HawkID and password
• Secure hosting and regular data backups
 Data backups, software upgrades, and system
maintenance are handled automatically by ICTS
 Data is secured via SSL
• Allows multi-site access
 Research teams can input data simultaneously, from
across the hall or across the country
Additional reasons why to choose
REDCap over Excel and Access
Researchers can build databases rapidly
 Any user can login and start a project
Research teams have autonomy
 Create a new database or survey
 Assign user permissions and roles to others
(done in accordance with the IRB)
 Granting rights for data import and export
REDCap Web Interface
Form creation and data entry are easy in the web
interface
REDCap Data Collection
• Classic Data Collection
 Form used for a single time period
(questions asked once)
• Longitudinal Data Collection
 Form used for multiple time periods (e.g.
vitals at initial visit, 30 days, 60 days, etc.)
 Same form used for all time periods
 Calendar used to schedule subject visits
REDCap Features
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Branching logic is supported
Calculated fields are supported
Researchers can copy projects
Researchers can make modifications to
their project any time during the study
 Draft mode (design phase)
 Production mode (data collection phase)
REDCap Confidential Data
Identified data
• Identified data can be selected in
REDCap to create access limits on
those fields
• What are identifiers? Examples: MRN,
Name, Social Security Number, etc.
REDCap Access Control
Researchers choose which individuals
have access to what features:
• Identified data (Team Members)
• De-identified data (Data Analyst)
• Data export (Principal Investigator)
• Import capability (Data Entry)
• User rights (Project Owner)
• View reports (Project Manager)
• View logging (Auditor)
• Data quality (Quality Control)
REDCap Report Generation
Reports are:
• Easy to generate
 Any field can be specified as a report column
 Sort order and column order specified
 Simple filtering (e.g. males > age 21)
• Saved and recalled later
• Can be limited to certain users
• Often used as an interface for accessing
individual records
REDCap File Sharing
File Repository
• Project-specific files can be stored here
 Consent form template
 Standard Operating Procedure (SOP)
 No need for shared network drive
• Files can be securely shared with project
members and non project members
 Via REDCap login (members)
 Via email and a token (non-members)
REDCap Graphing
Graphics Data View & Stats
REDCap Data Quality Control
• Data Comparison Tool
 Used to compare two records in a project
• Data Quality Tool
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Missing Values
Validation Errors (incorrect or out of range)
Outliers
Hidden fields with values
Multiple choice fields with invalid data
REDCap Features
Double Data Entry
• Two persons perform data entry
• Each data entry is independent
DDE1 and DDE2 roles are assigned to
different individuals
• A reviewer reconciles differences
Reviewer role is assigned to a third person
• An admin must to enable capability
REDCap Extensions
• API
 Allows external applications to connect to REDCap
 Used to retrieve or modify data in REDCap (via data
export and import)
 Admin needs to enable
• Plugins
 For web developers to extend REDCap functionality.
• Dynamic Data Pull (DDP)
 Integrated solution for retrieving data from external
sources (e.g. Epic’s Clarity database) into a REDCap
project.
REDCap Analysis
Researchers can export data to a variety of
statistical analysis packages (SPSS, SAS, Stata, R
or Excel)
 Researchers can grant or restrict access to
export data for analysis
 Data exports are customizable, including all
or some of the data forms and fields
 Exports can include identified or only deidentified data depending on user and
group rights
REDCap Auditing
Data logging records information:
• Who changed the data
• What data was accessed
• When these events occurred
REDCap System Security
Things the IRB will want to know
• Physical Security
 Primary Data – HCIS Pomerantz Data Center
 Data backups – ITS Lindquist Data Center
• Operating System Security
 HawkID based logins
 Data encrypted on the hard drive
REDCap Data Backups
• Backups are encrypted …
• Via the disk. Even the system admins who have
access to the hard drive are unable to read it.
• Via the network. If someone where listening to
network transmission they would be unable to
decipher the information.
• Copies of data replicated to remote data center
every 15 minutes
• 100+ point in time copies of data available at any
time
• Disaster recovery strategy has been tested without
data loss
Reminder
• Hands-On Lab Training tomorrow:
http://www.icts.uiowa.edu/content/events
• Newsletter wiki page:
https://www.icts.uiowa.edu/confluence/displ
ay/REDCapDocs/REDCap+Newsletter
• Internal REDCap documentation:
https://www.icts.uiowa.edu/confluence/displ
ay/REDCapDocs/REDCap
Questions?