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Surveys Setup & Distribution Overview

Owned by Alyssa Hill
Last updated: Mar 26, 2024
5 min read

REDCap projects can be very simple (single survey) or very complex (a multi-site study) with a combination of both surveys and data entry forms for separate groups of participants).

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.

It is crucial to thoughtfully design & plan your REDCap Project to ensure survey distribution to end users works as expected!

  • 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

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 set up a mechanism to distribute the follow up survey(s)

  • May 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.

  •  

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.

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) Survey Distribution Methods:

IMPORTANT:

Public survey link only works to distribute the first survey 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.

Distribution Methods:

Available to use with PUBLIC SURVEY?

Available to use with PRIVATE SURVEY?

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?