Research Electronic Data Capture - REDCap

What is REDCap?

Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCap) is a secure web application for building and managing online surveys and databases.

Whilst REDCap can be used to collect virtually any type of data, it is specifically geared toward supporting online and offline data capture for research studies and operations.

 

How do I access REDCap?

Access to the REDCap application is free for researchers and can be requested by clicking the link below (The University of Adelaide (UoA) Staff and Students only). If you wish to be added as a user to an existing project, please contact the project administrator to request access.

https://surveys.adelaide.edu.au/

 

How do I Iogin to REDCap?

When your account is created, you will receive an email prompting you to set a password. Once you have set your password, navigate to https://surveys.adelaide.edu.au to logon.

 

REDCap Support

REDCap support for staff and students is provided by ITDS.

To access support from the ITDS team, please raise a service request via the MyIT Portal, or directly to the Application Advice/Enquiry To lodge a Application Defect.

Please include the following information in your request: First name, Last name and University ID Number

 

REDCap Training

REDCap training is provided for The University of Adelaide staff and students by Intersect.

The University has a dedicated Digital Research Analyst from Intersect.

If you would like to undertake REDCap training, please complete the Expression of Interest form.

 

REDCap MS Teams Collaboration Site

ITDS has created a REDCap Teams site for staff and students to:

  • collaborate and ask questions to other REDCap users with the UoA Community
  • provide updates of upcoming maintenance windows, REDCap upgrades
  • provide communication from Intersect of upcoming training sessions
  • Request access to the REDCap MS Teams site 

 

Key features offered by REDCap

  • Smartphone application with offline data collection
  • REDCap offers a smartphone application for both Android and iOS smartphones and tablets. This application allows for remote collection of data even without an active internet connection. Once a REDCap project has been created in REDCap, a smart device can be connected to the project by scanning a QR Code
  • Once a device has been connected to the project, administrators can provide devices with identifying nicknames, see all activity undertaken by a particular device and if necessary, block devices
  • Easily built online surveys and databases
  • REDCap provides a clean out of the box interface to create easy to use and professional surveys and data collection instruments with an online designer tool. The easy-to-use tool provides users with several options to gather different types of data such as multiple-choice answers, free text fields, true/false statements, and more, easily through an online form. There is even the functionality to upload a file or have a form digitally signed by a participant or data collector
  • If using REDCap as a survey tool, it is possible to manage a list of survey participants and utilize the application to directly send the survey to participants in several different methods. These options include the option to email direct links to participants to take the survey. This provides the ability to track responses for individual participants. Alternatively, the survey can be exposed to the public for anonymous responses using either a direct URL link, embedding into a webpage or a QR Code

 

Data Analysis

Once data has been created, REDCap allows users several ways to use their data.

There is a powerful export tool that allows for data to be downloaded to Microsoft Excel (CSV) as well as SPSS, SAS, R and Stata statistical software packages. There are also several tools built into the application that allow a user to analyse the data without the need to extract it from the application first.

These in-built analysis tools allow a user to:

  • Compare 2 separate data sets against each other
  • Plot all numerical data from a particular query
  • Chart number of responses to multiple choice answers
  • View information about results such as standard deviation, median, mean etc.
  • Use data quality tools to find
    • Data that is a statistical outlier
    • Data that has not been entered for a field

 

User Friendly Interface

REDCap provides users with a clean and intuitive interface to navigate to different parts of your project. In particular, the project home landing page allows users to manage all aspects of their projects easily from the one screen.

From this page, you can access key functions for the project with quick links to export data, create a report, check data quality, user rights, online designer and the possibility to copy the entire project to a new project instance.

A number of these options also exist in the side navigation bar which is present on every page you visit. This navigation bar also provides quick shortcuts to other functionality like the file repository, mobile application setup, data import and comparison tools as well as audit logging.

The project setup page provides a clear start to finish checklist style view that walks you through the project creation process to move from conception to production-level survey/database in less than one day. This includes, creation of surveys/data-collection instruments, defining events, repeating surveys and permissions and rights of individual users before moving on to testing and publishing your project for use.

 

Useful Video Resources

The REDCap Consortium provides informational and training videos to help get you started and understand the functionality it offers:

  • Brief Overview (5 minutes 4 seconds)
    • A quick summary of what REDCap is and what it can do
  • Detailed Overview (14 minutes 24 seconds)
    • This video provides an overview of basic functions and features within a REDCap project. It will serve as a starting point for learning about the basic concepts of REDCap, what REDCap projects are, how to create them, and how to use them
  • Data Entry Overview (16 minutes 5 seconds)
    • A focused exploration of basic data entry workflow. Suitable for training data entry staff
  • Additional REDCap Videos
    • Several videos on additional features and functionality such as building a project, basic features & modules, types of REDCap projects and special features within REDCap projects

These videos are all accessible through the REDCap home page.