This page is intended to be a jumping off place for teams who are considering using REDCap for collecting data for their study or non-research project. These items on this page could be though of as "prompts" to help teams start conversations, make plans, and investigate in items that need to be address

Getting Started Topics

Getting Ready to Use REDCap

Using REDCap to Collect Data and/or Send out Surveys

• Determine if you can use REDCap for the data you intend to collect by reviewing the types of projects supported in OHSU's REDCap.
• Familiarize yourself with regulatory considerations when using REDCap.
• Decide who is going to be the point person for building and managing your project, and plan for a "steepish" learning curve if this person has never built a REDCap project, or if the requirements are complex or extensive and person has only built a few simple projects.
• For new builders, arrange for the builder to complete Basics training.
• Investigate if there will be charges for your project.
• Finalize your data collection plan. By data collection plan, we mean determine what data you're collecting, when and how often you're collecting it, how it's being collected, i.e., staff entered, participant reported, imported from external systems, etc., and how it needs to be reported on.

Entering Data or Otherwise Working on an Existing Project

• Work with the team managing the project to be added to the project.

Getting Ready to Start a Project

• Review the model of support to understand how it will impact building and managing your project.
  • For research studies, decide on the support track you want to use for getting help building and managing the project, and for access to the features or functionality the project will need to use meet the study's requirements.
• Request your REDCap project be created.
  • If you are logging in to REDCap for the first time, set up your account with your OHSU email address.
  • Please do not add your phone number to your profile. OHSU's REDCap does not make use of phone numbers added to user profiles.
• Help your builder translate your data collection plan into requirements for the REDCap project. By requirements we mean what kinds of things you need you REDCap project to do, such as:
  • Send out surveys for participants to complete.
  • Use e-consent to consent your participants.
  • Be accessible to external collaborators.
  • Restrict access to data for a multi-site study based on the user's site.
  • Execute a randomization schema.
  • Repeating collecting data on a form or sending out a survey.

Getting Your Project Ready for Real Data Collection

• Build your REDCap project.
• Test all the aspects of your project, including entering and exporting data, adding and removing users, creating reports, etc.
• If you have a survey project, test the set up and distribution of all survey, by completing the survey/forms as surveys, sending out and/or accessing survey links the same way your participants will be getting access to survey links, reviewing survey responses, etc.
• Add and train users on how to use your project to enter data, monitor data collection, export data, run reports, etc.
• Create documentation to support your project, such as
  • Manual of operations for your users.
  • Documentation that explains how the project is set up to meet the study requirements.

Going Live with Your Project

• For research studies, ensure you have IRB approval.
• For survey projects using the Standard Service for Research or Standard Service for Non-Research, sign up for drop-in for the required pre-production survey review.
• Request to move your project to production.

Managing Your Project over Its Lifespan

• Monitor data collection, using tools like Data Quality Rules, the Record Status Dashboard, Reports, Field Comments.
• Attend to user management by removing users that leave the study and/or institution and add new users added to the protocol.
• If revisions or corrections are needed, review what is involved in making changes to your project.
• If the point person will be leaving the project, review what is involved in handing off a project to a new point person.

Getting Ready to Close Your Project

• Download data for analysis.
• Download metadata, such as data dictionary, forms, events, etc.