Basics

REDCap is a web application.

• For participants to complete surveys in REDCap, they will need to complete the survey on a device with a reliable internet connection that can open their survey link in a web browser.
• When REDCap is offline for system updates, participants will not be able to complete their surveys.

REDCap does not automatically save data as a participant works their way through a survey, entering a response to an item or question on a survey and moving on to the next item or question. We cover in Survey training the following participant actions that trigger REDCap to save survey responses: 1) the participant clicks submit button, 2) the survey is divided into pages and the participant clicks the next page button, 3) save and return is enabled on the survey and the participant clicks the save & return later button, and/or. 4) the participant responds to an item that a stop action has been applied to by selection the option configured to trigger ending the survey.

Depending on how a survey is set up, if the participant's internet connection is interrupted or fails while the participant is taking he survey, the responses they have entered may be lost and they may need to start over.

Best Practices

• Designate a point of contact for participant support, and include study contact details, including availability, in participant communications and on all survey instructions and completion messages.
  
  
• Set participant expectations for completing their REDCap surveys by including introductory materials that are both specific and transparent regarding the survey content and subject matter, unless including this information would invalidate the study methodology.
  
  
• For expectation setting, we recommend including the following information in the survey instructions:
  • A reliable internet connection is required to complete the survey.
  • The length of the survey and expected amount of time it will take a participant to complete the survey.
  • If save and return is enabled, how participants use the feature. Check the Survey training slide deck and the documentation in REDCa for more details about this functionality.
  • Details that will help the participant prepare to complete the survey, such as calling out if there is/are 1) sensitive questions, 2) questions that the participant may need or want to review with another person, 3) information will be collected the participant may need to look up in their medical or educational records, employment history, etc., or 4) the participant will be expected to create and upload files, such as a photo, audio file, pdf, etc. (file upload size is restricted 8mb).
    
    
• Outline troubleshooting tips for participants, such as checking for an internet connection, and list the kinds of details that are helpful for project teams to know to help participants troubleshoot, such as the type of device and the name of the web browser the participant was using, screen shots of any system error messages the participant received, and the name of the survey the participant was taking when they encountered an issue.

Troubleshooting Tips

The project team is the first line of support for participants experiencing issues completing surveys. The REDCap Team does not provide support directly to survey participants, but can help the project point person investigate issues, as described in the section below, on "REDCap Team Support." This guidance is intended to be self-service, and if the project point person needs help or coaching for applying the general guidance listed below to their project, this would be custom support for which there would be charges.

General Guidance

Troubleshooting an issue a participant reports while taking the survey highly depends on the problem the participant encounters and how well they are able to describe it, as well as the details the project team is able collect from the participant. 

The project person troubleshooting the issue will need to familiar with how the project was set up to send and collect survey responses for each survey and have access to the following tools:

• Logging
• The Survey Distribution tools, if sending survey invitations through REDCap.
• The Online Designer to access individual survey/forms and their Survey Settings.

In general, to successfully troubleshoot an issue the study team will need to be to identify the following:

• The survey the participant is reporting having an issue with, and if the project is longitudinal and survey is completed at multiple events, which event.
• The REDCap record associated with the participant.

The list below intended as starting place for helping teams track down issues. Not every item applies to every issue, and there is no single or pat or all-inclusive solution for troubleshooting. 

• If a participant reports they cannot access a survey:
  • Check the following configurations in the Survey Settings: 
    • Survey Status is active
    • Survey Expiration is blank or has not expired
    • Response Limit (optional) is blank or has not been met
    • If the participant was invited through REDCap to complete the survey: 
      • the Time Limit for Survey Completion (optional) is blank or has not expired for that participant.
  • Other items to check:
    • The participant has not already completed the survey.
    • If the participant partially completed the survey,
      • If Save and Return is enabled, does the participant know how to use the return functionality.
      • If Save and Return is not enabled, does the participant want their partial response erased and to start over.
    • If the participant was invited through REDCap to complete the survey check that the invitation included the link to the survey that is associated with the participant's record.
    • If the participant reports they cannot access a survey that was intended to be completed a group of surveys, and check if conditional logic was added to the Queue or the Auto Continue to the next survey Survey Setting, and that the participant's response would meet the logic conditions.
      
      
• If a participant reports they encountered an error while completing a specific survey:
  • Test the survey for any functional errors resulting from invalid branching logic, invalid calculations, or incorrectly configured action tags via one of the following methods.
    • Creating a test record in the production project that can be deleted or excluded from analysis.
    • Creating a test copy of the project.
  • Investigate the error messages the participant reported or illustrated via screen shots.
    
    
• If a participant reports they didn't receive a survey invitation sent through REDCap, check the following:
  • Does Survey Invitation Log that contain an entry documenting the invitation was sent to the participant.
  • Does the Logging file contain an entry documenting the invitation was sent to the participant.
  • If an ASI was set up to send the invitation, was data was entered in the record to trigger the invitation be scheduled.
  • Ask the participant to check the spam or junk folder or if they set up any rules that result in rejecting the email invitation.

REDCap Team Support

For help from REDCap Team investigating an issue, the project point person should include the following information in their email:

• A detailed description of the issue, including any screen shots that illustrate the issue.
• The name of the survey/forms involved, and for longitudinal projects the name of the event.
• Record ids that correspond to the participants who reported the issue or were impacted by the issue.