General Guidance

The same guidance we outlined in Longitudinal vs Repeating Form/Events page regarding how to set up a project to repeat collecting data on a form applies to how to repeat collecting data on a survey. This is because surveys are just forms that participants complete themselves, by sending the participant a link to take the survey.

Need help: We expect most builders will be able to apply the longitudinal and repeating forms concepts and setups and to their project without additional help from the REDCap Team. Longitudinal setup is core functionality covered in our Basics training and for a refresh, builders can review the video and guidance on the Longitudinal vs Repeating Form/Events page.

Participants Taking Same Survey at Discrete Time Points or Intervals

When participants need to complete the same survey at discrete time points or intervals, the best practice is for the builder to enable longitudinal data collection for their project, define events for each time point or interval a survey is to be completed, and assign the survey/form to the event(s) at which the participant needs complete it.

This set up is illustrated in the example below, where the Problem Solving Survey is assigned to the Month 1, Month 2 and Month 3 events.

We recommend this set up, instead of enabling these type of surveys to be repeatable via the Repeating instruments optional module, for the following reasons:

Monitoring and Reporting on Survey Responses

Tools in REDCap that are commonly used for monitoring and reporting on data collection, such as Reports, Exporting, and the Record Status Dashboard, by default present data grouped by events. These tools also have functionality to filter results based on events. This functionality makes it easier for teams to track responses, mange following up with participants who have not responded, and generate reports to help track and compare response rates.

Getting Links to Your Participants

The tools used for survey distribution, such as Automated Survey Invitations (ASI), Log out and Open Survey, and manually sending invitations, are well established and well supported for sending invitations set up for longitudinal data collection. We cover using these tools in our Survey training, as well as provide email and drop-in for help for using them.

These tools are not fully supported for surveys enabled to be repeatable via the Repeating instruments optional module, of special note are the following issues with setting up a repeating ASI.

• For repeating invitations, an individual invitation can't be canceled and re-scheduled using tools in the Survey Distribution Log.
• If a series of invitations is canceled via checking a kill switch checkbox and then re-activated by unchecking a kill switch checkbox, all past invitations to surveys that aren't be completed will be sent at the same time.

Engagement with Your Participants

Specifically, with regard to Automated Survey Invitations (ASI), which are widely used in OHSU's REDCap, in the longitudinal set up, invitations can be tailored to their corresponding time point/interval, which makes them more meaningful to the participant, and less likely to be ignored. Additionally, if a participant responds to an invitation that's tailored to a time point/interval, study staff will be able to more effectively respond to the specific instance of the survey, the participant is asking for help with.

Participant Completing a Survey to Self-Report on Activities that Occurred One or More Times

When a survey is used for participants to self-report on activities or events that have occurred one or more times, the best practice is to enable the survey as repeatable via the Repeating instruments optional module, and include instructions on the survey letting participant's know that they will be able to complete the survey as many times as needed to report on the activity being asked about.

We review in our Basics training how to enable a form to be repeatable via the Repeating instruments optional module, to complete the set up on a survey the builder will need to enable the (Optional) Repeat the survey setting in the form's Survey Settings. This is illustrated in the image below.