Implementation Type: MLM: Multi-Language Management for Surveys in English or Spanish (the complete approach)

This page provides guidance for setting up and managing the participant's language preference on the surveys.

Testing the participant's language preference, setting up and testing surveys the surveys, setting up and testing survey invitations are not included in this page.

Topics covered

  

How the MLM Works

In order to determine how to set the participant's language preference, you'll need to understand some basic underlying assumptions about how participants take surveys, because it informs MLM functionality, as well as some technical nuances about how the MLM component works, i.e. what's happening under the hood, when it comes to determining whether to 1) send an invitation in English or Spanish, and 2) display the English or Spanish translation of a survey.

MLM: Underlying Assumptions about How Participants Complete Surveys 

The underlying assumptions that drive how the MLM works are:

  1. Participants complete their REDCap surveys on their own devices, such as their own phone or laptop.
  2. Participants have set up their device with a default web browser, such as Google or Firefox.
  3. Participants always use this same device and browser for taking all of their surveys.

MLM: Displaying the Language the Survey is Presented In

The language an MLM enabled survey is displayed in is managed by an http cookie. Until the cookie is set, an MLM enabled survey is displayed in English, which is the default language for all surveys in all projects.

What is a cookie? A cookie is a small text file that a website sends to your web browser and gets stored on your computer or mobile device. Websites use cookies to help improve your experience on their sites by remembering preferences you shared with them. Due to privacy and security considerations, the use of cookies by the REDCap website is very limited.

The MLM cookie is restricted in the following ways:

  • It does not save any information about a user, a survey participant, a survey, or even a REDCap project. 
  • It only stores the language preference.

The cookie gets stored for a specific browser on the specific device that the participant uses when responding to their MLM enabled survey. Basically, once the MLM cookie is set, it instructs the participant's device to tell the participant's preferred web browser to display their survey in either English or Spanish. 

Support Track Availability

Standard Service for Research

MLM Wiki Pages

This is advanced or optional functionality that can only be enabled or installed by a REDCap admin and requires special instruction & support.

Intended Audience & Prerequisites

Intended Audience

  • Survey project builders/project point persons setting up research projects participating in the pilot.

Prerequisite Knowledge & Experience

  • Basics & Survey trainings.

  • Working knowledge of the Online Designer, Survey Settings, and optional survey tools.

MLM: How the MLM Language Cookie Gets Set

Default Triggers

These triggers are baked into the software, meaning the project builder doesn't have to set these up.

  • When a participant opens an MLM enabled survey, REDCap checks if the MLM cookie has already been set. If not, REDCap sets the cookie, and the language the survey is displayed in is stored as the participant's language preference.

  • When a participant uses the MLM language widget to change the language their survey is displayed in, REDCap updates the MLM cookie with the language they selected.

Custom Triggers

These triggers are optional and would need to be configured by the builder. We'll review the use cases for these in the section below that covers approaches to setting the participant's language preference.

  • On an MLM enabled survey, the builder can add the MLM action tag, @LANGUAGE-SET, to a radio-button or drop-down field with specially coded options (en, English and es, Spanish) that correspond to the two MLM language definitions.

  • This enables the field to act like the language widget, so that when the participant selects one of the languages, REDCap updates the MLM cookie with the language they selected.


  • On an MLM enabled survey, the builder can add the MLM action tag, @LANGUAGE-FORCE-SURVEY, to a radio-button, drop-down or text field, with the language preference preset. This removes the language widget from the survey, and if the MLM cookie is already set on the participant's device, it overwrites the cookie setting with the preset language. 

MLM: Displaying the Language for Automated Survey Invitation Messages

We are just introducing this concept here. We'll dive into the details about setting this up on the page that covers Automated Survey Invitations for survey distribution. The language in which an email message that is triggered via an Automated Survey Invitation is displayed in is most often managed via a form field that is configured to talk to the MLM tool. 

  • The field must contain special options, illustrated below, that correspond to the languages uploaded to the MLM tool.


  • Once the field is set up, it can be selected as the Language preference field in the MLM setup.
  • This setting will dictate the language used for rendering Automated Survey Invitations, Alerts, and PDFs.



Approaches to Setting and Managing the Survey Language Preference

In general, we expect study teams will need some guidance on determining and implementing the best approach or approaches for setting and managing the language preference, especially because some projects may benefit from individualizing, at the survey level, the approach to managing the language preference. Also, technically, the implementations are not especially intuitive and rely on familiarity with advanced features.

Considerations for Determining the Approach

  • Do you know the participant's language preference before the participant completes their first survey?
  • How are you distributing to your participants the very first survey they will take?
  • Are you collecting anonymous survey responses?

Staff Sets the Language Preference

For this approach, staff create a record and pre-select the language for the participant, and then invite the participant to complete a survey to confirm their language preference, which informs the language preference for the participant's subsequent surveys and study communications.

Recommended When

  • You know the participant's language preference before they complete their first survey.
  • Note, this approach requires collecting the participant's email in your project before they complete their first survey and using Automated Survey Invitation to send an email invitation.

Setup Overview

Staff Select Language

Participant Confirms Language


Workflow Overview

  1. Staff create a record for each participant and select either English or Spanish for the initial participant interactions, which include:
    1. A survey for the participant to confirm their language preference.
    2. If the study team is sending an email invitation to the survey, the email message.
  2. Staff share the survey link with the participant through one of the following mechanisms:
    1. In person, via Log out and Open survey. 
    2. Send invitation, via Automated Survey Invitation (ASI).
  3. Participant selects their language preference and submits the survey.
    1. The MLM language cookie is stored on the participant's device for the browser they used to complete survey.
  4. Staff notified via email when the participant submits the survey, and optionally alerted to the language preference the participant selected.
  5. Subsequent surveys and ASIs are displayed in the language the participant selected on the survey.

Participant Selects their Language Preference

For this approach, the participant completes a survey to select their language preference, which informs the language preference for the participant's subsequent surveys and study communications.

Recommended When

  • You don't know the participant's language preference before they complete their first survey
    - Or -
  • You are collecting anonymous survey responses.

Setup Overview

Setup Overview (using public survey link)

Participant Selects Language



Workflow Overview

  1. Participant selects English or Spanish on a language preference survey that
    1. Staff have invited a participant to complete
      - OR - 
    2. the participant has accessed via a public survey link. 
  2. The survey is displayed in both English and Spanish
  3. If the study team sends an email invitation to the survey, the email message is in both English and Spanish.
  4. The MLM language cookie is stored on the participant's device for the browser they used to complete survey.
  5. Staff can be notified via email when the participant submits the survey, and optionally alerted to the language preference the participant selected.
  6. Subsequent surveys and ASIs are displayed in the language the participant selected on the survey.

Managing the Survey Language Preference

Depending on the complexity of the project and the requirements of the study, there may not be a singular approach for the project, but instead there may be different approaches for different surveys, especially when participants will complete some surveys on their own devices and some surveys on a device managed by the study team.

Considerations for Determining the Approach

  • Are your participants completing study surveys on their own device?
    • Does the participant use the same device, such as their phone or laptop, to complete their surveys.
  • Are multiple participants sharing a device to complete one or more of your study surveys? Use cases below:
    • Dyad data collection with a parent and child who may share a personal device, such as a laptop or phone.
    • Multiple participants completing one or more surveys on a device managed by the study team, such as a study tablet.
  • Are you or other staff entering data about a participant before of after they complete their first survey or first round of surveys?


 

Participant Manages Preference

Participant OR Staff Manage Preference

Staff Manages Preference

Approach description

This is the most commonly used approach. It relies entirely on the MLM cookie. A survey is displayed in English or Spanish based on the MLM cookie that's saved for the browser and stored on the device on which the participant is completing their surveys. 

The participant manages changes to their preference via the language widget embedded in the top right of every survey.

A survey is displayed in English or Spanish based on the language captured in a hidden radio button or drop-down field on a survey that is configured to talk to the MLM tool. A language preference field on a data entry form managed by the project staff is used as the source for the value piped into the hidden survey field.

The participant manages changes to their preference via the language widget embedded in the top right of every survey OR by the staff updating the language preference source field.

This approach is less commonly used. A survey is displayed in English or Spanish based on the language captured in a hidden survey field that is configured to talk to the MLM tool. A language preference field on a data entry form managed by the project staff is used as the source for the value piped into the hidden survey field.

The staff manage changes to the language preference updating the language preference source field. The system removes the language widget from the survey.

Recommended use cases

Participants complete their study surveys on their own devices.

  • Participants complete some of the study surveys on a study tablet, laptop or desktop.
  • Participants share a personal device to complete their study surveys.
Implementation considerations

Because the participant is in control of managing their language preference, we recommend that study teams include guidance on how to use the language widget in all of their survey instructions and invitations.

Because both the participant and the staff can manage the preference, its important for the staff to stay up-to-date with the changes the participant makes to their preference, and for this we recommend: 

  • That study teams include guidance for participants on how to use the language widget in all of their survey instructions and invitations.
  • The point person set up an alert to notify study staff when the participant changes their language preference, so that staff can update the language preference source field.

Because staff is in control of managing the participant's language preference, it's critical for staff to explain to participants how to communicate changes in their language preference.

Setup notes

Relying on the MLM cookie does not need to be set up. By default the MLM tool relies on the MLM cookie to determine whether to display a survey in English or Spanish.

Configuration of Language Preference Field Set and Maintained by Study Staff

The  en, English and es, Spanish coded options correspond to the two MLM language definitions, and are required to talk to the MLM tool.

 

Configuration of Hidden Field on Survey that Controls the Language the Survey is Displayed In

The MLM language code, en or es, is passed to a hidden survey field that tells REDCap, via the @LANGUAGE-SET action tag, to display survey in the specified language.


Configuration of Hidden Field to Capture the Participant's Language Preference

The MLM language code, en or es, is captured hidden survey field, via the @LANGUAGE-CURRENT-SURVEY action tag, which can be used to trigger an alert to the study.


Configuration of Alert Trigger to Notify Staff of Change to the Participants Language Preference

The trigger is configured so at any event the survey is submitted REDCap checks if the language the participant opted to take the survey in doesn't match the language the staff have on record, and if so, scheduled the Alert to send.

Configuration of Hidden Field on Survey that Controls the Language the Survey is Displayed In

The MLM language code, en or es, is passed to a hidden survey field that tells REDCap, via the @LANGUAGE-FORCE-SURVEY action tag, that the survey can only be displayed in the specified language.