Recruitment with REDCap

REDCap projects can be used to track participant lists for recruitment and outreach. In many cases a cohort of potential participants may have been identified from a data extract from the University of Utah Electronic Data Warehouse or other data repositories. Generally these data may include participant contact information including email addresses and phone numbers. This participant list can be imported in to REDCap to operationally manage your recruitment and REDCap can generate emails or  text messages to reach out to your possible participants.

Operationally there are many ways to set up a REDCap project to track this type of recruitment effort and the CTSI BMIC can help building this type of project or you can use the self-build approach to using the participant lists to work through recruitment for your study and outreach. The REDCap project in this function acts as a registry to track your recruitment efforts.

There are two main electronic mechanisms to communicate with participants if you are starting with an approved recruitment list.

Email Messaging

Email messaging is relatively straightforward and is delivered to the participants email through the University of Utah email systems. In order to follow industry standards to reduce spam, and new policies that many email providers have in place, the from address for the email must be an @utah.edu or utah.edu domain address. Email messages that use domains not related to utah.edu will likely be blocked or marked as spam.

SMS Text Messaging

Similarly to email messaging there are efforts to reduce spam and with recent US Federal regulations and strict procedures to register phone numbers and messaging campaigns for each intended purpose. Especially for recruitment purposes, where these types of “cold” contacts will be scrutinized. The CTSI BMIC Twilio Service Recharge Center can help with registering campaigns so that these types of contacts can be accurately represented in a registration. Opt-in and Opt-out must be accurately described and disclosed when registering. There are fees and charges associated with SMS communication that your study will be responsible for.

If you are using email or sms to directly contact a potential participant for research you will want to correctly track responses related to that participant and to record their responses to a potential survey you may send to them.

Building a REDCap project to track recruitment starting with an approved participant list

REDCap organizes data using 'forms,' which act as frameworks to structure information. Each question or input area on a form is called a field, and you can think of the entire form as a tool for gathering specific data points. Researchers often organize these forms based on categories like Demographics and Labs or tasks such as Clinic Intake and Contact Follow-Up. Using REDCap to monitor recruitment isn't much different from its other applications. The key focus should be on planning the setup of records in your project and designing your surveys to effectively collect the necessary responses.

If you have not built a REDCap project before please start with the CTSI REDCap 101 course and knowledge base material.

The preferred method to track recruitment is to load your data into a REDCap project with demographics, preferences on how to be contacted. The “participant list” can be limited with logic and tracking and generally not as flexible as “pre-loading“ your data in to the project from there your can create simple ways to add logic to automated survey invitations and can use a mix of email and sms where appropriate to deliver your surveys.

The second method is a dedicated function in REDCap called the participant list, which is found in the survey distribution tools. This is a function where you can load a list of participants with an identifier and their contact email address and tie that to a form and logic for gathering responses. This method allows for anonymous responses, without an identifier, which generally you wouldn’t use in a recruitment registry.

For your REDCap research recruitment project here are some general guidelines to follow in addition to the tools and techniques you would incorporate from the 101 course:

1. Design with Data Quality in Mind: Ensure your data collection tools are designed to encourage accurate data collection. Utilize REDCap's data validation features for fields like phone numbers and email addresses to maintain data integrity​​.
2. Use Record Identifiers: REDCap automatically assigns unique record identifiers for new records, linking all forms for a participant under the same ID, ensuring data consistency and ease of management​​.
3. Surveys for Data Collection: Convert forms to surveys to collect data via email, web links, or even in printed form. This flexibility supports diverse data collection methods, including offline collection via REDCap's mobile application​​.
4. Secure Communication Tools: Utilize REDCap's built-in tools for secure communication within your team and with participants. Remember that SMS communication is not encrypted.

Building a REDCap project with a public survey

REDCap also has methods to provide public survey links to post with QR codes or emails for organic recruitment from the community. Considerations for this type of project can be different from a controlled list of a predefined cohort that likely requires a different structure than described above. Many of the best practices and techniques for data collection when designing a REDCap project apply, however public surveys can introduce noise and require monitoring to screen out erroneous entries. The CTSI BMIC can help building this type of project or provide guidance where needed. Many of the considerations for public survey use cases are addressed in the CTSI REDCap knowledge base material.