Abstract
Background
Self-administered web-based questionnaires are widely used to collect health data from patients and clinical research participants. REDCap (Research Electronic Data Capture; Vanderbilt University) is a global, secure web application for building and managing electronic data capture. Unfortunately, stakeholder needs and preferences of electronic data collection via REDCap have rarely been studied.
Objective
This study aims to survey REDCap researchers and administrators to assess their experience with REDCap, especially their perspectives on the advantages, challenges, and suggestions for the enhancement of REDCap as a data collection tool.
Methods
We conducted a web-based survey with representatives of REDCap member organizations in the United States. The survey captured information on respondent demographics, quality of patient-reported data collected via REDCap, patient experience of data collection with REDCap, and open-ended questions focusing on the advantages, challenges, and suggestions to enhance REDCap’s data collection experience. Descriptive and inferential analysis measures were used to analyze quantitative data. Thematic analysis was used to analyze open-ended responses focusing on the advantages, disadvantages, and enhancements in data collection experience.
Results
A total of 207 respondents completed the survey. Respondents strongly agreed or agreed that the data collected via REDCap are accurate (188/207, 90.8%), reliable (182/207, 87.9%), and complete (166/207, 80.2%). More than half of respondents strongly agreed or agreed that patients find REDCap easy to use (165/207, 79.7%), could successfully complete tasks without help (151/207, 72.9%), and could do so in a timely manner (163/207, 78.7%). Thematic analysis of open-ended responses yielded 8 major themes: survey development, user experience, survey distribution, survey results, training and support, technology, security, and platform features. The user experience category included more than half of the advantage codes (307/594, 51.7% of codes); meanwhile, respondents reported higher challenges in survey development (169/516, 32.8% of codes), also suggesting the highest enhancement suggestions for the category (162/439, 36.9% of codes).
Conclusions
Respondents indicated that REDCap is a valued, low-cost, secure resource for clinical research data collection. REDCap’s data collection experience was generally positive among clinical research and care staff members and patients. However, with the advancements in data collection technologies and the availability of modern, intuitive, and mobile-friendly data collection interfaces, there is a critical opportunity to enhance the REDCap experience to meet the needs of researchers and patients.