What research participants say about their research experiences in Empowering the Participant Voice: Outcomes and actionable data

Supporting rapid innovation in research data capture and management: the REDCap external module framework

OBJECTIVES

Establishing a robust and secure framework allowing creation and sharing of custom features within the REDCap electronic data capture platform.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

In partnership with REDCap Consortium members, we developed a framework for creating external modules enabling project-specific REDCap custom functionality (EM Framework). The EM Framework includes guidance and standard processes for developers to ensure basic functionality, compatibility, and security across REDCap instances. The EM Framework also includes an optional dissemination mechanism, the REDCap Repository of External Modules (Repo), for developers to easily share their work with other institutions in the REDCap Consortium.

RESULTS

From the EM Framework's launch in 2017 through 2024, 356 external modules have been published to the Repo by software developers at 59 institutions. These modules have been used on 29 485 projects at 2107 institutions in 67 countries. Over time, features from 22 of these external modules have been integrated into the core REDCap code serving 7700+ REDCap Consortium members in 160 countries.

DISCUSSION

The EM Framework permits developers to create, test, and deploy custom features to their local REDCap platform. It further enables a process to distribute these features to other REDCap administrators across the Consortium.

CONCLUSION

The EM Framework has enhanced innovation in electronic data capture and dissemination of those innovations to a global research community.

Standards and infrastructure for multisite deployment of the research participant perception survey

Objectives

To develop and disseminate a technical framework for administering the Research Participant Perception Survey (RPPS) and aggregating data across institutions using REDCap.

Materials and Methods

Six RPPS Steering Committee (RSC) member institutions met bi-weekly to achieve consensus on survey sampling techniques, data standards, participant and study descriptor variables, and dashboard design.

Results

RSC members implemented the infrastructure to send the RPPS to participants and shared data to the Empowering the Participant Voice Consortium Database. Two pilot sites used the tools generated by the RSC to implement the RPPS.

Discussion

The RSC created a REDCap project setup file, an external module visual analytics dashboard, an English/Spanish language file, and an implementation guide.

Conclusion

The technical setup materials created by the RSC were effective in aiding new sites in implementing the RPPS and could help future sites adopt the RPPS to better understand participant experiences to improve research recruitment and retention.