REDCap (Research Electronic Data Capture) is a secure web application for building and managing online surveys and databases. The databases use instruments such as surveys and forms as research data capture tools. Researchers can send surveys to study participants or enter data directly into the application.

REDCap offers a wide array of customization features for instrument development. Among others, there are settings for multiple-choice fields, text fields, calculated fields, field validation, and branching logic. REDCap also provides automated export procedures for seamless data downloads to Excel and common statistical packages (SPSS, SAS, Stata, R).

At Brown, REDCap was piloted in 2018, launched in a limited capacity in 2020, and transitioned to a standard offering in 2022 through Advance-CTR. 

Advance-CTR REDCap was implemented to:

• Offer an oft-requested and highly-anticipated research tool for the community
• Serve as a catalyst for increased collaboration among academic and healthcare organizations across Rhode Island
• Bring together resources across the state to enable and advance clinical and translational research

Currently, Advance-CTR REDCap: 

• Supports an increasing number of research teams across Brown and Rhode Island working on a breadth of projects
• Complements other REDCap instances across Rhode Island (e.g., at Lifespan and Care New England)
• Employs a unique technical architecture for collection and analysis of health data in the Stronghold secure computing environment, particularly within the tenant associated with Unified Research data Sharing and Access (URSA) Initiative ("URSA Stronghold")

PLEASE NOTE: If you are collecting data for human subjects research, review and approval of a project is required by your Institutional Review Board (IRB).

• Rapidly create and design your surveys and databases using secure web authentication
• Create custom reports to view or download
• Organize your events and appointments using a built-in project calendar and scheduling module
• Build a list of email contacts, create custom email invitations, and track who responds
• Create survey links to send directly to participants out or post publicly
• Participants can complete surveys outside of Stronghold
• Access to the Stronghold secure computing environment by researchers involves use of Brown University’s Virtual Private Network (VPN)
• Third-party applications or other existing external modules are not currently compatible with Advance-CTR REDCap

• Request a Consult for Advance-CTR REDCap. Select “Informatics and Implementation Science Services.”
• Watch a Tutorial for REDCap through Advance-CTR. Topics include our advanced users workshop on randomization, longitudinal survey studies, and more.
• Attend a Workshop for REDCap through Advance-CTR. These workshops are for novice and advanced REDCap users on a variety of topic areas.
• Refer to the User Guide for Advance RI-CTR REDCap.

If you are a researcher joining an existing Advance RI-CTR-supported project, please contact URSA Services and Support (ursa-help@brown.edu) to initiate onboarding.