What is REDCap©?
REDCap© (Research Electronic Data Capture) is a secure web-based platform for collecting, storing, and managing data. REDCap© includes many helpful features including access to existing surveys and data collection tools from across the research community, data summaries and clear visualizations of project progress, the ability to share data access with approved team members in real-time, and seamless data export to multiple data analysis software packages. REDCap© is particularly helpful for survey research and field data collection, as participants can follow unique links to enter data directly into the system at multiple time points.
Is REDCap© free?
Partially! REDCap© has two modes:
- Development Mode: Projects in “development mode” are free to create and use indefinitely. Development mode is appropriate for setting up your project, testing it internally, or keeping track of data that you have backed up elsewhere.
- Production Mode: Projects in “production mode” incur a charge of $200 per year to maintain. The benefit of converting your project to “production mode” once you have set up your database is that the REDCap© team will be available to provide training, guidance, and troubleshooting support. This also provides an extra layer of security against accidental loss of data, since the REDCap© team will review any changes you make to the database programming before they go live.
How can I access funds to pay for REDCap© projects in production mode?
Nursing kindly supports the cost of maintaining REDCap© projects in production mode. When you launch a project in production mode, please e-mail CNRI@mountsinai.org with the following message:
[Subject] Fund transfer for REDCap©[Body] I am requesting a fund transfer in the amount of $200 to the HPC fund account 0204-2991 (RDS- Research Data Services) for my REDCap© database. Please include the following project in the fund transfer subject line: REDCap database-year-PI name/project name-project ID*
*Please fill in the four-digit year, the name of the person who owns the project, the project name as it appears in REDCap©, and the project ID where highlighted above. The project ID is found in the URL of your project and displayed as “pid=XXXX”.
How can I get help with using REDCap©?
Detailed instructions and training videos are available here. For full access to the training materials, you will need to be on campus or logged in through VPN and signed into the REDCap© page with your Mount Sinai username and password. If you are having trouble logging in, please contact Mount Sinai REDCap Support.
Once you are logged in, you will have access to over 20 training videos that provide detailed instructions for creating and managing different types of projects. Click “Training Videos” from the menu at the top of the screen and read the video descriptions to determine which are relevant to your project. If you have any questions about which type of database is right for you, you can discuss your overall project design with CNRI researchers by emailing CNRI@mountsinai.org, or the particulars of your REDCap© database design by contacting Mount Sinai REDCap Support.
For a general overview of REDCap©, begin with the videos at the top of the list under the heading “Just Getting Started?” You can also watch the introductory videos linked on the top of the REDCap© home page.
I would like to copy an existing project in REDCap©. Is there an easy way to do that?
Yes! Please follow the instructions in this link.