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By: Jonathan Babbage

Qualtrics is a valuable tool for survey delivery at the university but is not optimized for clinical research protocols. Dr. Bridget Walsh, Associate Professor of Communicative Sciences and Disorders, is conducting a study that delivers surveys to parents, children, and speech language pathologists. She found that using Qualtrics to manage the complex needs of the project was lacking, leading to significant manual effort and parallel systems to support the following tasks:

• Extracting and consolidating data from multiple Qualtrics surveys into a single file
• Scoring assessment instruments
• Tracking study progress and sending notifications to families
• Managing conditional consent processes for HIPAA-covered organizations 
• Generating remuneration reports for the financial manager 

To streamline these workflows, BRIC created a unified REDCap project incorporating all the surveys. Existing data were migrated into the new project and active participants were transitioned to the new invitation system. This migration process was thoroughly tested by the study team and invitation lists were validated against existing procedures before launching the new system.

REDCap’s calculated field logic, replaced an external R script used for scoring, enabling real-time scoring instead of quarterly batch processing. This allowed for dynamic features based on the score such as automated email alerts to study staff and conditional display logic to present custom messages to participants.

REDCap also supports daily study operations through customized reports. For example, the financial manager accesses a report listing participants eligible for gift card remuneration, with details such as survey completion date, payment amount, and email address. After issuing a payment, the manager records the payment date, order number, and internal eDoc number. Role-based permissions ensure the manager has access only to the fields needed for their role, preserving data privacy while allowing direct data entry.

A comparison of Qualtrics and REDCap services is available for those considering the best fit for their research needs.

This migration highlights the customized support that CTSI offers investigators in the MSU community. If your study could benefit from a platform designed for clinical research, please contact us.