Longitudinal Projects in REDCap
Consider these 3 questions:
1. Will you be collecting the same data multiple times over time throughout
the project?
2. Is this a structured study where participants will have a definite amount of
visits over a defined period time?
3. How do you want your data to look when you export them?
Question #1: Will you be collecting the same data multiple times overtime
throughout the project?
If you will be asking the same questions over a period of time, you may want to consider using the longitudinal
module.
In this project, the “Monthly Clinical Data” questionnaire would be asked during all four visits/events of the study
so the longitudinal study module was a good fit for this project. If the longitudinal module were not used, the
fields/questions on this questionnaire would have needed to be created four times in the online designer or data
dictionary in order to allow for these data to be collected.
The questions on the “Monthly Clinical
Data” instrument needed to be
collected during all four visits/events
Question #2: Is this a structured study where participants will have a definite amount
of visits over a defined period time?
– Longitudinal projects are best used for studies that are very structured and
don’t go on indefinitely.
– This is especially the case when the Longitudinal module is used in
conjunction with the Scheduling feature.
– All events are created and defined during project development. Once a project
has been moved into “Production Mode” longitudinal events cannot not be
created or redefined without the assistance of a REDCap administrator.
Question #3: How do you want your data to look when you export them?
In the traditional data collection model, each project record is stored independently as a separate row of data, which
can be seen when exported.
Below shows a spreadsheet of data for sleep variables that were collected at four time points. The sleep variables
needed to be created four times within the REDCap project. Thus, each sleep variable has its own column in the data
export.
Notice that the same sleep
variables were repeated four
times for each event
Notice that
there is one
row for each
record
Question # 3 How do you want your data to look when you export them? (cont.)
For longitudinal projects, each row of data actually represents that particular time-point (event) per database record.
For example, if four events are defined for the project, one record will have four separate rows of data when exported.
The data export will include a column "redcap_event_name" indicating the unique event name for each row.
This question in particular should be discussed with the statistician or the person carrying out the data analysis.
Notice that the same sleep variables are only
displayed once in the spreadsheet
Notice that there
are multiple rows
for each record
This column indicates the
unique event name
Longitudinal Setup
Enabling longitudinal data collection will allow you to use the same form or survey at multiple events. For instance,
you may create a demographics form which you will use at Baseline but then a questionnaire that you may want to
use at V1, V2, and V3. If there is one form or survey that will be used multiple times for a participant, you would
want to enable longitudinal data collection use.
When you enable the longitudinal data collection, you will have a step on your project setup screen that will allow
you to define your events and then designate the forms you will be using at each event.
Click enable if you want
a longitudinal database
When enabling
longitudinal data
collection, you will see
this as an option. You
must define your events
and then designate the
instruments at each
event.
Define your Events and Designate Instruments
After you have defined your events, you must designate instruments for events. Check the boxes where you want
each form to appear. If you do not check a box for a form, it will not appear when you are entering data. Each form
must be attached to at least one event.
Define your Events:
• Title the Event
• Create multiple arms if your
project requires this
Designate Instruments for Events:
Select which Data Collection
Instrument is used at each Event
