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UNMC - Research IT Office
If you are designing a survey, the Field Label will generally be a question, such as “First Name?” If you are
designing a research data entry form, your Field Label may look more like a standard label, such as
“Baseline heart rate:”.
The Variable Name is used by REDCap to store the data. We strongly advise against enabling
auto
–
naming
for variables (the checkbox to the right of the Variable Name field). You generally want to
keep variable
names short but somewhat descriptive, so that if you need to export your data, you will be able to
recognize key variables. For instance, “Q1” is
not
a very descriptive variable name, and is not advised for
most situations. “Height” is a good variable name, but “height_in” or “height_cm” is even better, because
you are reiterating your measurement unit within the variable name, which is a good practice.
Validation is an extended option which is discussed in detail in the Data validation section
The Required option, by default, is set to “no.” If changed to “yes,” it will require an answer before a data form
can be saved (or before a survey can be submitted, depending on your study set
–
up).
The Identifier option should be marked whenever a field asks for one of the 18 HIPAA identifiers. When
you export or view deidentified data, the fields that were marked as identifiers will be omitted. A concise
list of the 18 HIPAA identifiers is listed below, but for an official list and supporting details, see Box 2 on
this page from the CDC website:
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/m2e411a1.htm
A brief reminder of the 18 HIPAA identifiers: 1.) names, 2.) geography more specific than state, 3.) any relevant
dates more specific than year, 4.) phone numbers, 5.) fax numbers, 6.) e
–
mail addresses, 7.) SSNs, 8.)
MRNs, 9.) health plan beneficiary numbers, 10.) account numbers, 11.)
certificate/license numbers, 12.) vehicle identifiers, 13.) device identifiers, 14.) URLs, 15.) IP
addresses, 16.)
biometric identifiers, 17.) full
–
face photographic images, and 18.) any other
unique identifying number,
code, or characteristic.
The Custom Alignment option changes how the question (and answers, if the field is a multiple choice
option) appears in the data entry screen. We don’t recommend adjusting this unless there is an aesthetic
need to do so, but you may play around with the functionality as you explore REDCap’s features.
The Field Note option displays a side
–
note in small text beneath the text entry field (or multiple
choice
options) on the data entry screen. It is useful for designating units or clarifying a manner in which the
question should be answered (e.g. “Mark all that apply”).
The end result of the field creation in this example looks like this:
The Choices component of field creation is specifically for multiple choice field types (drop
–
down list,
radio buttons, and checkboxes). It appears directly below the Field Label and serves as the place for you to
list the various choices to select from, one choice per line. REDCap automatically “codes” these variables
in increasing order beginning with “1.” This is for data storage purposes, and will not affect the way the choices
are viewed in data entry. Below is the screen that will be prompted if you have not provided manual codes
for your choices: