So, you need electronic data collecting solution?
There are two and a half ways to do it.
You can go down the old road of pen and paper. That is the first way to do it.
Or, you can use online questionaries.
Now, here lies a trap that should separate pro users from amateurs!
Let us explain.
Firstly, why should we do online data collection and not use the old, pen and paper, way.
Reason number one is dissemination and response collection. Pen and paper questionnaires require physical distribution and retrieval of the forms. Online forms you can send via email and once the participant fills the form in, you have those results!
Secondly, there are far less mistakes. Results entered in written by hand can be hard to read sometimes. Furthermore, every pen and paper form has to be translated into a table file (most of the times into an Excel file). Those working on this job will get tired after hours of hard work resulting in making mistakes. Online forms eliminate this step entirely saving time and reducing the number of mistakes.
And, lastly, you have extra control on data collection process with online questionnaires. If your research should run for six months, online data collection gives you edge in tracking the progress. You can see entered results and track participants activity as it happens.
Now, let us turn to the second way of data collecting, the online forms.
We will share some important details with you and explain why this could be an alternative or an alternative and a half, bringing your research an extra level of quality.
You heard for Google Forms and Survey Monkey surely.
It is really tempting to use those for data collecting but! You should never use them for any sensitive data collecting! Using these systems puts your data in the hands of the firms owning them.
Just to get it straight, some of those firms are IT powerhouses and your data will hardly be stolen by some FORTH party, but by using these systems you have already shared them with a third party… You can get away with this if you use some of the EDC (electronic data capture) online service systems out there but those are quite expensive.
So, the only way to do it properly and without budgeting trough the roof is to use selfhosted data collecting system.
There are two you can use and we recommend: The RadCap being the first and the LimeSurvey the second.
In short, both are great, RedCap has a inbuilt functionality for prolonged tracking and multiple entries by the same participant but this is something you can make work inside the LimeSurvey also with some creative questionnaire designing.
The main difference is that you have to register your copy of the RedCap and must not use it for any profit making research. If you are making any money from the data collection or the research, RedCap is not the solution.
Whichever you choose there are more things to think about.
So, you are interested in selfhosting the EDC system?
More power to you!
Do not use shared hosts!
Yes, it costs less for a whole year than a dedicated host for a month but we are talking about sensitive data collecting after all.
First of all your hosting company and administrators will have access to your databases on shared host. Furthermore, even if you use secure passwords on your server, you may share the same server with someone not so security aware. If someone breaks into other server on the same shared host, he can attack the rest of the sites from there. Even if he does not enter your database, damage to the shared host it self can be made and data lost. Lost data is just as bad as stolen data in long researches!
Use dedicated servers.
For extra layer of protection, use SSL on your system (most data collecting systems will not work without one). This ensures security of entered data transfer in between server and users browser. Also, use questionnaire level data encryption for questions with sensitive information or, simply, use it on all of the questions. This way even if a low probability break in to server accrues and your database is stolen, your data is safe because of the encryption.
Lastly, do the backups, don’t be lazy.
If you have any questions or need a associate for your data collecting tasks, do contact us on office@buzz-it.co.rs
Author
Dr Nikola Ilic - MD and Biomedical informatics PhD