Data Collection Tools for Researchers: What to Use and When – Oct. 8, 2021

Primary data collection is an integral aspect of a research cycle for many initiatives. The COVID-19 pandemic has expanded the need for tools that facilitate online and offline data collection for research. This session will explore two data collection tools available at the University of Toronto – REDCap and Microsoft Forms. 

• REDCap (Research Electronic Data Capture) is a secure web application that University of Toronto faculty researchers can use to build and manage online surveys and databases. While REDCap can be used to collect virtually any type of data, it is specifically built to support online or offline data capture for research studies. 
• Microsoft Forms enables researchers to create surveys, polls, and formative quizzes – and easily see results in real-time. When you create a survey or form, you can invite others to respond to it using any web browser, even on mobile devices. As results are submitted, you can use the lightweight, built-in analytics to evaluate responses. 

This session will provide a review of the key features of each tool and showcase examples to illustrate the potential utility of these tools for different types of research use cases such as study design, data security classification levels etc.