Update Existing Participant Data
- Updated
While managing your project, you'll likely need to update participant information. There are a few ways to update participant information in MyDataHelps.
Edit Participant Information Directly
A simple way to update existing participants is to open MyDataHelps Designer and click the project. Click the “Participants” tab, and locate and click the participant you would like to update. Next, click “Participant Info” and update the necessary fields.
You will not be able to update email address, phone number, or time zone. Otherwise, all fields may be updated.
Use Coordinator-Entered Surveys
Coordinator-Entered Surveys can be set to update key participant information, such as demographics or custom fields, ensuring that the data entered is formatted as configured in the survey, which avoids potential errors from free-text field entry on the Participant Info tab. For more information on how to use this feature, see the article on Using Coordinator-Entered Surveys.
Bulk Update via CSV
Another way to update existing participant data is to upload a CSV file to the “Add / Invite Participants” tab with the “ParticipantIdentifier” field, along with any information you want to update. Click “Preview and Send Invitations” and make sure “Update Existing Participants” is checked on the next screen. Click “Add Participants” and the participant information will be updated. The system will update data for any existing participants whose identifiers are on the list. New participants will be added as normal.
Existing participants will not receive an email invitation, and you will not see the "Send Invitations" option if there are no new participants. Email and phone number are associated with the participant's MyDataHelps account, and cannot be updated in this fashion.
Formatting Your CSV Data
You can enter information manually in the text field, or upload a Comma-Separated Value (CSV) file, exported from Microsoft Excel or a similar application.
The first line will contain the field names for each column. Additional lines will contain data for each participant, one per line, with the fields separated by commas. For example:
ParticipantIdentifier,Email,LastName
MDH001,test1@example.com,Doe
MDH002,test2@example.com,Deer
MDH003,test3@example.com,Ray
A ParticipantIdentifier is always required when updating participants via CSV. If you are instead inviting participants, then only an email address is mandatory. All other fields are optional.
Available fields are listed in the right panel. They include standard fields, described below, and any custom fields you have defined for your project. For an example CSV file with participant data field suggestions, click “Download Example CSV File” at the bottom right hand side of the page.
Standard Fields
Field | Description |
---|---|
Email |
The participant's email address. |
ParticipantIdentifier |
A unique ID assigned to each participant. You can choose your own unique IDs by including them in the CSV data with the field “ParticipantIdentifier” as shown on the “Add/Invite Participants” screen. If you do not select participant IDs, MyDataHelps will create unique IDs for you with the prefix “MDH” followed by a random set of eight numbers (e.g., MDH-0000-0000). You may also choose your own prefix by updating the “Participant Identifier Prefix” field on your Enrollment Settings tab. |
|
The pieces of a participant's name are entered as individual fields. |
DOB |
The participant's date of birth. Supported formats include:
|
Gender |
The participant's gender. Supported values include:
|
Custom Fields
If you have defined your own custom fields for participants, you can set those custom fields in the CSV data just as you would a standard field. For example, if you have a custom field named "SurgeryDate", you can specify it for any participants whose date of surgery is known at the time of invitation and leave it blank for others.
ParticipantIdentifier,Email,LastName,SurgeryDate
MDH001,test1@example.com,Doe,1/1/2022
MDH002,test2@example.com,Deer,2/1/2022
MDH003,test3@example.com,Ray,3/1/2022
Be sure that the name in the title row exactly matches the name of your custom field.
For custom timestamp fields, use the format YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS-UTCoffset, e.g., 2023-10-25T09:30:19-0500.
Required Fields
A participant identifier is required for each row to uniquely identify each participant when updating existing participants. All other fields are optional.
If you'd like to just invite a handful of people via email without any additional information, you can enter something like the following:
test1@example.com
test2@example.com
test3@example.com
Omitting Fields for Certain Participants
When uploading or updating participants, you can omit optional fields for some participants and not others. Just be sure to leave an empty placeholder in the CSV data for the missing field.
Example | Explanation |
---|---|
ParticipantIdentifier,LastName,FirstName,Gender |
Incorrect Jones has only 3 fields, but there are 4 titles. |
ParticipantIdentifier,LastName,FirstName,Gender |
Correct Jones has an empty placeholder field for FirstName. |
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