Types of Participant Fields

MyDataHelps Designer has a few different field types that can store participant information as outlined in this article. Refer to the Participant Fields Overview article for basic information about what participant fields are, how to populate them, and how to use them.

Demographic Fields

Demographic fields capture standard participant demographic information. Below are the available demographic fields; new demographic fields cannot be created.

DemographicField.Email
DemographicField.MobilePhone
DemographicField.FirstName
DemographicField.MiddleName
DemographicField.LastName
DemographicField.DateOfBirth
DemographicField.Gender
DemographicField.PreferredLanguage
DemographicField.Street1
DemographicField.Street2
DemographicField.City
DemographicField.State
DemographicField.PostalCode
DemographicField.UtcOffset

Identifier Field

The ParticipantIdentifier field captures the primary, project-specific identifier, unique to the participant. By default, this is generated and assigned automatically when the participant is created (whether by filling out a recruitment survey, being invited by a coordinator, etc.). You may configure a custom pattern for this identifier or pre-specify a complete identifier if you create participants in advance.

Custom Fields

For any other type of information to collect about a participant, you can create your own project-specific custom fields. Custom fields can be immensely powerful to your project and most projects will have custom fields that are available in a few different formats:

• Date: You might consider storing important date information (e.g., SurgeryDate or DiagnosisDate) in a custom date field.
• Decimal: You might consider storing precise data (e.g., Weight) in a custom decimal field.
• Email: While there is already a demographic email field, additional custom email fields can store a secondary or caretaker’s email address.
• Integer: Similar to decimal, but stores integer (e.g., PriorPregnancies) in a custom integer field.
• Phone: Similar to email, but you might consider storing a secondary or caretaker’s phone number.
• Picklist: A field with pre-specified values that can be selected from a drop-down in many places. Refer to the Custom Field: Picklist article for further details.
• Text: You might want to store a string (e.g., StudySite) in a custom text field.
• Timestamp: Similar to date, but you can store a precise timestamp (e.g., ChildDelivery).
• Time of Day: Stores a specific time of day that can be used to trigger event-based and date-based schedules at a time specific for each participant (e.g., send a notification every day at NotificationTime).

Creating Custom Participant Fields

While demographic and identifier fields cannot be created, you can create any number of custom fields to fit your project needs. To create a custom field:

1. Navigate to your project and click on the Custom Fields tab.
2. Add a name for your custom field (we strongly recommend using CamelCase for ease of readability).
3. Optionally, add a description to your custom field and then click Add.
4. Update the custom field type (see the above format descriptions) from the drop-down list. The default is “Text”.

5. Enable this field to be edited by the coordinator and/or participant. Custom Fields are always editable via surveys and schedules regardless of these settings, unless the value is calculated (see #6 below).

   • Editable by coordinator - Coordinator users with access to the participant can modify the custom field value using the MyDataHelps REST API or the participant viewer in MyDataHelps Designer.

   • Editable by participant - Participant users can directly update their custom fields using the MyDataHelps SDK. 

   • Editable by participant / coordinator - both the above.
6. Alternatively, if the field should be calculated based on other participant responses or parameters, check the box and define the calculation using the Common Expression Language. Calculated custom fields will automatically be updated to Not Editable, and cannot be edited, written by a survey, or set by a schedule. 

7. After adjusting your custom field, make sure you click “Save Custom Field Settings”.
   
   

You can also create a custom field from the Populate Custom Field drop-down within a survey step’s properties by selecting “New Custom Field”.