Adding and Inviting Participants

Participants can join your project in a few different ways, as described in enrolling using MyDataHelps. You can also invite participants manually.

Adding Participants

To get started adding participants:

1. Open your project and go to the "Add/Invite Participants" tab.
2. Paste in comma-separated value (CSV) data or upload a CSV file containing the participant data. For an example CSV file with participant data field suggestions, click “Download Example CSV File” at the bottom right hand side of the page.
3. Select "Preview and Send Invitations."
4. Confirm the data for each participant in the invitation preview, and elect whether to enable MyDataHelps enrollment and send invitation emails. These options are described in more detail below.
5. Select "Add Participants."

Enable Enrolling via MyDataHelps

By default, invited participants may enroll in the project using the MyDataHelps app. You can un-check the "Enable Enrolling via MyDataHelps" option if you want to enroll participants via a shared study device in a clinical setting.

Send Invitation Emails

"Send Invitation Email" is also checked by default when inviting participants. There are three options for sending invitation emails to participants:

1. Keep the default MyDataHelps invitation email
2. Create a custom email notification to be used as the invitation email
3. Do not send an invitation email

To send a custom invitation email, you will first need to create an email notification. Once the notification has been published, you can add it to the "Invitation Email" field under Project > Settings > General.

Update Existing Participants

There are a few ways to update participant information in MyDataHelps: 1) update CSV information, 2) edit participant information directly, and 3) use Coordinator-Entered Surveys.

Update CSV Information

One way 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.

Edit Participant Information Directly

Another 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 timezone. 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 article on Using Coordinator-Entered Surveys.

Formatting Your CSV Data

You can enter invitations 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:

Email,LastName,Cohort
test1@example.com,Doe,A
test2@example.com,Deer,B
test3@example.com,Ray,C

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

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.

Email,LastName,SurgeryDate
test1@example.com,Doe,1/1/2022
test2@example.com,Deer,2/1/2022
test3@example.com,Ray,3/1/2022

Be sure that the name in the title row exactly matches the name of your custom field.

Required Fields

An email address or participant identifier is required for each row to uniquely identify each participant. The participant identifier is required (even if you have specified an email) if you have enabled "Requires Identifier Validation" in your project settings. All other fields are optional.

For instance, if you'd like to just invite a handful of people via email and do not want to enter an identifier, name, DOB, or anything else, you can enter something like the following:

Email
test1@example.com
test2@example.com
test3@example.com

Omitting Fields for Certain Participants

Other than email, which is required for every row, you can omit fields for some participants and not others. Just be sure to leave an empty placeholder in the CSV data for the missing field.

Email,LastName,FirstName,Gender
test@example.com,Smith,John,Male
test2@example.com,Jones,Male

Email,LastName,FirstName,Gender
test@example.com,Smith,John,Male
test2@example.com,Jones,,Male