Making changes in Production and how it may impact your data
How do I make changes?
Changes can be made to your project once in Production by going to the Online Designer and entering Draft Mode. It is also possible to request your project be placed back in Development, though Draft mode is preferred.
How will my changes affect my data?
It is important to note that field responses are associated with corresponding records using the raw value of a particular choice, rather than the descriptor. This means that if you change a descriptor for a raw value, you will effectively change the data collected prior to the change.
For example, if you have a field with radio buttons consisting of 0, Female and 1, Male and you changed the choices to 0, Male and 1, Female then all existing records with a value of 0 will now essentially be Male even though the original response indicated Female.
You can see how important it is to keep the descriptor associated with its raw value. This also holds true when modifying a field to add or reorganize field choices. To avoid impacting existing data, it is better to add additional field choices rather than modify existing choices.
It is also important to consider any branching logic or calculations which might be affected when changing field choices, as those calculations and logic are performed by using the raw value. Modifying field choices used in calculations or within branching logic may affect other fields downstream.
Deleting fields will also delete any associated data.
Why can't I see my changes?
Once your changes have been made, they can be submitted for Production. This sends a notification to the REDCap Support Team where they will review the changes for any potential problems. If issues are spotted that may impact existing data, you will be contacted to verify you are aware of the impact and give you the option of proceeding with the changes, perform additional changes or to reject and reset the pending changes.
More information on Field Types can be found on the Help & FAQ page in REDCap
For additional assistance, please contact the REDCap Support Team