Registry Search and Filtering Overview

Registry Search and Filtering Overview

Recruiting participants can be difficult and can delay study timelines. To streamline recruiting and leverage past participants into future studies, your Ripple site hosts all past participants in your Ripple registry and is accessible to Site Admins and those assigned registry access. 

The registry can be dissected primarily with two tools: Searching (red) and Filtering (blue). This article will explain the primary functions of each and how to best leverage them to get the most out of your registry!

Search

The search bar is an open short-text field that accepts custom inquires into your registry database. The search term you enter searches for variables matching at the start of the variable. For example, a search of “John” could pull up results for a first name “John”, a last name “Johnson”, a street address “John R Road”, or more! It will not match to variables ending with the search term or containing it in the middle, such as “Sunjohn” or “Michaeljohnson@gmail.com”.

The following fields will return inquiries from the search bar:

• Family ID
• Global ID
• First Name
• Last Name
• Tags
• Ethnicity
• Race
• Contact Information

Note: First and last name matching is done with a partial search if there are multiple spaces in the participants name. For example, if the search term is “Aretha Louise Franklin ”, the search will look for a first name of “Aretha” and a last name of “Franklin”. Additionally, within Contacts only Contact Name, Address 1, Address 2, Phone, and Email are searchable. 

Filter

Filters are predefined variable sets used to segment your registry into your specific target groups using existing demographics. The filter only shows options for pre-existing variable data. Filters can be combined when setting multiple filters for the same inquiry, as shown below:

When you use two filters concurrently, the registry filters both filters in conjunction,  it will filter the registry looking for both Filter A AND Filter B.

In the example, the registry will be sorted by Age and Education and Speaking Style in the following:

• Age - Age is a preset field made by ripple and is set as an open field with custom response set to “equal to” i.e. you type in “25” and it shows all participants who are 25 years old
• Education Level - Education level is a custom variable made by this lab set as a drop down menu of custom answers this lab has predefined set to “not equal to”, meaning the answers selected will be omitted i.e this filter setup will show all users who do not have a postgraduate degree, but did finish secondary school. Those with a postgraduate degree or who did not finish secondary school will be omitted.
• Speaking Style -  Speaking Style is a custom variable made by this lab with a set of drop down menu options predefined by the lab. It is set to “equal to” which will show all participants who have the speaking style “Outgoing/Insightful”

Multi-Select Variables

When filtering with multi-select variables (variables that are selected from a drop down menu that accept more than one response) it is important to understand the two ways the registry can filter these participants:

When filtering two multi-select variables in the same filter box, it will filter the registry looking for either Option A OR Option B.

In the example above, the registry will filter for participants who are either Hawaiian or Native American and display both options.

When filtering two multi-select variables in different filter boxes, it will filter the registry looking for Option A AND Option B as true for a participant.

When using the filter set above, the registry will show only participants who are in BOTH Study “Jon Test Study” AND Study “C-New Study”. Any participant who is in one of the studies, but not both, will not be shown with this filter.

Searching and Filtering in unison

The registry can be both searched and filtered in the same inquiry. When using both search and filtering the results will be displayed in a unison of both options (as opposed to being one or the other). For example, if I am filtering using the Age filter set to “65” and using the search bar with the search “Elizabeth” the registry will show participants who are both aged 65 and named Elizabeth.

Ordering the Registry’s Columns

The columns of the Registry are able to be sorted by two of the column heads: Name and Date of Last Contact.

The Name column can sort your participants alphabetically by last name. This can be done in forward or reverse order (A-to-Z or Z-to-A). The example below shows the Registry ordered reverse alphabetically by last name:

The Last Contact column can sort your participants by the Global Date of Last Contact, in ascending or descending order. Global Last Date of Contact is the date in which the participant was last contacted by your study team, regardless of which study, if the contact was marked as global. Contacts not marked as global will not reflect in the registry. The example below shows the registry filtered by Global Last Date of Contact longest ago, in this case being July 31st, 2017 for my lab: