Process Show Rules allows questions or forms in future data events to be shown/hidden, depending on Criteria in a previous form.
NOTE: Process show rules cannot be edited/deleted in amendment mode in version 2020.4
Process show rules can for instance be used to create crossover studies, by having the site personnel select which part of the study the subject participates in first. The process show rules will then ensure that only the relevant forms are shown throughout the study while hiding the forms/questions that are not applicable.
Setup
The process show rules list can be accessed either via the left side menu under "Process Rules" or from the Process list view.
Accessing it from the process list view, by clicking on a process will auto-select the process in the filter. Click on the "+" to go directly to the rule creator, and the ">" to go to the process show rule list.
Accessing it via the left-side menu will have no process filter selected.
A process must be selected before Criteria or Affected can be selected, as they can only interact with question(s) and form(s) that are within the SAME process.
NOTE: A study can be put into test mode if there are invalid show rules, but cannot be put into Data Collection mode if it contains invalid process show rules.
NOTE: A process show rule can become invalid, if a question/form/possibility is deleted, or removed from the data event.
Criteria
Criteria are the possibilities that will decide if your question(s)/form(s) get shown. If ANY of the Criteria possibilities get selected during form fill out, the rule will get triggered, and the Affected question(s)/form(s) will be shown.
Can be any of the following question types:
- Yes/No
- Multiple Choice
- Multiple Response
- Smiley
Can select the following Event types for Criteria:
- Visit Event
- Subject Event
i.e. you will not be able to hide/show questions/forms in these events, the local show rules still work.
Affected
The 'Affected' in a process show rule are ALL the question(s)/form(s) that will show if the Criteria is selected.
You can add as many Affected elements as you want, by clicking the "+ QUESTIONS/FORMS" button, and you can select multiple questions from the same form in a single 'Affected' element.
You can select individual questions in different forms and data events, or entire forms by selecting the "All Questions" option under 'Questions'
The 'Affected' question(s)/form(s) default state is HIDDEN, and they will not be shown until the Criteria is fulfilled i.e. the possibilities have been selected.
Can be any of the following question types:
- ALL question types can be an Affected element.
Can select the following Event types for Affected:
- Visit Event
- Multiple Activation events are supported, will show/hide Affected elements in ALL instances of the event.
- Subject Event
- Unscheduled Events
- The Affected elements will be shown/hidden for ALL Unscheduled Event activations. Meaning, if a process show rule causes question #3 in a form to be hidden, it will be hidden every time the form is used/selected for an Unscheduled Event.
These event types are NOT supported for Affected:
- Discontinue Event
- External Event
- Adverse Events
i.e. you will not be able to hide/show questions/forms in these events, the local show rules still work.
Process Show Rules list
The Process Show Rule list will show you the Criteria information, you will have to click on "View" (the eye icon) to see the Affected elements.
If a rule is marked with red, it is invalid and should be corrected prior to start the study.
Filter Options
The "Filters"-button can be used to identify specific Process Show Rules of interest. The filter options include:
- Rule Name
- Process Name
- Data Event
- Form
- Question
You can combine multiple filters at the same time to specify the search. Multiple filters will interact in an AND capacity with other.
Customize Columns
The Process Show Rules table can be customized by dragging the columns to rearrange the order of these and via the "Columns"-button, where you can select/deselect columns.
Tricks
Process show rules will interact in an OR capacity with each other, whereas a local form show rule will interact in an AND capacity with a process show rule.
This can allow you to specify two criteria that must be met before a question is shown if the questions are within the same form, as you can use 1 local show rule and 1 process show rule.
Example: In the form 'Fantastic Form' there are two questions that are always shown Q1 and Q2, with Q3 being conditioned on the answers in Q1 and Q2.
Q1: What is your favorite dessert? with the possibilities: 'Ice cream', 'Cake', 'Strawberries', 'None'.
Q2: What is your favorite candy? with the possibilities: 'Chocolate', 'Gummy bears', 'licorice', 'None'
Q3: Do you not like sweets at all? as a free text field.
We only want to show Q3 if the participant selects 'None' in both Q1 and Q2.
Therefore we can set up a local show rule (created when editing a form) between Q1_None and Q3 and then a process show rule between Q2_None and Q3.
That way if the participant selects "Cake" and "None" we will not show Q3, as they obviously like sweets.
If you want to ALWAYS show a question in a form, but hide the rest depending on a Criteria, you should ensure that no local show rule nor process show rule is set up on the 'always show' question.
Behavior during data collection
If a process show rule has been setup on a question or form, it will be HIDDEN until the Criteria has been met .
Editing the answer of a Criteria such that additional questions will become shown in an already completed data event, will change the data event status to "Incomplete" and notify all users on the site with "Enter/Edit" or "Query" permissions.
Editing the answer of a Criteria such that already answered questions/forms become HIDDEN, will put a 'Hidden' icon on the forms, or on the questions, but continue to show the questions/forms, as data is still in them.
Caution
Process Show Rules can be utilized to great effect in a study, but be careful with your setup.
Setting up a lot Affected questions or forms on a Criteria can make for quite the pickle if the Criteria answer is changed for a subject with lots of data collected in the Affected questions + forms.
Process Show Rules does NOT support hiding entire data events, we therefore strongly recommend always having at least one visible question in each data event.
In case a data event is activated and ALL forms inside the event are hidden, the data event will immediately be set to "Completed".
For subject events with all forms hidden, neither SMS nor emails will be sent out, as the subject has nothing to do.
Questions
Where is my question, I cannot see it, and I have no process show rule on it?
- Please double check you do not have a local show rule on it.
Why can I not start my study?
- It is not possible to start a study with invalid process show rules. Please correct them in order to start the study.
How is hidden data represented in my export?
- Any question that is hidden by a show rule (process or regular) and therefore not answered, will be denoted with a ".h" in the export.