Match Participants' Avicenna IDs with Their External IDs

How-To
1

The Situation

You need to link participants’ Avicenna IDs with their external identifiers from other systems or databases. This is common when:

  • Importing participants from existing databases
  • Working with multi-platform studies
  • Ensuring data continuity when participants have existing IDs

What to Do?

Approach 1: Using Participant Labels

  1. Assign Labels to Participants

    Edit participant's label
    Edit participant's label2116×1139 165 KB

  2. Use Labels for Matching

    • Now, you can view participants with their labels in the Participation table.
    • The label will be visible on some other pages too, where participants are listed.
    • You can filter the participants under the Participation table based on their label.

Approach 2: Using Participant Variables

  1. Create an External ID Variable

    • Create a Participant Variables Survey.
    • Add a Text question (or a Number question) for the external ID:
      • Set the Label to “External ID” or “Participant Number”.
      • Set the Content to “External participant identifier”.
      • Make it Mandatory.
      • Change the Type based on your needs. Probably, you’ll need a single-line text.
    • Publish the survey.

    Participant Variables Survey
    Participant Variables Survey2256×1279 131 KB

  2. Set Variables for Each Participant

    • Whenever a participant joins the study, navigate to the Activity Sessions page.
    • Create a researcher-responded session for the Participant Variables Survey and that participant.
    • Submit the external ID as a response to that survey.

    Submit Variables for Participants
    Submit Variables for Participants2142×908 62.3 KB

  3. Use Responses for Matching

    • Now, you can view the responses to that variables survey to match your participants with their external IDs.
    • You can filter the participants under the Participation table based on the responses to that survey.
    • If the external IDs are numbers and you used a Number question in step 1, you can use those responses in your criteria too.

Pro Tips

  • You can create a “Participant Joined” Notification Template. This way, you, the researcher, will get notifications whenever a new participant joins the study; hence, you can set the external ID immediately.
  • Maintain a consistent, well-documented ID matching process to ensure accuracy and easy management across your studies. Share the documentation with your team so they follow the same conventions.
  • Use clear, standardized external ID formats (e.g., Participant001).
  • Regularly validate your data for duplicates or missing entries. Note that none of the above approaches prevents using the same external ID for more than one participant.