Question development is an integral part of an effective search. On this page, you'll find information on the different types of questions you might ask, along with templates and tools for question formation.
A good question...
These questions are general in nature and provide foundational information on a single concept. Background questions cover:
Examples
What is the pathology of asthma?
What drugs are used to treat hypertension?
How do I perform a psychological assessment?
What education resources exist for patients with gestational diabetes?
How is hepititis B diagnosed?
What does a normal heartbeat sound like?
These questions bring together multiple concepts related to a specific clinical situation or research topic. They are typically divided into two categories:
Building an effective foreground question can be challenging. The following models will help:
Copy and paste the DOI URLs you may find below into a browser for access. If using these links off campus, you will need to authenticate with your University email username and password or be logged into your UMFK Portal. For those that we do not have access to, it will be noted in the description to contact Library Staff.
P - Patient/Population
S- Situation
How do/does ___[P]____ experience _____[S]_____?
E.g. How do (P) caregiver-spouses of Alzheimer patients experience (S) placing their spouse in a nursing home?
(P - Population, I - Intervention, C - Comparison or Control, O - Outcome, T - Time-period)
Gallagher Ford, L., & Melnyk, B.M. (2019) The underappreciated and misunderstood PICOT question: A critical step in the EBP process. Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing, 16(6), 422-423. https://doi-org.wv-o-ursus-proxy04.ursus.maine.edu/10.1111/wvn.12408
In ___[P]___, do/does ___[I]___ result in ___[O]____ when compared with ___[C]___ over ___[T]____?
E.g. In (P) nursing home residents with osteoporosis, do (I) hip protectors result in (O) fewer injuries from slips, trips, and falls when compared with (C) standard osteoporosis drug therapy over (T) the course of their stay?
Are ___[P]___ with ___[I]___ over ____[T]____ more likely to ___[O]____ when compared with ___[C]___ ?
E.g. Are (P) female non-smokers with (I) daily exposure to second-hand smoke over (T) a period of ten years or greater more likely to (O) develop breast cancer when compared with (C) female non-smokers without daily exposure to second-hand smoke?
Is/are ___[I]___ performed on ___[P]___ more effective than ___[C]___ over ___[T]____in ___[O]____?
E.g. Are (I) self-reporting interviews and parent reports performed on (P) children aged 5-10 more effective than (C) parent reports alone over a (T) four-week consultation process in (O) diagnosing depression?
In ___[P]___, do/does ___[I]___ result in ___[O]____ when compared with ___[C]___ over ___[T]____?
E.g. In (P) emergency room visitors, do (I) hand sanitizing stations result in (O) fewer in-hospital infections when compared (C) with no hand sanitizing stations over (T) a year-long pilot period?
Do/does ___[I]___ performed on ___[P]___ lead to ___[O]___ over ___[T]____compared with ___[C]____?
E.g. Do (I) regular text message reminders performed on (P) patients recently diagnosed with diabetes lead to (O) a lower occurrence of forgotten insulin doses over (T) the first six months of treatment compared with (C) no reminders?
Copy and paste the doi url into a browser for access. If you are off campus, be sure to sign into your portal first . For those that we do not have access to, it will be noted in the description to contact Library Staff.
Cooke, A., Smith, D., & Booth, A. (2012). Beyond PICO: The SPIDER tool for qualitative evidence synthesis. Qualitative Health Research, 22(10), 1435–1443. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732312452938 (Needs to be requested through Library Staff).
Cullen, L., Hanrahan, K., Tucker, S., Edmonds, S. W., & Laures, E. (2023). The problem with the PICO question: Shiny object syndrome and the PURPOSE statement solution. Journal of PeriAnesthesia Nursing, 38(3), 516–518. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jopan.2023.01.024
Kloda, L. A., Boruff, J. T., & Soares Cavalcante, A. (2020). A comparison of patient, intervention, comparison, outcome (PICO) to a new, alternative clinical question framework for search skills, search results, and self-efficacy: a randomized controlled trial. Journal of the Medical Library Association, 108(2), 185–194. https://doi-org.wv-o-ursus-proxy04.ursus.maine.edu/10.5195/jmla.2020.739
Schiavenato, M., & Chu, F. (2021). PICO: What it is and what it is not. Nurse Education in Practice, 56, 103194. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nepr.2021.103194
PIE (Population, Intervention, Effect / Outcome)
PEO (Population/Problem, Exposure, Outcomes/Themes)
PURPOSE (Population, Users, Responsible team, Problem, Outcomes, Setting, Effort)
FINER (Feasibility, Interesting, Novel, Ethical, Relevant)
SPICE (Setting, Perspective, Intervention, Comparison, Evaluation)
SPIDER (Sample, Phenomena of Interest, Design, Evaluation, Research type)
Unless otherwise stated, the content on this page is reused from Evidence-Based Practice Resources guide from the McMaster University Health Sciences Library under a Creative Commons Attribution, Non-Commercial Share Alike license. Links to the UNC, MUSC, and UM framework guides were added as well as a link to the BMJ Global Health article and supplementary material cited on the UNC guide.
Copied with permission from Ximena Chrisagis at Research Guides, Wright State University:
This guide, originally created by Ximena Chrisagis at Wright State University, "was inspired by Jodi Jameson's University of Toledo DNP Evidence-Based Practice Project: Library Resources Guide. It includes video, journal, and web content developed by many external authors/creators, as well as some content by Ximena Chrisagis. Some of the external content is reused under a Creative Commons Share Alike Attribution license. When external content was not available under a Creative Commons license, it is linked rather than copied or extracted, and it is attributed to the content creator in the link name or description."
Sofia Birden of the University of Maine at Fort Kent (UMFK) changed very little of the original guide. Updates made were for format, campus-specific language, and resource links.