Formulate your research question
Your topic of interest needs to become a research question.
Pico(s) - question format
Using search concept tools to formulate your research question
A search concept tool helps identify important elements to research questions. PICO is commonly used to structure a question arising from a clinical scenario. There are search concepts tools for different types of research questions.
| P = Population/patients | The patient, problem, or population. Ask: How would I describe a group of patients similar to mine? |
|---|---|
| I = Intervention | Therapy, prevention, test, exposure Ask: Which main interventions am I considering? |
| C = Comparison | Ask: What is the main alternative? |
| O = Outcome | Ask: What could this intervention accomplish, measure, improve or affect? |
| (S) = Study Design | Ask: what study design is most appropriate to answer the question? |
Example
In patients with an acute migraine, what is the effect of sumatriptan compared with naproxen on pain relief?
P patients with an acute migraine
I sumatriptan
C naproxen
O pain relief
Other question formats
There are additional frameworks to help structure other types of research questions.
PEO
P = Phenomenon of Interest
E = Exposure
O = Outcome
__________
PICo
PI = Phenomenon of Interest
Co = Context
__________
SPIDER
S = Sample
PI = Phenomenon of Interest
D = Design
E = Evaluation
R = Research type
What is a protocol?
A protocol is a detailed plan for your study. It includes a rationale for conducting the project, research question, inclusion/exclusion criteria, literature search plan, a method for data abstraction/data management and to evaluate the quality of studies.
Standards for protocols
See Table 3 of the PRISMA-P 2015 Checklist for a list of the items to include in a systematic review protocol.
Template for PRISMA-P protocol
Support article: How to setup a protocol (SciFlow)
Protocol registration
Registering your systematic review protocol promotes transparency, reduces the potential for bias, and helps to avoid duplication of reviews.
PLoS Medicine Editors. Best Practice in Systematic Reviews: The Importance of Protocols and Registration PLoS Med. 2011 Feb;8(2):e1001009.
PROSPERO International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews
Publishing a protocol
The Cochrane Collaboration publishes protocols as does the journal Systematic Reviews
Many health care journals are publishing protocols now too, see for example the following protocols listed in PubMed.