A well-defined research question helps identify the concepts to search to answer your question. Search frameworks help you create a research question by suggesting elements you to consider. Not all questions are suited for a single framework. Several of the more common frameworks are found below.
PICO
-
Population/Patient/Problem - What is the population or characteristics?
-
Intervention/Exposure - What is the intervention, exposure, prognostic factor, treatment, etc.?
-
Comparison - What is the comparator, if any?
-
Outcome - What are the expected outcomes, improvements, measures, etc?
PISCO
-
Population/Patient/Problem - What is the population or characteristics?
-
Intervention/Exposure - What is the intervention, exposure, prognostic factor, treatment, etc.?
-
Setting (if appropriate) - Hospital, Outpatient, School, Rural
-
Comparison or intervention (if appropriate) - What are you comparing the intervention with?
-
Outcome - What is the outcome you want to measure or achieve
SPICE
-
Setting - What is the setting/context? Where?
-
Population/Perspective - Who are the users, potential users, stakeholders of the particular service? For whom?
-
Intervention - What is being done?
-
Comparison - What else has been tried?
-
Evaluation - What measurement will be used to determine the success? What is the result?
ECLIPSE
-
Expectation - Why is the information needed?
-
Client Group - Who needs, or will use, the information?
-
Location - Where is the service taking place?
-
Impact - What is being evaluated? How will success be measured?
-
Professionals - Who provides the service?
-
Service - What is the service being evaluated?
SPIDER (Qualitative)
-
Sample – Who is engaging in the research?
-
Phenomenon of Interest – What or how are we trying to understand (experiences, behaviors, decisions) of participants?
-
Design - Theoretical framework (questionnaire, survey, interview, etc.)
-
Evaluation - What measurement will be used to evaluate the PI?
-
Research Type - Qualitative or mixed methods