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Unanswered questions in current clinical practice and interactions dictating alternate treatments will lead to the formulation of a clinical research question. It would help researchers by giving them step-by-step instructions about how to formulate a research question. Continue Reading: https://bit.ly/3ldryTV For our services: https://pubrica.com/sevices/research-services/ Why Pubrica: When you order our services, We promise you the following – Plagiarism free | always on Time | 24*7 customer support | Written to international Standard | Unlimited Revisions support | Medical writing Expert | Publication Support | Biostatistical experts | High-quality Subject Matter Experts. Contact us: Web: https://pubrica.com/ Blog: https://pubrica.com/academy/ Email: [email protected] WhatsApp : +91 9884350006 United Kingdom: +44-1618186353
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Copyright © 2021 pubrica. All rights reserved 1
How to Formulate a Researchable Question
based on PICOS
Dr. Nancy Agnes, Head, Technical Operations, Pubrica [email protected]
Keywords
Clinical research, literature research, literature
research service, research project, research project
help.
In brief
One of the most difficult challenges a researcher
faces before starting a project is generating a
researchable question. Unanswered questions in
current clinical practice and interactions dictating
alternate treatments will lead to the formulation of a
clinical research question. It would help researchers
by giving them step-by-step instructions about how
to formulate a research question. It also explains
how to frame a research question using PICO
(population, intervention, control, and outcomes)
parameters (1)
. Finally, before starting a research
question, we evaluate the characteristics of a
research project.
I. INTRODUCTION
A researchable question can be challenged,
investigated, and analysed to provide valuable
knowledge about an issue. A successful research
experiment is determined by how well an author
formulates the research issue in light of everyday
research and clinical practice issues. The research
project’s fundamental issues provide crucial details
for determining whether the subject is appropriate,
researchable, and meaningful(2)
. A well-formulated
research question necessitates excessive detail and
precision, which guides the project’s execution while
identifying variables and the population of interest.
We’ll go through a clinical situation and see how
clinical problems emerge and how they will help us
with the facts we need to address our question.
Copyright © 2021 pubrica. All rights reserved 2
II. FORMULATING THE RESEARCH
QUESTION
Case
A 2-year-old boy with a fever and severe pain in
his right ear visits an emergency doctor. His mother
is concerned that he has been on the antibiotic
amoxicillin for the last two weeks, and he has a
history of chronic ear infections. She is worried
about the long-term effects of antibiotic use. She’s
still worried about the consequences of chronic ear
infections.
Because of its side effects, such as constant
diarrhoea, she needs to know whether an
amoxicillin prescription is safe or whether another
antibiotic can replace it. This case raises several
questions, which can be divided into two
categories: history and foreground. ―Background
Queries‖ are generic questions about a health
condition or illness. These problems usually
include comparing two objects, such as two
medications or treatments, or two diagnostic
processes, etc. PICO (population, intervention,
control, and outcomes) is a commonly used method
for framing a ―foreground‖ study issue [Table 1].
PICO
P: Population of
interest
Patient or the problem to be addressed
I: Intervention Exposure to be considered–treatments/ tests
C: Control Control or comparison intervention treatment/placebo/standard of care
O: Outcome Outcome of interest
Population or problem- Addressing a specific
population, its important characteristics and
demographic information. You may classify the
paediatric population with otitis media, the age
group, sex, presenting complaint, and experience
from the above example from the above case.
Intervention or treatment of interest- Treatments,
procedures, laboratory tests, and risk or prognostic
variables are also examples of interventions. The
intervention in this situation could be your
treatment strategy for the patient, including new
medication, a screening test, a prognostic factor, or
a procedure. E.g., based on your observations in a
clinic, cefuroxime is a safer therapeutic choice for
otitis media than amoxicillin. Still, you are unsure
about its effectiveness in paediatric otitis media
patients.
Comparator or control- when a new treatment is
linked to one that still exists
Outcome- The intervention’s result is known as the
outcome—for example, its ability to manage
discomfort. As a result, in the example above, the
effect may be pain relief, infection resolution, or a
reduction in the risk of developing resistance. A
successful primary outcome should be simple to
quantify, specific, valid, reproducible, and
appropriate to your research issue.
In a traditional clinical environment, a clinician
must be aware of context and foreground questions
based on their knowledge of a specific condition
and treatment. More background questions are
presented after history questions are asked. Medical
considerations emerge from a clinical work’s
central problems. For instance, determining the
causes or risk factors (etiological questions),
evaluating diagnostic measures based on sensitivity
and specificity (diagnostic question), determining
the best treatment choices (therapeutic question),
and the treatment outcome (prognostic question) (3)
.
III. IMPORTANCE OF PICO QUESTION
The PICO question is a different way of thinking
about clinical issues that emerge in health care.
These questions, unlike informational questions,
are very complex and can be difficult to formulate.
They are made up of particular elements or
principles that have a specific role in the evidence-
based process.
Copyright © 2021 pubrica. All rights reserved 3
IV. THE PICO FORMULA
The fact that this procedure is known as
formulating is no coincidence. When you ask a
PICO question, you’re building a formula that
accomplishes many goals (4)
:
Define the elements or ideas in the query to
help focus it.
Used to determine which publications in a
search retrieval better answer the query
Defines the principles that would be used when
running a complex literature search
Assists in determining whether the studies
found to answer the initial question’s
components.
At the end of the review, you’ll have all the
details you need to decide if the PICO action
can be applied.
A concentrated research question contributes to
structured research project preparation. It is not a
shortage of concepts that is causing the difficulties
in framing a study issue. The task is to transform a
novel research issue into a proper study plan, which
is the next step in the research question refinement
process (5)
.
V. CONCLUSION
A well-formulated research topic is a good place to
proceed when doing a good study or practising
evidence-based medicine. A clinician should use
the process outlined in this paper to formulate a
question and look for a response, and a researcher
can use it to create a new research project. The
traditional method is first to classify a research
question, then do a detailed literature review using
the PICO criteria. If the research question is well-
defined, it will lead to a good study design and
methodology. Finally, the findings are applied to a
particular patient group. In short, a researchable
topic points to truth rather than opinions and is
related to the ultimate purpose of the research
project (6)
.
REFERENCES
1. Amir-Behghadami, Mehrdad. ―SPIDER as a
framework to formulate eligibility criteria in
2. qualitative systematic reviews.‖ BMJ Supportive &
Palliative Care (2021).
3. Kruger, Stefanie Johanna Maria, and WENDY
PHOSWA. ―Association of TB treatment with
pregnancy complications: A Systematic Review
and Meta-analysis Protocol.‖ (2021).
4. Amir-Behghadami, Mehrdad, and Ali Janati.
―Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcomes
and Study (PICOS) design as a framework to
formulate eligibility criteria in systematic
reviews.‖ Emergency medicine journal: EMJ 37.6
(2020): 387-387.
5. Ridderikhof, Milan L., and Markus Hollmann. ―In
reply: PICO questions in systematic
reviews.‖ Emergency medicine journal: EMJ 37.6
(2020): 386-386.
6. Alkuwari, Hanaa I., et al. ―Intrinsic predictive
factors for acute and recurrent lateral ankle sprain
in active and athlete population: A systematic
review.‖ Middle East Journal of Family
Medicine 7.10 (2020): 228.
7. Pérez, Jeff M., Chiara Alessi, and Magdalena
Grzech-Wojciechowska. ―Diagnostic methods for
the canine idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy: A
narrative evidence-based rapid review.‖ Research
in veterinary science 128 (2020): 205-216.