Nursing

Creating a research question is an exciting and challenging exercise.  A research question gives you the opportunity to dig into a topic in which you are interested, and, to then share this information with others.

A good research question should be specific and focused. The answer should be discovered through data collection and analysis (i.e. research). The answer to a research question is NOT a simple "yes" or "no."

Follow these steps:

1. Identify a broad topic in which you are interested.  There is little point in spending time and energy researching a topic that holds no interest for you.
2. Start some preliminary research on the topic.  Search the library databases, Google, Google Scholar. 
3. Brainstorm.
4. As you become familiar with the literature, identify some key questions that come to mind.  Narrow down your topic.
   1. Is there a gap in the knowledge?  Do you want to extend the knowledge in a certain area?
5. Recognize that your initial research question may change as you gather more information about your topic.
6. Use FINER or PICOT or PEO or SPIDER to construct your research question.

Check out this handy Guide: North Island College Research Question Guide

Tips and Examples of Research Questions

Creating Quantitative and Qualitative Research Questions (Research.com)

Nursing:  Forming Questions (McMaster University)

Examples of Good and Bad Research Questons (Research.com)

Use the acronym FINER to help develop your research question:

• Feasible - is the scope reasonable?  is there enough time for the research?
• Interesting - if the topic is not interesting, there will be little motivation to do the research or read the research.
• Novel - does the question encourage a novel approach to an existing question, or, a new question all together?
• Ethical - the question must do no harm and must protect privacy and confidentiality of participants.
• Relevant -  does it fill a gap in current knowledge?  does it analyze, compare, monitor or test assumptions of a topic?

For more details on FINER:  https://research.com/research/how-to-write-a-research-question

To formulate questions in Evidence Based Practice, use the PICOT format.

PICOT stands for:

• Population/ Patient Problem: Who is your patient? (Disease or Health status, age, race, sex)
• Intervention: What do you plan to do for the patient? (Specific tests, therapies, medications)
• Comparison: What is the alternative to your plan? (ie. No treatment, different type of treatment, etc.)
• Outcome: What outcome do you seek? (Less symptoms, no symptoms, full health, etc.)
• Time: What is the time frame? (This element is not always included.)

PICOT questions will typically fall under one of these types:

• Therapy/Prevention: Is this intervention more effective than another
• Diagnosis/Diagnostic test: How accurate is this diagnostic test
• Etiology/Harm: What are the causes of this condition or state of affairs
• Prognosis: What is a patients likely course over time

Type of Study for Question ***

Therapy: RCT (randomized controlled trial)

Diagnostic Test: independent, blind comparison to a gold standard

Harm/Etiology: RCT>cohort study.case control

Quality of Life: Qualitative Study

Cost-Effectiveness: Economic analysis

*****In each case, a systematic review  of all the available studies is better than an individual study. A systematic review will compare several RCt"s that have studied the same treatment and aggregate results.

PICO Resources

Like the PICOT framework, the PEO framework is commonly used in clinical studies as well. However, this framework is more useful for qualitative research questions. This framework includes these elements:

• P - population being studied
• E - exposure to preexisting conditions
• O - outcome of interest

https://research.com/research/how-to-write-a-research-question