LibGuides: Public Health Dissertation Resources: Asking and Framing Your Research Question

Evidence-Based Public Health Begins with Creating the Question

Questions are structured following the PICO(T) Framework. This acronym stands for the following:

Population being studied

Intervention being considered

Comparison to another intervention (remember that no intervention or standard therapy is considered an intervention)

Outcome

(Time) This component is occasionally used in creating a clinical question, but not in every incidence.

AACN PICO Template
Use this template to help format your PICO Question. Includes definitions for types of PICO questions and sample questions. Created by Ellen Fineout-Overholt, 2006

Searching Skills Toolkit by Caroline De Brún; Nicola Pearce-Smith
ISBN: 9781118463093
Publication Date: 2013-11-18
Searching Skills Toolkit is an expert guide to help you find the clinical evidence you need more easily and effectively. Clearly presented with useful tips and advice, flow charts, diagrams and real-life clinical scenarios, it shows the best methods for finding quality evidence. From deciding where to start, to building a search strategy, refining results and critical appraisal, it is a step-by-step guide to the process of finding healthcare evidence, and is designed for use by all health and social care professionals. This second edition has been expanded with new chapters on searching for sources to support evidence-based management decision making and how to better enable your patients to make informed choices. It has also been fully updated to include new web sources, open source reference management software, and new training resources and exercises. Searching Skills Toolkit is an ideal reference for doctors, nurses, allied health professionals, managers and decision makers, researchers and students.

Chapter 5: Formulating Searchable Questions
Strongly recommended for getting started with your question. This chapter of the Searching Skills Toolkit discusses how the way you create your question impacts how you will think about and execute your literature search. Short read with easy to follow, practical instructions.

Evidence Based Public Health Worksheet
Modified version from Alverno College Library based on: PICO framework attributed to: Sackett, D. L. (1997). Evidence-based medicine: How to practice and teach EBM. New York: Churchill Livingstone.
Asking an Answerable Question
This document was provided by the Cochrane Public Health Group as part of a handbook produced by the Deakin University and the Australian Department of Health and Aging.