Nursing

• Step One: Start to formulate a research question or topic.

Aiming for clarity at the beginning of the project can help you get started right. It can be helpful to use one of the question frameworks detailed below.

• Step Two: Do some background searching on the topic.

Taking a look in relevant resources to see what's already been written about your topic will help you understand how you can best contribute to the body of literature. It will also help you grasp the terminology around the topic, so that you'll be more prepared to do an effective literature search.

• Step Three: Narrow down the question or topic if needed.

You may find that your original topic is too broad. After you have taken the time to evaluate what's already been written about your topic, you'll have a better understanding of what you're interested in.

• Step Four: Meet with your librarian.

A meeting with your librarian can help you identify what resources to search, how best to search them, and how to evaluate, document, and organize your results.

Try one of these tried and true clinical or quantitative research question frameworks. Not sure where to start? PICO is the most common clinical question framework. and PEO works well for public health and epidemiology.

CoCoPop

• Condition, Context, Population
• Aromataris, E., & Munn, Z. (2017). Joanna Briggs Institute reviewer's manual. The Joanna Briggs Institute. Available from JBI Manual for Evidence Synthesis.

PEO

• Population, Exposure of Interest, Outcome or Response
• Aromataris, E., & Munn, Z. (2017). Joanna Briggs Institute reviewer's manual. The Joanna Briggs Institute. Available from JBI Manual for Evidence Synthesis.

PICO

• Population or Problem, Intervention or Exposure, Comparison or Control, Outcome
• Heneghan, C., & Badenoch, D. (2002). Evidence-based medicine toolkit. London: BMJ Books. https://www.worldcat.org/title/evidence-based-medicine-toolkit/oclc/62307845

PICOS

• Population or Problem, Intervention or Exposure, Comparison or Control, Outcome, Study Type
• Methley, A. M., Campbell, S., Chew-Graham, C., McNally, R., & Cheraghi-Sohi, S. (2014). PICO, PICOS and SPIDER: a comparison study of specificity and sensitivity in three search tools for qualitative systematic reviews. BMC health services research, 14, 579. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-014-0579-0.

PICOT

• Population or Problem, Intervention or Exposure, Comparison or Control, Outcome, Time
• Richardson, W. S., Wilson, M. C., Nishikawa, J., & Hayward, R. S. (1995). The well-built clinical question: A key to evidence-based decisions. ACP Journal Club, 123(3), A12-A12. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7582737/

PIRD

• Population, Index Test, Reference Test, Diagnosis of Interest
• Aromataris, E., & Munn, Z. (2017). Joanna Briggs Institute reviewer's manual. The Joanna Briggs Institute. Available from JBI Manual for Evidence Synthesis.