Use these worksheets to turn your PICO research question into a search strategy to use in a research database.
Foreground Questions
1. PICO (Problem/Population), Intervention, Comparison, Outcome
Appropriate for: clinical questions addressing the effect of an intervention/therapy/treatment
Example: For adolescents with type II diabetes (P) does the use of telehealth consultations (I) compared to in-person consultations (C) improve blood sugar control (O)?
2. PEO (Population, Exposure, Outcome)
Appropriate for: describing the association between particular exposures/risk factors and outcomes.
Example: How do preparation programs (E) influence the development of teaching competence (O) among novice nurse educators (P)?
3. SPIDER (Sample, Phenomenon of Interest, Design, Evaluation, Research Type)
Appropriate for: questions of experience or perspectives (questions that may be addressed by qualitative or mixed methods research)
Example: What are the experiences and perspectives (E) of undergraduate nursing students (S) in clinical placements within prison healthcare settings (PI)
To develop a strong and reasonable foreground research question, it is important to have a firm understanding of the concepts of interest. As such, it is often necessary to ask background questions, which ask for more general, foundational knowledge about a disorder, disease, patient population, policy issue, etc.
For example, consider the PICO question outlined above:
"For adolescents with type II diabetes does the use of telehealth consultations compared to in-person consultations improve blood sugar control?
To best make sense of the literature that might address this PICO question, you would also need a deep understanding of background questions like: