Defining your research question

You can start by:

• Writing down a broad topic of research interest.
• Brainstorming or mind mapping the specific areas you wish to examine within this topic.
• Writing down or keep a record of the main themes and specific topic areas to investigate in depth.
  • Tip: The keywords describing these themes and topics can also be your search terms to use later when you are searching for literature. See Keeping a record of your search activity below.
• Determine how to work these themes and ideas into your research question.

Your supervisors will be looking for these key factors in your research question proposal:

• What new knowledge will be generated for the discipline?
• Why is it valuable?
• How can the reader be assured the conclusions will be valid?
• How will you present your findings?

Search frameworks are mnemonics which can help you focus your research question. They are also useful in helping you to identify the concepts and terms you will use in your literature search. There are several frameworks:

• PICO is a search framework commonly used in the health sciences to focus clinical questions:

Variations of PICO include:

• PICOT (which adds Time)
• PICOS (which adds Study design)
• PICOC (which adds Context).

For qualitative questions you can use:

• SPIDER: Sample, Phenomenon of Interest, Design, Evaluation, Research type  

For questions about causes or risk, there is:

• PEO: Population, Exposure, Outcomes

For evaluations of interventions or policies, you can use 

• SPICE: Setting, Population or Perspective, Intervention, Comparison, Evaluation 

• ECLIPSE: Expectation, Client group, Location, Impact, Professionals, SErvice 

For examples of questions and their related frameworks, see the Question Frameworks from the University of Notre Dame Australia. 

For some information and exercises on using PICO see Using PICO to frame clinical questions and Using PICO to identify search terms from the National Library of Medicine's training course on Using PubMed in Clinical Practice.

This article shows examples of different frameworks: Kabir, R., et al. (2023). The systematic literature review process: A simple guide for public health and allied health students. International Journal of Research in Medical Sciences, 11(9), 3498-3506. https://doi.org/10.18203/2320-6012.ijrms20232496

TIPS:

• You might not need all the elements of your search framework in your search. In a PICO search, you will often need only the P and I elements search concepts/terms.
• Contact your Library Faculty Team for help or advice!