If you are planning to conduct a systematic review or evidence synthesis project, consider meeting with one of the Systematic Review Service Librarians. Librarians are masters at creating search strategies and manipulating databases, which is where you will be gathering data for your review.
PICO questions are a helpful framework for any search you conduct. Here are a couple other ways you can tweak the PICO formula for your particular study:
For Qualitative Studies
Example: What are the experiences (phenomenon of interest) of caregivers providing home based care to patients with Alzheimer's disease (population) in Australia (context)?
For Quantitative Studies
Example: Is gabapentin (intervention), compared to placebo (comparison), effective in decreasing pain symptoms (outcome) in middle aged male amputees suffering phantom limb pain (population)?
Below are some additional research question frameworks. While these are not standard for a systematic review, they can be a useful tool for other research projects you conduct.
SPICE
Example: What are the benefits (evaluation) of a doula (intervention) for low income mothers (perspective) in the developed world (setting) compared to no support (comparison)?
SPIDER
Design: questionnaire, survey, or interview
Study Type: qualitative or mixed methods
Example: What are the experiences (evaluation) of women (sample) undergoing IVF treatment (phenomenon of interest) as assessed?
Ghezzi-Kopel, Kate. (2019, September 16). Developing your research question. (research guide). Retrieved from https://guides.library.cornell.edu/systematic_reviews/research_question
