Research Guides: PhD in Translational Health Sciences: Framing the Question

Framing the Qualitative Research Question

Tracking Health Evidence

Tools from Canadian public health professionals to enhance evidence-informed decision making. Click here for the full list of checklists and guides.

What is PICO?

According to the Centre for Evidence Based Medicine (CEBM), well-formed clinical questions are essential in practicing EBM. "To benefit patients and clinicians, such questions need to be both directly relevant to patients' problems and phrased in ways that direct your search to relevant and precise answers." - CEBM, University of Toronto, Asking Focused Questions

The PICO model is a tool that can help you formulate a good clinical question. Sometimes it's referred to as PICO-T, containing an optional 5th factor.

P - Patient, Population, or Problem	What are the most important characteristics of the patient? How would you describe a group of patients similar to yours?
I - Intervention, Exposure, Prognostic Factor	What main intervention, prognostic factor, or exposure are you considering? What do you want to do for the patient (prescribe a drug, order a test, etc.)?
C - Comparison	What is the main alternative to compare with the intervention?
O - Outcome	What do you hope to accomplish, measure, improve, or affect?
T - Time Factor, Type of Study (optional)