By Laura Mora / Instagram: @implementingscience / Email: @implementingscience@gmail.com
How to formulate a research question in health science
A research question is the first step in your research journey. It serves as a guiding principle, helping to focus your
study and provide a clear direction for your research. By following the PICO framework or any of its variants,
you can effectively formulate a research question in health science. I have summarised how to create a research
question following the aforementioned format in these simple steps.
⒈ Identify the Main Components of Your Question:
● Patient/Population: Define the characteristics of the patients or population you are interested in
studying. This may include age, gender, medical condition, etc.
● Intervention: Specify the intervention or exposure you want to investigate. This could be a treatment,
therapy, diagnostic test, preventive measure, or any other healthcare intervention.
● Comparison: If applicable, determine the alternative or comparison intervention. This could be a
different treatment, placebo, standard care, or no intervention.
● Outcome: Define the outcome or result you are interested in measuring. It could be a clinical endpoint,
improvement in symptoms, side effects, or quality of life, for example.
⒉ Construct Your PICO Question:
Formulate your research question by combining the components identified in step 1. A basic PICO question
template looks like this: "In [Population], does [Intervention] compared to [Comparison] affect [Outcome]?"
For example, In older people, does the regular practice of yoga, compared to no intervention, improve balance
and reduce the risk of falls?
⒊ Variants of PICO:
Besides being aware of the basic format, you may have variants during your research that include other important
components such as study design or time. For example:
• PICO(T): This variant adds the element of time or duration to the question. For example: "In
[Population], does [Intervention] compared to [Comparison] affect [Outcome] over [Time period]?
● PICO-D: This variant includes the domain of study, which could be a setting, type of study design, or a
specific disease. For example: "In [Population] with [Disease], does [Intervention] compared to
[Comparison] affect [Outcome]?"
● PICO-DS: This includes both the domain and the study design. For example: "In [Population] with
[Disease], does [Intervention] compared to [Comparison] affect [Outcome] as assessed by [Specific
Study Design]?"
The research question may also vary according to the study design type. For example, when creating a scoping
review, the recommended format is PCC (population, concept, context) (1). The format may sometimes differ,
but the one I just mentioned is usually followed.
