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Formulating a research question

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Formulating a Research Question

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Nasra Gathoni

Faculty of Health Sciences Librarian

Aga Khan University-Kenya

Alison Kinengyere

College of Health Sciences Librarian

Makerere University-Uganda

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As with any research, it is useful to establish the focus by developing a well formulated question
A good evidence synthesis is based on a clear, well-formulated, answerable question
An interesting journey from an initial question to the ultimate question

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The question guides many aspects of the evidence synthesis process
Example: What is the effectiveness of strategies to increase vaccination coverage among healthcare workers
in LMICs?

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Source: Cochrane Handbook, 2.1

Guide in communicating the overall purpose of the review
Searching for studies
Eligibility criteria - provide boundaries for making decisions about which studies will be included in the review
Which data is need to be extracted from each included study, and
Presenting the findings

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Formulating a research question for evidence synthesis is not a linear process

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Goldilocks Principle

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Too broad: What are the health benefits of green tea?

Too narrow: Which type of green tea--matcha or sencha--reduces the rate of heart attack in an otherwise healthy population?

Just right (almost): What is the impact of green tea on pressure?

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It is important to formulate your research question with care so as to avoid missing relevant studies or collecting a potentially biased result set.

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Russian doll questions-example

What are the best practices, including practices around waste disposal, patient transport and transfer, personal protective equipment, and patient isolation policies, for the prevention of secondary infection of infectious disease for health care workers and patients?

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…. this is actually 8 questions

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Formulating a well-constructed research question is essential for a successful review. You should have a draft research question before you choose the type of evidence synthesis that you will conduct in order to help guide researchers to the type of evidence synthesis chosen.
For example: Systematic review versus Scoping review questions

A systematic review question	A scoping review question
Typically, a focused research question with narrow parameters	Often a broad question that looks at answering larger, more complex, exploratory research questions

Source : https://libraryguides.mcgill.ca/knowledge-syntheses/question

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Scoping review or systematic review question?

👪Example B

‘What theories exist across the disciplines of psychology, sociology, anthropology and economics that could be of value to guiding behaviour change interventions?’

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17437199.2014.941722

🌏Example A

‘How effective are created or restored freshwater wetlands for nitrogen and phosphorus removal?’

https://environmentalevidencejournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13750-016-0060-0

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Good research questions usually take time to develop. Once clear, then the other components of the review can be identified in a logical manner

They may require engagement with the subject area, and also other stakeholders

Researchers have developed some effective ways of building a good research question - using frameworks

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Frameworks are used to break up the research topic into key concepts and may be used in the developing of research question.��There are various frameworks/ mnemonics that can assist you break up the research topic into key concepts.

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Frameworks

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PICO

PICo

ECLIPSE

SPIDER

SPICE

Supporting the development of a well formulated question in various disciplines, has seen the emergence of a number of frameworks/mnemonics

Frameworks will be discussed & explained in detail in the next session!

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What if my topic doesn’t fit into a framework?

Not all topics will fit perfectly into a framework. If this is the case with your topic use only the parts of a framework which do fit.

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Concept Maps: Using concept maps to develop/refine a question

You can develop the important concepts and relationships for your project by using concept maps.

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Developing a concept map

Developing a concept map or mind map around your topic may help you analyze your question and determine more precisely what you want to research.

Using this technique:

start with the broad topic, issue, or problem, and
begin writing down all the words, phrases and ideas related to that topic that come to mind and
then ‘map’ them to the original idea.

This technique is illustrated in the Figure.

Basic Concept Map

Source: https://scientificinquiryinsocialwork.pressbooks.com/chapter/3-3-refining-your-question

/

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Basically, the level of detail included within the research questions will depend on the particular topic and the intended breadth of the review.

However, there are common components of the research question regardless of the content or methodological areas being sampled:

Population of participants

Intervention(s)
Outcomes of interest

Cochrane Collaboration, 2013

Basically, the research question frames the conceptual boundaries of the review topic

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For example, if the purpose of the review is to determine whether a particular program has sufficient evidence to warrant its use in schools for reducing student aggression, research questions might include:

Grade levels and disability status of students (Population/Problem);
The specific name or broad class of the intervention; and
The specific outcome of interest such as disruptive behavior or teacher ratings of student conduct

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Some reviews, questions are stated broadly as review “objectives” and specified in detail as “criteria” for considering studies for this review.

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Source: Cochrane Handbook (2008)

Example:

To assess the effects of [intervention] for [problem] in [types of people or problem and setting if specified]

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Systematic reviews (evidences synthesis) are flexible and not only limited to a certain study design. They can be employed to address a variety of research questions with studies employing a wide range of designs

Research questions can range from determining the effectiveness of an intervention, to identifying common patterns or themes across qualitative research on a given topic, to evaluating the strength and generalizability of a correlational claim or assessment method (Nye, Melendez-Torres & Bonell, 2016)

TYPES OF RESEARCH QUESTIONS

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TYPES OF RESEARCH QUESTIONS

Questions about intervention effects

Are function based antecedent interventions effective in reducing disruptive behavior in young children?

Questions about associations

What is the relationship between teacher training levels and student achievements?

Which risk assessment (A vs B) is a better predictor or reading disabilities among young children?

Diagnostic/ Prognostic Questions

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRG8TYiciLs

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Sample research questions for various SR topics

General Form
What are the views of particular individuals on a given educational phenomena?

What are the perceptions of general education teachers of including students with intellectual disabilities in science classes?

How do students without disabilities view their classmates with disabilities?

What do school personnel consider to be the key barriers to successful and sustained implementation of effective practices?

General Form
What is the extent of the association between two or more variables or outcomes?

Do students with higher anxiety tend to have lower achievement?

How likely are students with learning disabilities to obtain a post-secondary degree?

How do the rates of postsecondary transition for students with disabilities differ based on the family income?

Systematic Review Topic: Qualitative Themes and Patterns

Systematic Review Topic: Documenting Correlational Evidence

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Sample research questions for various SR topics

General Form
Does a particular assessment have demonstrated reliability, validity, and diagnostic accuracy across various study samples?

How do special and general education teachers differ in their ratings of student externalizing and internalizing behavior?

Do curriculum-based measures predict reading achievement on standardized tests?

How much association do the results of transition planning assessments demonstrate with postsecondary outcomes for students with disabilities?

General Form
Does a particular intervention result in improved academic or behavioral performance for students?

Do group contingency interventions result in improved behavior for students with emotional and behavioral disorders?

Does performance feedback lead to increased rates of teacher fidelity to academic interventions?

Does vocabulary instruction help students with cognitive impairments to improve their reading achievement?

Systematic Review Topic: Evidence-Based Assessment

Systematic Review Topic: Evidence-Based Intervention

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�Practice Exercise�

Possible answer:

information pertaining to the grade levels and disability status of students;
the specific name or broad class of the intervention;
and the specific outcomes of interest such as disruptive behavior or teacher ratings of student conduct

The purpose of the review is:

To determine whether a particular program has sufficient evidence to warrant its use in schools for reducing student aggression.

What components might the research question include?

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As you read more articles, you should revise your original question to make it more focused and clearer.

Refinement:

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Although fluidity and refinement of questions is a possibility, it is important to guard against bias in modifying questions

Data-driven questions may generate false conclusions based on spurious results.

Any changes that result from revisiting the question for the review should be documented.

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Source: Cochrane Handbook (2008)

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What is the motivation for the refinement?

Could the refinement have been influenced by results from any of the included studies?

Are search strategies appropriate for the refined question (especially any that have already been undertaken)?

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When refining questions, it is useful to ask the following:

Source: Cochrane Handbook (2008)

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Do you have several questions lumped into one? If so, should you split them into more than one review?
Alternatively, do you have many questions that could be lumped into one review?

(Remember Russian dolls question example)

Source: https://libraryguides.mcgill.ca/knowledge-syntheses/question

Some questions that might be useful to ask yourself as you are drafting your question:

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Be focused on a specific question with a meaningful answer

Retrieve a number of results that is manageable for the research team (is the number of results on your topic feasible for you to finish the review? Your initial literature searches should give you an idea).

(specificity and preciseness).

Source : https://libraryguides.mcgill.ca/knowledge-syntheses/question

A good knowledge synthesis question will have the following qualities:

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“Asking the right question is half the answer” (Aristotle, 384-322 BC)

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Post-session activity

Read through the review that you found and answer the following:

What is the research question/review objective?

Is the research question/review objective “well phrased” for the indicated review?

Does it follow the Goldilocks Principle?

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