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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 well-formulated, answerable question.
• An interesting journey from an initial question to the ultimate question

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• It is an important step in the evidence synthesis process.
• The question guides many aspects of the evidence synthesis process:

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Source: Cochrane Handbook, 2.1

• Guide in communicating the overall purpose of the review;
• 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 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.

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

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

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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Frameworks are used to break up the research topic into key concepts and in the developing of research question.��Frameworks (e.g. PICO) help serve as a reminder of components of interest.��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?

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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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• 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

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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

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

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• 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.

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• 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.

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Basic Concept Map

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

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

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

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

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

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Source: Cochrane Handbook (2008)

• What is the motivation for the refinement?

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

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• 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:

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Source: Cochrane Handbook (2008)

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• Does the question fit into the framework question format?
• 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)

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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).

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

A good knowledge synthesis question will have the following qualities:

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Developing good evidence synthesis questions takes time, expertise and engagement with intended users of the evidence

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A well-structured question increases the outcome of useable findings.

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Post-session activity

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

• What is the research question?

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• Does it follow the Goldilocks Principle?

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• Can you apply PICO, or any other framework to your research question?

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Questions & Comments

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