Live chat with an expert or send an email if we’re offline.
There are lots of ways to contact a librarian. Choose your way
Dana Health Sciences Library:
Hours Saturday, January 4, 2025 |
|
---|---|
Dana Health Sciences Library | 10:00am – 6:00pm |
Dana After Hours Study | 6:00pm – 9:00am |
Howe Library:
Hours Saturday, January 4, 2025 |
|
---|---|
Howe Library | Closed |
Reference Desk | Closed |
Media Services | 1:00pm – 5:00pm |
Maps | Closed |
Silver Special Collections Library:
Hours Saturday, January 4, 2025 |
|
---|---|
Silver Special Collections Library | Closed |
Billings North Lounge Study | Closed |
The authors of this guide would like to thank the University of Plymouth Library for allowing us to adapt the information found on this page.
Your systematic review or systematic literature review will be defined by your research question. A well formulated question will help:
There are different models you can use to structure help structure a question, which will help with searching.
A model commonly used for clinical and healthcare related questions, often, although not exclusively, used for searching for quantitively designed studies.
Example question: Does handwashing reduce hospital acquired infections in elderly people?
P | Population | Any characteristic that define your patient or population group. | Elderly people |
I | Intervention | What do you want to do with the patient or population? | Handwashing |
C | Comparison (if relevant) | What are the alternatives to the main intervention? | No handwashing |
O | Outcome | Any specific outcomes or effects of your intervention. | Reduced infection |
Richardson, W.S., Wilson, M.C, Nishikawa, J. and Hayward, R.S.A. (1995) 'The well-built clinical question: a key to evidence-based decisions.' ACP Journal Club, 123(3) pp. A12
PCC is useful for both qualitative and quantitative (mixed methods) topics, and is commonly used in scoping reviews.
Example question: “What patient-led models of care are used to manage chronic disease in high income countries?"
Population | "Important characteristics of participants, including age and other qualifying criteria. You may not need to include this element unless your question focuses on a specific condition or cohort." | N/A. As our example considers chronic diseases broadly, not a specific condition/population - such as women with chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder. | |
---|---|---|---|
Concept |
|
Chronic disease Patient-led care models |
|
Context | "May include... cultural factors such as geographic location and/or specific racial or gender-based interests. In some cases, context may also encompass details about the specific setting." | High income countries |
Peters MDJ, Godfrey C, McInerney P, Munn Z, Tricco AC, Khalil, H. Chapter 11: Scoping Reviews (2020 version). In: Aromataris E, Munn Z (Editors). JBI Manual for Evidence Synthesis, JBI, 2020. Available from https://synthesismanual.jbi.global . https://doi.org/10.46658/JBIMES-20-12
A model useful for qualitative and mixed method type research questions.
Example question: What are young parents’ experiences of attending antenatal education? (Cooke et al., 2012)
S | Sample | The group you are focusing on. | Young parents |
P of I | Phenomenon of interest | The behaviour or experience your research is examining. | Experience of antenatal classes |
D | Design | How the research will be carried out? | Interviews, questionnaires |
E | Evaluation | What are the outcomes you are measuring? | Experiences and views |
R | Research type | What is the research type you are undertaking? | Qualitative |
Cooke, A., Smith, D. and Booth, A. (2012) 'Beyond PICO: the SPIDER tool for qualitative evidence synthesis.' Qualitative Health Research, 22(10) pp. 1435-1443
PEO is useful for qualitative research questions.
Example question: How does substance dependence addiction play a role in homelessness?
Population/Problem/Patient | Who are the users - patients, family, practitioners or community being affected? What are the symptoms, condition, health status, age, gender, ethnicity? What is the setting e.g. acute care, community, mental health? | homeless persons |
Exposure | Exposure to a condition or illness, a risk factor (e.g. smoking), screening, rehabilitation, service etc. | drug and alcohol addiction services |
Outcome | Experiences, attitudes, feelings, improvement in condition, mobility, responsiveness to treatment, care, quality of life or daily living. | reduced homelessness |
A model useful for qualitative and mixed method type research questions, especially for question examining particular services or professions.
Example question: Cross service communication in supporting adults with learning difficulties
E | Expectation | Purpose of the study - what are you trying to achieve? | How communication can be improved between services to create better care |
C | Client group | Which group are you focusing on? | Adult with learning difficulties |
L | Location | Where is that group based? | Community |
I | Impact | If your research is looking for service improvement, what is this and how is it being measured? | Better support services for adults with learning difficulties through joined up, cross-service working |
P | Professionals | What professional staff are involved? | Community nurses, social workers, carers |
S | Service | Which service are you focusing on? | Adult support services |
A model useful for qualitative and mixed method type research questions.
Example question: How effective is mindfulness used as a cognitive therapy in a counseling service in improving the attitudes of patients diagnosed with cancer?
S | Setting | The setting or the context | Counseling service |
P | Population or perspective | Which population or perspective will the research be conducted for/from | Patients diagnosed with cancer |
I | Intervention | The intervention been studied | Mindfulness based cognitive therapy |
C | Comparison | Is there a comparison to be made? | No comparison |
E | Evaluation | How well did the intervention work, what were the results? | Assess patients attitudes to see if the intervention improved their quality of life |
Example question taken from: Tate, KJ., Newbury-Birch, D., and McGeechan, GJ. (2018) ‘A systematic review of qualitative evidence of cancer patients’ attitudes to mindfulness.’ European Journal of Cancer Care, 27(2) pp. 1 – 10.
You might find that your topic does not always fall into one of the models listed on this page. You can always modify a model to make it work for your topic, and either remove or incorporate additional elements.
The important thing is to ensure that you have a high quality question that can be separated into its essential concepts.