Every piece of research starts with a thought and the desire to find something out. It starts with a research question.
The research question has key parts following the PICO outline.
- P for the population. Who are we researching? E.g. paediatrics, females/males, Australians.
- I for intervention. What treatment or program are we measuring the effect of? For example, a new medication to improve a condition? Or an exercise program to improve fatigue.
- C for Comparison. What are we comparing the intervention to? What is the placebo, the existing standard or default? Following on from above, what was the existing medication used or no exercise program.
- O for outcome. What is the result you want or suspect to see?