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There are two possible methods you can use to divide a research question into search aspects: the Building Blocks method and the PICO method.
When using the Building blocks method, you divide your question into aspects. This involves extracting the keywords that can be used to find articles. These aspects form the basic parts for your search strategy. Take, for example, the following research question:
Why is geriatrics not a popular career choice for medical students? Which aspects of this question do we need to use in order to search for potential answers? The key concepts in the question are:
1. medical students
2. geriatrics
3. career
Decide which terms you could use for each of these aspects, and think of as many synonyms as possible.
This is an example from: Meiboom AA, de Vries H, Hertogh CMPM, Scheele F. Why medical students do not choose a career in geriatrics: A systematic review. BMC Medical Education. 2015 Jun 5;15(1). http://bmcmededuc.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/
The PICO method is often used when the research question is a clinical question.
Take the following clinical case as an example:
A 23-year-old male visits the Emergency Department where you are working as a surgeon. He complains of abdominal pain which started two days ago. The pain has been increasing in intensity since yesterday, and is concentrated in the lower right-hand side of the abdomen. The patient has a poor appetite, and feels nauseated and slightly feverish. You suspect he has acute appendicitis, and wonder whether using antibiotics to treat the appendicitis is a safe and effective alternative to the surgical removal of the appendix.
The following query can be formulated from this case:
Is using antibiotic treatment for appendicitis in adults a safe and effective alternative to an appendectomy?
| PICO | Question | |
|---|---|---|
| P | Patient, Population or Problem | (Adult man with) appendicitis |
| I | Intervention | Antibiotics |
| C | Comparison | Appendectomy |
| O | Outcome | e.g. Patient cured |
When you analyse the question in this way, the search terms (third column) appear automatically.
This query can be divided into the following aspects:
#1 Appendicitis
#2 Antibiotics
#3 Appendectomy
The PICO method is very useful for finding literature on short clinical questions.
You do not always have to search for all four elements: You can often find the necessary information by filling in the P (patient) and the I (intervention). The C (comparison) and the O (outcome) are often difficult to describe in a systematic review, and adding a particular field or study type (diagnosis, therapy, prognosis, aetiology, etc) often proves to be more useful.