Designing and Refining a Research Question
Written and curated by Emily Potts, MS, Jimmy Duong, MPH, and Shing Lee, PhD.
Overview
The formulation of a research question (RQ) is critical to initiate a focused and relevant study. Researchers begin by selecting a topic of interest based on their knowledge or field experience. Next, they conduct a comprehensive literature review to understand gaps in the existing research and seek to identify an RQ of interest addressing a gap. Researchersthen specify aspects of the RQ, such as the study population, intervention or exposure, comparison group, outcome of interest, and time frame. If the research is intended to be confirmatory, the RQ is founded on an underlying hypothesis: a specific claim regarding the nature and direction of the relationship between the variables stated in the RQ. If the research is intended to be exploratory, the RQ is intended to investigate a topic without yielding conclusive results.Apre-specified primary RQ is essential to research because it guides the investigator’s specific aim, study design, data collection, and analysis plan.
Videos
- "Identifying a Research Question" - MD Anderson (14 minutes)
- Discusses the PICOT + FINER criteria.
- PICO Question tutorial - UC Irvine (22 minutes)
- Quickly learn how to understand and frame a clinical question using the PICO question framework.
- How to Design a Good Research Question - Stanford University (1 hour 4 minutes)
- Introduction to Clinical Study Design: Tips for Good Study Design - NIH (25 minutes)
- Covers RQ specifications.
Websites
- Craft better research questions by using question development frameworks - Columbia University | Archive
- Covers the question development frameworks (PICO, PCC, PEO, SPIDER, SPICE, ECLIPSE).
- Ask: PICO(T) Question - Northern Arizona University | Archive
- Discusses templates and variations on PICOT, with applied examples.
- Forming Focused Questions with PICO: PICO Examples - University of North Carolina | Archive
- Includes examples separated by sub-discipline.
- Other Question Frameworks - University of North Carolina | Archive
- Asking a Clinical Question - Stanford University | Archive
- Clinical questions and suggested research design.
Readings
- Ten strategies to formulate a strong research question. (2020). Principles and Practice of Clinical Research, 6(2), 21-24. https://doi.org/10.21801/ppcrj.2020.62.4
- Mehta, A., Malley, B., & Walkey, A. (2016). Formulating the research question. In Secondary Analysis of Electronic Health Records. Cham (CH): Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-43742-2_9
- Discusses how to convert a clinical question into a research question.
- Ravindra, V. M., & Kestle, J. R. W. (2019). Writing a clinical research question. Neurosurgery, 84(1), 12-16. https://doi.org/10.1093/neuros/nyy484
- Covers key concepts, FINER and PICOT criteria, and specifications.
- Farrugia, P., Petrisor, B. A., Farrokhyar, F., & Bhandari, M. (2010). Practical tips for surgical research: Research questions, hypotheses and objectives. Canadian Journal of Surgery. Journal Canadien de Chirurgie, 53(4), 278–281. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2912019/
- Haynes, R. B. (2006). Forming research questions. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 59(9), 881–886. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclinepi.2006.06.006
- Readable discussion on concerns of feasibility and validity in RQs.
- Ratan, S. K., Anand, T., & Ratan, J. (2019). Formulation of Research Question - Stepwise Approach. Journal of Indian Association of Pediatric Surgeons, 24(1), 15–20. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6322175/
- Discusses links between RQs and hypotheses.
- Designing Clinical Research (4th Edition)
- Textbook (Ch. 1 and 2 address research questions.)