PICO is an acronym that can help focus your research question. PICO stands for:
P | Patient, Population, or Problem |
I | Intervention |
C | Comparison or Control |
O | Outcome |
Here is an example.
Population | In high school football players who have received head injuries... |
Intervention | would weekly checks of the air within the helmet padding... |
Comparison | when compared to checking air pressure before the season and again mid-season... |
Outcome | lead to lower concussion rates? |
In this example, the focus is on high school football players with head injuries. This study compares weekly helmet checks to only two checks a season.
If the school district does changes their helmet-checking requirements and schedules, this would be an evidence based practice.
Learn more about formulating a research question with PICO in our tutorial video (and the guides linked below it!).