Frequently when conducting or reading research, the authors include a developed research question that they are aiming to answer. The first step to organizing a research paper is to develop your own research question.
PICO is a research question format frequently used in the health sciences and medical disciplines. PICO is an acronym that stands for:
Population or Patient or Person
Intervention
Comparison or Control
Outcome
An example of a PICO question could be:
What are the impacts of art therapy versus music therapy on mood for adults with Alzheimer's?
We can break the research question back into the PICO components, as shown below.
|
Population |
Adults with Alzheimer's |
|
Intervention |
Art Therapy |
|
Comparison |
Music Therapy |
|
Outcome |
Changes in Mood |