Evidence-based Research

PICO 

A mnemonic to format a clinical research question into searchable keywords. Used for clinical, quantitative-type questions

Richardson, W. S., Wilson, M. C., Nishikawa, J., & Hayward, R. S. (1995). The well-built clinical question: a key to evidence-based decisions. ACP journal club, 123(3), A12–A13. 

• Patient, Population or Problem:
  • What are the characteristics of the patient or population?
• Intervention or exposure
  • What do you want to do with this patient (e.g. treat, diagnose, observe)?

• Comparison
  • What is the alternative to the intervention (e.g. placebo, different drug, surgery)?
• Outcome
  • What are the relevant outcomes (e.g. morbidity, death, complications)?
• (T) is sometimes included. It can mean Time, Type of study, or Type of question: used in education and health care
• (S) refers to study design

Finding the evidence: A how-to guide 1 - Using PICO to formulate a search question.

PICO video https://youtu.be/rXQQsFeRLz0

PerSPECTiF

Factors in the sociocultural acceptability of an intervention, as well as contextual factors that impact on the feasibility of that intervention. Used for qualitative research.

Booth, A., Noyes, J., Flemming, K., Moore, G., Tunçalp, Ö., & Shakibazadeh, E. (2019). Formulating questions to explore complex interventions within qualitative evidence synthesis. BMJ global health, 4(Suppl 1), e001107. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2018-001107

• Perspective
• Setting
• Phenomenon of interest/Problem
• Environment
• Comparison (optional)
• Time/Timing
• Findings

SPIDER 

An alternative search strategy tool for qualitative/mixed methods research

Cooke A, Smith D, Booth A. Beyond PICO: the SPIDER tool for qualitative evidence synthesis. Qual Health Res. 2012 Oct;22(10):1435-43. doi: 10.1177/1049732312452938. Epub 2012 Jul 24. PMID: 22829486.

• Sample
• Phenomenon of Interest
• Design
• Evaluation
• Research

Determine inclusion/exclusion criteria before searching.  What kind of studies will be included? What kind of studies will be excluded? Some examples are:

• Date of publication (5 years, 10 years, unlimited)
• Language of publication
• Methodology, quantitative or qualitative or mixed method
  • Randomized controlled trials only
  • Other: cohort, case-control
  • Qualitative: Interviews, focus groups, ethnography
• Age of subjects
• Gender
• Ethnicity
• Socioeconomic level

Joanna Briggs Manual for Evidence Synthesis; Chapter 3.2.4 Inclusion Criteria

Cochrane Handbook for Systematic reviews of Interventions; Part 2,  Chapter 3  Defining the criteria for including studies

Registration

The goal of prospectively registering a protocol is to reduce bias and promote transparency and reproducibility in research. In addition, prospective registration of systematic reviews is argued to help preventing unintended duplication, thereby reducing research waste.

When writing the manuscript, Indicate whether a review protocol exists; state if and where it can be accessed (for example, a Web address); and if available, provide registration information, including the registration number.

PRISMA

Provides guidelines to address several conceptual and practical advances in the science of systematic reviews of studies that evaluate the effects of health interventions, irrespective of design. It is an evidence-based minimum set of reporting items.

• Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA)  
• Several extensions have been developed which provide reporting guidance.
• PRISMA for Scoping Reviews is a checklist which contains 20 essential reporting items and 2 optional items.
• PRISMA Checklist: A 27-item checklist addressing the introduction, methods, results and discussion sections of a systematic review report.
• The 2020 PRISMA Flow Diagram

AMSTAR

AMSTAR is an instrument used in assessing the methodological quality of systematic reviews