When preparing to embark on an evidence synthesis review it is important to:
Your research question will determine the type of Review you end up embarking on. There are various frameworks for developing a comprehensive research question. A few popular frameworks are outlined below.
PICO is often applied to quantitative health research
Population |
Intervention |
Comparison
|
Outcome |
Patient or Problem | Cause or Treatment | Alternative Intervention | What affect does the intervention have? |
Example: Indigenous childbearing people |
Access to antenatal care | No antenatal care | Maternal and infant outcomes |
SPICE is suited for qualitative research, particularly looking at the outcomes of a service, project, or other intervention
Setting |
Perspective |
Intervention |
Comparison |
Evaluation |
Where? | For whom? | What else? | Compared with? | With what result? |
Rural United States | Children | Bookmobiles | No rural book access program | Children demonstrate higher Reading SOL scores |
SPIDER is suited to qualitative or mixed methods research topics
Sample |
Phenomenon of Interest |
Design |
Evaluation |
Research Type |
Who is being studied? | What are the reasons for behavior? | How has the research been collected? | What is the outcome? | Which types |
College students | Attending DEI focused campus events | Questionnaire, survey, interview, focus group, or observational study | Experiences | Qualitative or Mixed Method |
ECLIPSE is useful for qualitative research that examines the outcome of a policy or service
Expectation |
Client Group |
Location |
Impact |
Professionals |
Service |
What is being improved or changed? Why? | For whom? | Where? | Measured how? | Provided by? Who is involved? | What kind of service or policy is this? |
to increase access to wireless internet in hospitals | patients & families | hospitals | easy access to free internet | IT, hospital admin | provision of free wifi to patients |