What is the difference between background and foreground questions?
| Background Questions | Foreground Questions |
Examples:
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Examples:
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Literature resources:
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Literature resources:
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PICO is a mnemonic used to describe the four elements of a good clinical question that is neither too broad nor too narrow. It stands for:
P - Patient/Problem/Population
I - Intervention
C - Comparison
O - Outcome
(T) - Time (when applicable)
Example:
"How effective is the consumption of low glycemic index foods for reducing energy intake and promoting weight loss in adults?
| Population | Adults |
| Intervention | Consumption of low glycemic index foods |
| Comparison | No comparison |
| Outcome |
Weight loss, and reduced energy intake |
Your topic needs to be scalable to your paper. Make sure it isn’t too broad or too narrow. If you notice any of the following while searching for articles and books, you may need to refine your topic.
| Too Broad? | Too Narrow? |
| can be summed up in one or two words | difficult to figure out where you would locate information (e.g., data may not exist) |
| difficult to come up with a thesis statement | hard to research because there is so little information (e.g., you only found 3 or 4 results in your searching) |
| hard to research because there is so much information (e.g., you found 1000s of hits in your searching) |
Too broad:
"Is Medical Nutrition Therapy effective?"
Apply journalistic question words to your topic to narrow your focus. (e.g., “Global Warming” > “Global Warming on reptiles in Australia” = what, where)
Who | What | Where | When | Why | How
Too narrow:
"Is a one-shot motivational interviewing session effective for reducing after-school soda consumption among teens?"
Remove one aspect of your topic and/or use the question words to back up a step.
