Skip to main content
LibApps staff login

IFT 100 - Multimedia, Internet, and Web

What is PICO?

PICO is a search-building protocol developed in the health sciences. It encourages researchers to identify specific elements of their topic and guides them in setting up a search strategy that will help them locate relevant research on their topic. PICO is an acronym for:

 

P = Population (participants, problem, process, product, point of view, primary event)

I = Intervention (therapy, treatment, causes or etiology, investigation, improvement, interpretation, impact)

C = Comparison (Opposing arguments)

O = Outcome (measurement)

The Role of the 5 Ws

Who, What, When, Where, Why (and How)

 

 Background reading allows the researcher to fill in most of the basic questions: Who, What, When and Where

That leaves Why and How

Researchers in most fields are looking for one of two things:

  • A cause for a problem (Why) or
  • a solution to a problem (How).

The Why or the How then becomes the I element of the PICO formula.

 

The P element of the PICO formula is typically the Who or the What

In most disciplines, searching on terms related to the P and the I results in articles that will answer the other questions.

Example:

Are imaging sensors more effective than approach lighting in low visibility conditions when reducing landing accidents at airports?

The P element is a What (Process - airplane landings)

The I element is a How (Improvement - imaging sensors)

The C element is a How (runway lights)

Using ABI Inform, search on landings AND (sensors OR lights)

Asking the Searchable Question

Formulating a  PICO question:

Begin by asking two questions

Background | 5 Ws

 

Researcher asks broad topical question and reads to:

  • build knowledge base.
  • identify trending facts, issues, cutting edge research
  • lay foundation for asking focused research question

 

Foreground | PICO

 

Researcher formulates research question using PICO to:

  • identify research elements related to topic
  • select keywords representing those elements
  • retrieve relevant research articles when PICO keywords appear in TI,AB

The ASU Library acknowledges the twenty-three Native Nations that have inhabited this land for centuries. Arizona State University's four campuses are located in the Salt River Valley on ancestral territories of Indigenous peoples, including the Akimel O’odham (Pima) and Pee Posh (Maricopa) Indian Communities, whose care and keeping of these lands allows us to be here today. ASU Library acknowledges the sovereignty of these nations and seeks to foster an environment of success and possibility for Native American students and patrons. We are advocates for the incorporation of Indigenous knowledge systems and research methodologies within contemporary library practice. ASU Library welcomes members of the Akimel O’odham and Pee Posh, and all Native nations to the Library.