How to Develop Clinical Research Questions

How to develop clinical research questions

Clinical research studies present results that are vital to clinicians and researchers that seek answers to many clinical research questions. Such questions must therefore be well developed for effective response. Steps involved in refining such questions must ensure that the questions are answerable as per the PICO principle. Furthermore, questions ought to be based on the best study design for such clinical research questions. This essay is meant to outline the best modalities on which clinical research questions are developed.

Clinical research questions must first be categorized as per the surrounding clinical issues. Clinical research questions should not come up from a non-existing issue but rather such questions should be based on current clinical situation facing a particular target group. By so doing, answers to such questions will help address issues meant for the target category.

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Research questions should also be developed based on preliminary search of literature so that existing gaps can be obtained from existing studies and hence help refine the research questions. As nothing is absolutely new in research, issue-based research questions must not exist in vacuum and as such, previous the questions must provide a clear picture of what other researchers did and how to improve on their studies. Such literature can help in structuring questions so that they address relevant issues.

Another issue to consider in developing a clinical research question is understanding whether qualitative or quantitative research questions are to address the identified issue. Every clinical research question must be structured in such a way that it is easy for one to understand if it is for qualitative or quantitative studies. The research questions must be easy to answer based on the PICO principle.

Other than the mentioned requirements, clinical research questions must be feasible and ethical. In structuring the questions, it should not look like the answers to be provided are meant to undermine any person with clinical issue but rather to contribute immensely to gaps that exists in clinical studies. Finally, as mentioned before, all the PICO components (patient/problem, intervention, comparison as well as outcome must be well followed to the latter)

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How to develop clinical research questions