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Drexel Library

Database Searching in the Health Sciences

Defining Topic or Research Question

The ultimate goal of research is to develop, refine, and expand knowledge. A well formed research question or topic defines the specific idea to address the research problem.

In order to search on a topic or research question using databases and library resources, the topic needs to be translated into search queries, which are then used in databases such as PubMed, CINAHL, Web of Science and Scopus, among others.

Background and Foreground Questions

Before you formulate your research question it's important to consider if you're looking for background or foreground information so that you can consult the best resources.  

Gathering background information with Point of Care or Clinical Information Resources
tools

  • Provides the context and basic information you need to know to ask the right questions. The who, what or when type of questions.
  • Seen in textbooks, guidelines, and review articles.
  • Example – What are the signs of dementia?

Gathering foreground information with Research Resources like Databases

  • When you have sufficient information about your topic you can ask foreground questions. Foreground questions provide the detailed information needed to address a specific patient or problem.
  • Foreground information needs more context and has specific questions.
  • We tend to look for scholarly, peer-reviewed journal articles found in databases.
  • Answering foreground questions require more thoughtful search techniques for best results. This means more comprehensive literature search composition which includes using Boolean operators and filters/limiters.

PICO(T) Questions

PICO(T) is an acronym to help standardize clinical and diagnosis questions to ensure they are appropriately focused. Creating a good PICO(T) will help guide your literature search in the databases by creating keywords to search.

PICO(T) stands for:

Patient, Problem or Population What individual or group are we interested in studying?
Intervention What is the action (intervention, treatment) we are considering taking?
Comparison To what other action (intervention, treatment) are we comparing the considered action?
Outcome What do we anticipate as an outcome?
(Time) Is there a time frame?

Sample PICO

  • Sometimes a PICO(T) question can be too narrow in scope to produce results, suggesting a gap in the literature. Consider modifying the research question to be able to conduct a proper literature review search.
  • Not all questions need each PICO(T) element.
  • The time frame element is optional.
  • Work to build out each PICO(T) element with Boolean operators.