Spice up your library instruction with a little PICO Ellen Welty Sheila Hofstetter Arizona State University LibGuide http://libguides.asu.edu/PICO Ellen Welty Sheila Hofstetter Ellen.welty@asu.edu Sheila.hofstetter@asu.edu Francis Bacon 1521-1629 “A prudent question is one-half wisdom” http://www.english-renaissance.com/2010/08/francis-bacon-quotations/ 2001 : Public alarm Medical mistakes are blamed for as many as 98,000 lost lives annually. JAMIA 2001;8:398-399 doi:10.1136/jamia.2001.0080398 2001 : Public alarm Studies show it takes an average of 17 years to implement clinical research. JAMIA 2001;8:398-399 doi:10.1136/jamia.2001.0080398 2005: Workplace Readiness Front line nurses – •“don’t understand or value research” •“have received little or no training in the use of tools to help them find evidence.” Am J Nurs. 2005 Sep;105(9):40-51;quiz 52. David Sackett 1997 Sackett, Evidence Based Medicine: How to Practice and Teach It Taught that the first information literacy skill is formulating a research question using PICO. That is still the first skill taught today Sackett 2002 Formulating an answerable question is “the hardest step that many people face”. Sackett, 2000, Evidence-based medicine; how to practice and teach it, p. 13 Teaching PICO 1997 to 2011 Health Sciences Librarians Teach PICO in academic and workplace settings Evidence Based Librarianship 2010 Project Information Literacy (PIL) University of Washington http://projectinfolit.org/pdfs/PIL_Fall2010_Survey_FullReport1.pdf Project Information Literacy (PIL) The PIL report’s findings revealed that: • “defining a research inquiry was overwhelming for students” • students “lacked research acumen for framing inquiry” http://projectinfolit.org/pdfs/PIL_Fall2010_Survey_FullReport1.pdf (p.2) PIL Findings % of Students experiencing problems • 84% getting started • 66% defining a topic • 62% narrowing the topic • 61% filtering through irrelevant results • 46% knowing if job is done • 37% knowing if finished with process http://projectinfolit.org/pdfs/PIL_Fall2010_Survey_FullReport1.pdf (p.25) PIL Study Fundamental Research Competency “defining a research inquiry is the fundamental research competency for completing college course assignments….yet it stymied over two-thirds of the students in our sample” http://projectinfolit.org/pdfs/PIL_Fall2010_Survey_FullReport1.pdf (p. 38) PIL Study Recommendations to [subject] librarians Modify in-class sessions and reference encounters to emphasize the research process and formulate a research question over finding sources. http://projectinfolit.org/pdfs/PIL_Fall2010_Survey_FullReport1.pdf (p. 39) PIL Study 21st Century Workplace Are we“assessing how students are being prepared for the 21st century workplace” ? “Is the campus graduating students with the necessary information literacy competencies for the 21st century workplace?” http://projectinfolit.org/pdfs/PIL_Fall2010_Survey_FullReport1.pdf (p. 40) ASU ‘CONDUCT USE-INSPIRED RESEARCH’ Google Search 2011 A search for ‘thesis statements LibGuides’ yielded 108,000 results Common Advice “Have a good argument.” “Don’t make your topic too broad or too narrow.” Session Objective 1 How do we teach students to formulate a search question using PICO? What is PICO? P I C O P = Population I = Intervention C = Comparison O = Outcome Sackett, 1997, Evidence-based medicine; how to practice & Teach It, (p. 27.) http://www.mclibrary.duke.edu/subject/ebm?tab=questiontable PICO P = Identify • • • • • Population w/ (health) condition of interest Participants Principal person or thing Problem Predicament Straus, 2010, Evidence-based medicine; how to practice and teach it, ( p. 15 - 18) Melnyk, 2011, Evidence-based practice in nursing & healthcare: A guide to best practice, (p. 31) P I CO I = Identify Intervention, therapy, treatment, tests OR • Issue of interest • • • • • Diagnoses - select, interpret Risk, prevention – screen, reduce Etiology – cause, risk factors Exposure Prognosis PI CO C = Identify Comparison • Another intervention • True control placebo • Standard operation • Standard of care PIC O O = Identify Outcome •Measurement of comparisons The Circle of Critical Thinking 2. Questioner Identifies PICO 1. Researcher Identifies PICO 3. Searcher Identifies PICO “A searchable, answerable question*” *Worldviews Evid Based Nurs, 2005, v.2, n.3, 157-160 © 2011 Hofstetter and Welty Formulating a PICO question: Begin by asking two kinds of questions Background Question Asks about general topical elements: Foreground Question Asks about research elements: 1. who, what, where, when, why, how and a verb. 2. lays foundation for PICO. 1. what is population, intervention, comparison, outcome 2. formulates research question and search strategy Straus, 2010, Evidence-based medicine; how to practice and teach it, ( p. 15) PICO Question | Healthcare Background | 5 Ws What can prevent falls in elderly? Foreground | PICO In elderly at risk of falls (P), how does tai chi (I) compared to risk assessment (C) affect fall prevention/reduction (O)? PICO Question | Healthcare Foreground In elderly at risk of falls (P), how does tai chi (I) compared to risk assessment (C) affect fall prevention/reduction (O)? Searches in PubMed SS1 Falls tai SS2 Falls [ti] tai [ti] PICO Question | Across Disciplines Background | 5 Ws Foreground | PICO Who, What Population, Problem How, Why Intervention, Cause Straus, 2010, Evidence-based medicine; how to practice and teach it, ( p. 15) Melnyk, 2011, Evidence-based practice in nursing & healthcare: A guide to best practice, (p. 31) PICO Question | Biology Background | 5 Ws What is causing the disappearance of colonies of bees worldwide? Foreground | PICO In colony collapse (P) how do viruses (disease) (I) compared to habitat loss (C) predict the disorder? PICO Question | Biology Foreground | PICO In colony collapse (P) how do (disease) viruses (I) compared with habitat loss (C) predict the disorder (O)? Searches in ABI/Inform SS1: colony collapse AND (virus or habitat) SS2: ti (colony collapse) AND (virus or habitat) PICO Question | American Literature Background | 5 Ws In Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn does the racism in post-war southern US affect the plot? Foreground | PICO In Twain’s Huckleberry Finn, (P) how does racism (I) compared to anti-racism (C) affect the plot? PICO Question | American Literature Foreground | PICO In Twain’s Huckleberry Finn, (P) how does racism (I) compared to anti-racism (C) affect the plot? Searches in Humanities FT SS1 Huckleberry Finn AND rac* SS2 Huckleberry Finn [ti] AND rac* [ti] PICO Question | Business Background | 5 Ws What causes rising oil prices? Foreground | PICO In rising oil prices (P), how do speculators (I) compared to regulation (C) influence oil prices (O)? PICO Question | Business Foreground | PICO In rising oil prices (P), how do speculators (I) compared to regulation (C) influence the oil prices (O)? Searches ABI/Inform | Advanced Search SS1 "oil prices" AND speculat* OR regulat* SS2 ti "oil prices" AND ti speculat* PICO Question | Aviation Background | 5 Ws How can airplane landings be made safer? Foreground | PICO In airplane landings (P) how does using imaging sensors (I) compared to lights (C) affect safety (O) PICO Question | Aviation Foreground | PICO In airplane landings (P) how does using imaging sensors (I) compared to lights (C) affect safety (O) Searches in ABI Inform Landings AND (sensors or lights) Ti (landings) AND ti (sensors or lights) PICO Question | Aviation Questions? LibGuide http://libguides.asu.edu/PICO Ellen Welty Sheila Hofstetter Ellen.welty@asu.edu Sheila.hofstetter@asu.edu