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Research - Bio 260

This research guide is intended to help student BIO 260 develop a research question for their class.

Frameworks

 

 

PEO

Definition

Example

Population

Who is my question focused on?

Seniors

Exposure (cause)

What is the issue I'm interested in?

Exercise

Outcome (effect)

What, concerning issue do I want to examine?

Blood Pressure

 

Examples:

Question: Does the [exposure] cause the [outcome] in [population]?

Does 20 min of walking daily help lower blood pressure in seniors aged 60-70?

Hypothesis: The [exposure] causes the [outcome] in [population].

20 min of walking daily helps lower blood pressure in seniors aged 60-70.

 

Question: Does the [exposure] cause the [outcome] in [population]?

Your Question:

Hypothesis: The [exposure] causes the [outcome] in [population].

Your Hypothesis:

PICO Definition Example
P Population - select a focused population i.e patient or problem Seniors
I Intervention - you want to test or examine Exercise
C Control group or Comparison - comparison method  No exercise
O Outcome - result that you want to see 

Blood pressure

(High or Low)

 

P- population that you want to study,

Examples:

  1. All Americans, white, elderly, Northern California, skyline students. Try to be as specific as possible. 

            Note: actual/sample population: will be much smaller

I- intervention,

Examples:

  1. Does eating one apple per day lower your blood pressure? Apple is the intervention.
  2. Does AA lower rates of alcoholism? AA is the intervention. 

           Note: Cross-sectional observational study- there is no intervention, so describe the predictor variables,

Example: apple

C- control group or comparison

Examples:

  1. Compare people who ate apples to people who didn’t eat apples with respect to their blood pressure.
  2. Compare each person’s starting blood pressure to their blood pressure after the intervention. 

O- outcome,

Example: Blood pressure 

Formulated question:

Does eating an apple per day for 100 days decrease blood pressure in young adults compared to young adults who do not eat apples?

Study population: Young adults

Sample population: Skyline students

Intervention: Apples

Comparison: Either a time point before the intervention or a control group that does not receive the intervention.