Guides: Systematic Review: Frameworks

Frameworks for systematic reviews

Using a framework to structure your research question will assist you to structure the entire process - determine the scope of your review, provide a focus while searching for literature, help identify key concepts and guide your selection of papers for inclusion.

PICO framework

Use a framework like PICO when developing a good clinical research question:

P	I	C	O
Patient or problem	Intervention	Comparison Intervention	Outcome
Describe the patient or group of patients of interest as accurately as possible	What is the main intervention or therapy you'll consider?	Is there an alternative treatment to compare?	What is the clinical outcome?

PICO examples from the Cochrane Library

Log into the Cochrane Library
Enter your UOW username and password
From the home page click “Advanced Search”
Click on the “PICO search” tab and search for your topic
Click on “Run search”
Choose a review and click on the “ShowPICOs” drop-down menu
You will then see the PICO attached to the systematic review.

PICO searching on Medline

Advanced searching in Medline.
Understanding Focus and Explode.
Conduct a search strategy using the PICO framework.
Searching using Medical Subject Headings.
PICO Searches and Systematic Reviews (Academic skills and study support)
Describes PICO Searches and systematic literature reviews.

PRISMA

PRISMA is an evidence-based minimum set of items for reporting in systematic reviews and meta-analyses.

PRISMA 2020 Checklist The 27 checklist items relate to the content of a systematic review and meta-analysis, which includes:

Title
Abstract
Methods
Results
Discussion
Funding.

PRISMA-ScR

A PRISMA extension for scoping reviews, PRISMA-ScR, has been created to provide reporting guidance for this specific type of review. This extension is also intended to apply to evidence maps, as these share similarities with scoping reviews and involve a systematic search of a body of literature to identify knowledge gaps.

The PRISMA extension for scoping reviews contains 20 essential reporting items and 2 optional items to include when completing a scoping review. Scoping reviews serve to synthesize evidence and assess the scope of literature on a topic. Among other objectives, scoping reviews help determine whether a systematic review of the literature is warranted.

SPIDER

The SPIDER question format was adapted from the PICO tool to search for qualitative and mixed-methods research. Questions based on this format identify the following concepts:

Sample
Phenomenon of Interest
Design
Evaluation
Research type.

Defining your question for finding qualitative research: SPIDER tool

Example: What are young parents’ experiences of attending antenatal education?

S	young parents
P of I	antenatal education
D	questionnaire, survey, interview, focus group, case study, or observational study
E	experiences
R	qualitative or mixed method

Search for (S AND P of I AND (D OR E) AND R) (Cooke, Smith, & Booth, 2012).

"Beyond PICO: the SPIDER tool for qualitative evidence synthesis" (Cooke, Smith, & Booth, 2012)