The first step in doing evidence-based research is forming a researchable question. Questions that are too broad or too narrow can make your research difficult, if not impossible.
PICO (alternately known as PICOT) is a mnemonic used to describe the four elements of a good clinical question. Many people find that it helps them clarify their question, which in turn makes it easier to find an answer. 
Use PICO to generate terms - these you'll use in your literature search for the current best evidence. Once you have your PICO terms, you can then use them to re-write your question. (Note, you can do this in reverse order if that works for you.)
Learn more about Forming Focused Questions with PICO through UNC Chapel Hill Health Science Library's PICO tutoral.
Additionally, Evidence-Based Practice, Step by Step: Asking the Clinical Question: A Key Step in Evidence-Based Practice was published by the American Journal of Nursing in March of 2010. The authors (Stillwell SB, Fineout-Overholt E, Melnyk BM, Williamson KM.) provides background information on why the use of PICO question is important in Evidence Based Practice. It looks at the different types, formats, scenarios and creation of the PICO question. The article also includes a template for creating a PICO.
Below you will find a useful formula that will help you identify each aspect of your PICO question.
**adapted from the University of Michigan and the University of Missouri Evidence Based Nursing Practice LibGuides
In nursing, Melynk and Fineout-Overholt described five types of clinical questions that can be asked and suggested templates that can be used to frame the research question. The five types of questions and the question templates are:
1. Intervention (or issue of interest): used to determine which treatment leads to the best outcome. For example: In patients at risk for falls (P), how does hourly rounding (I) compared with rounding every 2 hours (C) affect the incidence of falls (O)?
2. Prognosis or prediction: used to determine the clinical course over time and likely complications of a condition. For example: In patients who have a family history of heart disease (P), how does choosing to participate in a nutrition program (I) compared with not choosing to participate in a nutrition program (C) influence healthy food consumption (O) over 6 months (T)?
3. Diagnosis or diagnostic test: used to determine which test is more accurate in diagnosing a condition. For example: In patients with suspected type 2 diabetes (P), is the A1C (I) compared with the fasting plasma glucose (C) more accurate in diagnosing type 2 diabetes (O)?
4. Etiology: used to determine the greatest risk factors or causes of a condition. For example: Are children (P) who have sedentary lifestyles (I) compared with children without sedentary lifestyles (C) at higher risk of developing obesity (O) over a 6-month period (T)?
5. Meaning: used to understand the significance of an experience for an individual, group, or community. For example, how do women (P) with postpartum depression (I) perceive their ability to function (O) during the postpartum period (T)?
Note that in the template proposed, time (T) and comparison (C) aren’t always appropriate for every question, but population (P), intervention or issue of interest (I), and outcome (O) are always present.
(Source: Echevarria, Ilia M. and Walker, Susan. (2014). "To make your case, start with a PICOT question." Nursing. 2014 Feb;44(2):18-9.)
The hierarchy of evidence is a core principal of Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) that attempts to address the question "What is the best available evidence?". The evidence hierarchy allows you to take a top-down approach to locating the best evidence whereby you first search for a recent well-conducted systematic review and if that is not available, then move down to the next level of evidence to answer your question.
EBP hierarchies rank studies based on the rigor, strength, and precision of their research methods. Different hierarchies exist for different question types, and even experts may disagree on the exact rank of information in the evidence-based hierarchies. In most evidence-based hierarchies, well designed systematic reviews and meta-analyses are at the top of the pyramid, and expert opinion and anecdotal experience are at the bottom.1 The following image represents the hierarchy of evidence provided by Trustees of Dartmouth College and Yale University and produced by Jan Glover, David Izzo, Karen Odato, and Lei Wang.2
**Adapted from the EBM Pyramid and EBM Page Generator, copyright 2006 Trustees of Dartmouth College and Yale University. All Rights Reserved. Produced by Jan Glover, David Izzo, Karen Odato and Lei Wang.
Filtered Information appraises the quality of a study and provides recommendation on how to apply it in practice. The critical appraisal of the individual articles has already been done for you—which is a great time saver. Because the critical appraisal has been completed, filtered literature is appropriate to use for clinical decision-making at the point-of-care. In addition to saving time, filtered literature will often provide a more definitive answer than individual research reports. Examples of filtered resources include, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, BMJ Clincial Evidence, and ACP Journal Club.
Unfiltered Information are original research studies that have not yet been synthesized or aggregated. As such, they are the more difficult to read, interpret, and apply to practice. Examples of unfiltered resources include, CINAHL, EMBASE, Medline, and PubMed.3
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