PICO Framework Builder

Turn a broad topic into a focused, answerable research question using the PICO framework — Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome.

P — Population

I — Intervention

C — Comparison (optional)

O — Outcome

Your research question

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What each part of PICO means

Population — who or what you're studying (patients, students, a specific demographic).
Intervention — the treatment, exposure, or variable of interest.
Comparison — what the intervention is being compared against, if applicable (a control group, standard care, or no comparison at all for some question types).
Outcome — what you're measuring to determine the effect.

A well-formed PICO question is the foundation of a systematic review's eligibility criteria and search strategy — see our systematic review guide for how it fits into the full process.

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