Communicative Sciences and Disorders

Background questions can help you develop foundational knowledge about whatever topic interests you.

Topic example: access to speech-language services for patients living in rural or outlying areas

Here are some examples of background questions related to the topic:

• How does one define "rural" or "outlying" area?
• What are the demographics (economic, gender, racial, etc.) of the rural/outlying areas being studied?
• What are common barriers and facilitators to accessing health care in rural/outlying regions?

The Find Background Information section of this guide lists useful sources for answering background questions.

Foreground questions are specific. They often deal with a particular therapy or intervention of interest.

A research question framework can help you organize the concepts in your foreground question. There are a number of different frameworks. The one you choose should correspond to the type of question you are asking.

• PICO (Problem/Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome): The most common clinical question framework. Useful for clinical questions addressing the effect of an intervention, therapy, or treatment. 
• ECLIPSe (Expectation, Client Group, Location, Impact, Professionals, Service): Useful for questions about policy and services.
• PCC (Population/Problem, Concept, Context): Useful for broad scoping questions.
• PEO (Population, Exposure, Outcome): Useful for describing association between exposures/risk factors and outcomes.
• SPICE (Setting, Perspective, Intervention/phenomenon of Interest, Comparison, Evaluation): Useful for evaluating the outcomes of a service, project, or intervention.
• SPIDER (Sample, Phenomenon of Interest, Design, Evaluation, Research Type): Useful for questions of experience or perspectives (questions that may be addressed by qualitative or mixed methods research).

P (Population/Problem of Interest) = People with dysphagia

I (Intervention) = Lingual strengthening therapy

C (Comparison Intervention) = No lingual strengthening therapy

O (Outcome) = Reduction in swallowing difficulties

E (Expectation) = To increase access to speech-language services

C (Client Group) = People with speech problems living in rural communities

L (Location of service or policy) = Hospitals

I (Impact of service or policy) = Increased utilization of speech-language services by people with speech problems living in rural areas

P (Professionals involved in offering the service or policy) = Speech-language pathologists, Hospital administrators

Se (Service) = Speech-language services

P (Population characteristics or Problem focus) = Graduate students

C (Concept being examined) = Technological literacy

C (Context for the question - could include geographic location, setting of interest, etc.) = Speech-language pathology programs

P (Population) = Novice speech-language pathologists

E (Exposure)=Mentoring programs

O (Outcome)=Professional confidence

S (Setting) = Speech-language pathology graduate programs

P (Perspective) = New speech-language pathology graduate students

I (Intervention/Interest/Exposure) = Mindfulness training

C (Comparison) = No mindfulness training

E (Evaluation) = Reduced stress levels

S (Sample, i.e. the group being studied) = Speech-language pathology interns

PI Phenomenon of Interest, i.e., the reason for the behavior or decisions) = Clinical placements in extended care facilities

D (Design, i.e. how the research was collected) = Surveys and interviews

E (Evaluation, i.e. the outcome being impacted) = Experiences and attitudes

R (Research type) = Qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods