Developing a Surgical Clinical Research Question: To Find the Answer in Literature Search or in Pursuing Clinical Research

A well-formed research question is the foundation of evidence-based surgery. It is critical for the “users” of surgical literature to find the best evidence to use in their clinical practice. It is also important for the “doers” of surgical clinical research. It lays a strong foundation and provides direction for the surgeon-investigator throughout all stages of the research project, from study design to publication. In this chapter, we explain how to properly form a research question. We describe two tools that can be used to help form a clear and concise research question: (1) the FINER (Feasible, Interesting Novel, Ethical, Relevant) Criteria and (2) the PICOT (Population, Intervention, Comparative intervention, Outcomes, Time Horizon) formulation, and apply these tools to two clinical scenarios.