Table 4 Notations for qualitative question formulation

Notation

Components

Source

3WH

What (topical), Who (population), When (temporal), How (methodological)

[28]

BeHEMoTh

Behaviour, Health context, Exclusions, Models or Theories

[9]

CIMO

Context, Intervention, Mechanisms, Outcomes

[97]

ECLIPSe

Expectations (improvement, innovation or information), Client group (recipients of service), Location (where service is housed), Impact (what change in service and how measured), Professionals involved, Service

[95]

PEICO(S)

Person, Environment, Intervention, Comparison, Outcomes, (Stakeholders)

[98]

PICO

Patient/Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcomes

[139]

PICo

Population, phenomenon of Interest, Context

[102]

PICOC

Patient/Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcomes, Context

[31]

PICOS

Patient/Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcomes, Study type

[101]

SPICE

Setting, Perspective, Intervention/phenomenon of Interest, Comparison, Evaluation

[96]

SPIDER

Sample, Phenomenon of Interest, Design, Evaluation, Research type

[13]