Formulating a research question involves several steps:
1. Identify a Broad Topic: Begin with a broad area of interest, such as childhood obesity, vaccination, or developmental disorders. 2. Conduct a Literature Review: Review existing literature to understand what has already been studied and to identify gaps in knowledge. 3. Narrow Down the Topic: Focus on a specific aspect of the broad topic. For example, instead of looking at childhood obesity in general, you might focus on the effectiveness of school-based interventions. 4. Define the Population: Clearly define who the study will focus on. In Pediatrics, this could be age-specific groups like infants, toddlers, or adolescents. 5. Formulate the Question: Use frameworks like PICO (Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome) to structure the question. For example, "In adolescents (Population), how effective are school-based interventions (Intervention) compared to home-based interventions (Comparison) in reducing obesity rates (Outcome)?"
