potential problem

PICOT format for testing an intervention with research

(P) – Population refers to the sample of participants you wish to recruit for your study. Define in terms of gender, age, socioeconomic, medical diagnosis/ or problem you want to study, etc.

(I) – Intervention refers to the treatment you plan to exam or test that will be provided to subjects enrolled in your study.

(C) – Comparison identifies an existing intervention (control) to compare with the intervention you are testing (experimental).

(O) – Outcome represents what result you plan on measuring to examine the effectiveness of both the existing (control) and  treatment (experimental) intervention.

(T) – Time describes the duration for your data collection.

EXAMPLE

PICOT Tool

P-Family Nurse Practitioners working in states with restrictive scope of practice laws

I-Political activity and actions to influence state legislators

C-Present level of political activity

O-Increased level of political activity

T-6 weeks

Statement of the Problem and Purpose of the Study

The problem this research will address is the restrictive state laws that affect Family Nurse Practitioners (FNP) scope of practice and FNPs lack of political activity towards members of state legislative committees, which limits FNPs influence on legislators to pass less restrictive nursing scope of practice laws.

The purpose of this research is to gain a more complete understanding why Family Nurse Practitioners (FNP) are not politically active to influence members of state legislators with intent to help legislators make or change laws to increase FNP scope of practice. If it is known why nurse practitioners are not politically active in trying to influence state legislators, then it may be to initiate programs to encourage FNPs increased participation in the political process.

Research Questions, Hypothesis and Variables

The following research question will guide this research: What do Family Nurse Practitioners working in states with restrictive scope of practice laws classify as their level of activity to influence state legislators related to scope of NP practice and what do they identify as the reasons for this level of participation?