The document discusses strategies for developing and analyzing research questions for environmental health studies. It introduces the Stases method for refining the scope of a research question by considering agreed upon points, points of contention, and which to address. It then outlines the six categories of the Stases method: existence, definition, cause, value, action, and jurisdiction. The document also describes the FINER and PICOT frameworks for assessing research questions. FINER considers feasibility, interest, novelty, ethics, and relevance, while PICOT breaks down questions into population, intervention, comparison, outcome, and temporality. Examples are provided for applying these frameworks to research objectives and questions.

1. Developing and
Analyzing Research
Questions
Search Strategies for
Environmental Health Research

2. Objectives
 Review the stases method for refining scope of a research
question
 Apply the stases method to assigned topics and map questions
to potential resources
 Review two documented strategies for assessing and analyzing
research questions: FINER and PICOT
 Apply these strategies to actual research questions
 Use controlled vocabularies to identify relevant terms to use in
a search

3. The Stases Approach
 Any arguer who wants to enter an ongoing public or academic
debate needs first to identify what points have been agreed upon,
what points have been in contention, and which of them to
address.The standard but often bewildering advice to ‘narrow
the topic’ reflects this need to specify an issue. (From
Fahnestock, Jeanne and Marie Secor. “Classical Rhetoric: The
Art of Argumentation.” Argument Revisited; Argument
Redefined: Negotiating Meaning in the Composition Classroom.
Eds. Barbara Emmel, Paula Resch, and DeborahTenney.
Thousand Oaks, California: Sage, 1996. 97-123.)
 See Hunter Library’s “ResearchToolkit” for more:
http://library.hunter.cuny.edu/research-toolkit/faculty-
guide/stases-research-method

4. The Six Stases
 Existence: Does a problem exist?
 Definition: How do we characterize the problem?
 Cause: What caused the problem?
 Value: Is it good or bad? Moral/immoral? Effective/ineffective?
 Action: What should we do about the problem?
 Jurisdiction: Who should decide what we do about the problem?

5. Exercise: Applying the Stases
 Draft a question for your topic that corresponds to each
one of the six stases.
 Identify an information resource that addresses each of
your questions.
 Submit your work.

6. Assessing and Analyzing Research
Questions
 FINER: a strategy for assessing the value of a research
question
 PICOT: a strategy for analyzing the content of a research
question in order to develop search strategies

7. FINER
 Feasibility: number of participants, technical expertise, cost,
scope
 Interest: Motivation!
 Novelty: confirms, refutes, or extends previous findings
 Ethicality: must not pose unacceptable physical risk or invasion
of privacy
 Relevance: connects to clinical practice or health policy,
advances knowledge, drives future research

8. PICOT
 Population
 Intervention
 Comparison
 Outcome
 Temporality

9. Exercise: Applying PICOT and
FINER
 Apply PICOT and FINER to example research objectives
 Submit your work

10. Bibliography: PICOT and FINER
 Hulley SB, Cummings SR, BrownerWS, Grady DG, NewmanTB. Conceiving the
research question. Designing Clinical Research 2nd ed Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott
Williams &Wilkins. 2001:335.
 RichardsonWS,Wilson MC, Nishikawa J, Hayward RS.The well-built clinical
question: a key to evidence-based decisions. ACP J Club. 1995;123(3):A12-A13.
 Rios LP,Ye C,Thabane L. Association between framing of the research question
using the PICOT format and reporting quality of randomized controlled trials. BMC
Medical Research Methodology. 2010;10(1):11. doi:10.1186/1471-2288-10-11.
 Schardt C, Adams MB, OwensT, Keitz S, Fontelo P. Utilization of the PICO
framework to improve searching PubMed for clinical questions. BMC Medical
Informatics and Decision Making. 2007;7(1):16. doi:10.1186/1472-6947-7-16.

11. Bibliography: Example Research
Questions
 Factor-Litvak P, Insel B, CalafatAM, et al. Persistent Associations between
Maternal Prenatal Exposure to Phthalates on Child IQ at Age 7Years. PLoS ONE.
2014;9(12):e114003. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0114003.
 Fathabadi N,Vasheghani Farahani M, Moradi M, Hadadi B. Estimates of the
occupational exposure to tenorm in the phosphoric acid production plant in Iran.
Radiat Prot Dosimetry. 2012;151(3):600-603. doi:10.1093/rpd/ncs021.
 Fisk WJ, Lei-Gomez Q, Mendell MJ. Meta-analyses of the associations of
respiratory health effects with dampness and mold in homes. Indoor Air.
2007;17(4):284-296. doi:10.1111/j.1600-0668.2007.00475.x.
 MarchandA, Aranda-Rodriguez R,Tardif R, NongA, Haddad S. Human Inhalation
Exposures toToluene, Ethylbenzene and M-Xylene and Physiologically based
Pharmacokinetic Modeling of Exposure Biomarkers in Exhaled Air, Blood and
Urine. Toxicol Sci. 2015:kfv009. doi:10.1093/toxsci/kfv009.