Day 6 of the EBLIP-Gloss FOLIO Course: “Ask” A SPICE Tutorial Revised August 2009

On Day 5 of the EBLIP-Gloss Course… …we asked you to identify a “burning question” about your library and information services. Today we will be looking at how you “ask” that question.

“To be able to ask a question clearly is two-thirds of the way to getting it answered” (John Ruskin)

“Fuzzy questions tend to lead to fuzzy answers” (Oxman & Guyatt 1988) Therefore…

Your “burning question” should be… Focused Relevant Answerable

You may already be familiar with the PICO/PIOC framework POPULATION INTERVENTION (sometimes EXPOSURE) COMPARISON OUTCOME …commonly used for questions in evidence- based practice (terminology drawn from epidemiology).

The alternative for EBLIP is… The SPICE framework Developed specifically for library and information questions.

SPICE SETTING – in which context are you addressing the question? PERSPECTIVE – who are the users/potential users of the service? INTERVENTION – what is being done to them/for them? COMPARISON – what are your alternatives? EVALUATION – how will you measure whether the intervention has succeeded?

Our “burning” question What evidence is there that the Information Clinics are providing the same level of tuition or better than the traditional one-to-one format?

Our SPICE Example SETTING = ScHARR Information Resources PERSPECTIVE = Masters Students INTERVENTION = Information Clinics COMPARISON = One-to-one tutorials EVALUATION = Ability to perform unassisted a predetermined list of searching tasks

Now your turn… Recall your “burning question from Day 5. What is the SETTING for your burning question? Click for a hint! Hint: in which context are you addressing the question?

Now your turn… What is the PERSPECTIVE for your burning question? Click for a hint! Hint: who are the users/potential users/stakeholders of the service?

Now your turn… What is the INTERVENTION for your burning question? Click for a hint! Hint: what is being done to/for the users/potential users/stakeholders?

Now your turn… What is the COMPARISON for your burning question? Click for a hint! Hint: what are your alternatives?

And finally… What will be the EVALUATION for your burning question? Click for a hint! Hint: how will you measure whether the intervention has succeeded? Please note: we will be covering “evaluation” in more detail on Day 10 of the EBLIP-Gloss course!

You should now have a question that is… …focused, relevant and answerable!

References Booth, A. (2003) “Formulating Answerable Questions” in Booth, A. & Brice, A. Evidence-Based Practice for Information Professionals: A Handbook. London: Facet. Booth, A. (2006a) Australian supermodel? – A practical example of evidence-based library and information practice (EBLIP). Health Information and Libraries Journal; 23 (1): Booth, A. (2006b) Clear and present questions: formulating questions for evidence based practice. Library Hi Tech; 24 (3): Oxman, A.D. & Guyatt, G.H. (1988) quoted in Booth 2006b. Ruskin, J. (1886) Proserpina quoted in Booth 2006b.

Further Reading Booth, A. (2003) Where systems meet services: towards evidence-based information practice. Vine: 33 (2); Booth, A. (2004) “Evaluating your performance” in: Booth, A. & Brice, A. Evidence-Based Practice for Information Professionals: A Handbook. London: Facet. Cotter, L., Harije, L., Lewis, S. & Tonnison, I. (2005) Adding SPICE to our library intranet site: a recipe to enhance usability [online]. Available from: [Accessed August 2009] Kloda, L. (2008). Asking the Right Question. Evidence Based Library And Information Practice, 3(4). Available from /3725 [Accessed August 2009] /3725