CIMO can be used to build questions on management and policy evaluation.
| Context |
- Which individuals, groups, systems or relationships are you focusing on?
|
| Intervention |
- Which event, action or activity are you investigating the effects of?
|
| Mechanisms |
- Which responses to the intervention explain how it leads to the outcome?
- Which circumstances cause these responses?
- In which circumstances are these responses avoided?
|
| Outcomes |
- Which effects of the intervention you have chosen to focus on?
- How are you defining and measuring these effects?
|
Other variables that can be added to this framework are:
| Study design |
- Which study type(s) will you using?
|
| Time |
- What is the duration of the intervention?
|
Variant frameworks:
- CIMOS = Context, Intervention, Mechanisms, Outcomes, Study design
- CIMOT = Context, Intervention, Mechanisms, Outcomes, Time
Reference: Booth, A., Sutton, A., Clowes, M., Martyn-St James, M. (2021). Systematic Approaches to a Successful Literature Review. 3rd edn. SAGE Publications.