Back to Your “Roots”: 5 Best Practices for Performing Root Cause Analysis

Abstract

Root cause analysis (RCA) is not always a straightforward process, and many human factors researchers struggle with executing RCA effectively and efficiently. For example, when conducting large, multi-site studies, the data points from participants quickly add up and begin to blur together. Then, during data analysis, notes that once made sense or are left unfinished now require additional time and effort to decode. This can require further video review or internal discussion to corroborate what happened and why, creating delays in analysis and reporting. This may lead to more questions which are now too late to answer. To combat this unfortunate reality, we discuss 5 best practices that can help researchers conduct more efficient RCAs.