How to Do Better Analysis With the 5W1H Method

Health Data Guru #004: Plus a Big List of Examples to Get You Started

An analyst’s job is to ask ALL the questions. Especially “Why?”

Today I’m talking about why we should throw out the 5 Why’s Method out and use the 5W1H method instead.

If you’re not familiar with the 5 Why’s Method, I’ll break it down:

5 Why’s is the practice of asking why repeatedly (5 times, in fact) whenever a problem is encountered. You do this to get beyond the obvious symptoms and discover the root cause.

It’s a popular tool for root cause analysis and I’ve used it many times to shape many data analyses. It works remarkably well.

But there is a better way to interrogate your data, and it is called the 5W1H method (also known as the Kipling method).

I like this 5W1H method better than the 5 Why’s because it helps me remember to think more broadly when I’m analyzing an issue.