title: Why.
abstract: There are two kinds of cause and effect. The scientific notion that is taught as part of the formal model is rigorous, but often limited in its generalizability across situations. The study of cause and effect in natural settings is also a rigorous field, with several useful and easily applied techniques. Root cause analysis is a set of approaches to identifying the factors in natural settings that initiate a chain of events with outcomes of interest. It is easier to improve processes when their true root causes have been identified. Risk management is a special case of root cause analysis.
authors.forename: David W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Chambers
mesh_terms: D015984:Causality; D006801:Humans; D011336:Probability; D011340:Problem Solving; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D012308:Risk Management / Q000145:classification / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data