Data tools for improvement

Use these tools to collect, display and analyse data for your quality improvement project. Each tool explains when and how to use it, with a downloadable template for your own data.

Basic statistics

Calculate mean, median, mode, range and standard deviation for your data.

Histogram

Display the frequency distribution of your data.

Pareto chart

Rank problems by frequency to find the vital few.

Run chart

Track a measure over time and test whether change is improving the process.

Tally sheet

Capture how often events occur in real time, ready for analysis.

Scatter plot

Plot two variables and see whether a relationship exists between them.

Statistical process control chart

Distinguish common cause variation from special cause in process data.

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