In the Plan-Do-Study-Act cycle, what does the 'Study' step involve?

• A. Analyzing data and results from the change.
• B. Planning the change.
• C. Trying out the change.
• D. Deciding what to implement next.

Answer: (A)

In the Study phase, you examine the data and results from the change to learn what actually happened. This means reviewing outcome and process measures, identifying trends and variations, and looking for any unintended effects. The goal is to determine whether the change produced the expected improvement and under what conditions, so you know what to adjust before moving forward. The Plan phase is about designing the change, the Do phase is about trying it, and the Act phase is about deciding the next step—adopt, modify, or abandon.