Which of the following is used to perform a root cause analysis?

The Ishikawa diagram, also called a fishbone or cause-and-effect diagram, is specifically designed to identify and organize the root causes of a problem by branching potential contributing factors into categories such as people, process, and environment. It visually maps the relationship between causes and a central effect, making it the primary tool for structured root cause analysis. Its categorical structure helps teams systematically explore all possible causes rather than focusing only on surface-level symptoms.

A bar chart displays and compares categorical data quantities and is not designed to analyze causal relationships or root causes.

A Pareto diagram applies the 80/20 rule to identify which problems occur most frequently, showing what to prioritize rather than explaining why problems occur.

A scatter plot reveals correlation between two numerical variables but does not establish or map cause-and-effect relationships.