Specific techniques for data collection, fundamental to accurate analysis, are sometimes overlooked in the need to see outcomes or trends in data. The lowly check sheet represents a critical tool in effective data collection if it is used correctly.

Because check sheets are such simple tools, they are sometimes associated with quick-and-dirty, penciled notations that record data as it is collected. But creating an effective check sheet involves thinking, understanding why the data is being collected, how it will be used, who will gather it, where it will be gathered, and when it will be gathered. It is, fundamentally, a matter of design. By designing the data collection process rather than simply barging into it, one assures that the data itself will be useful and accurate.

Almost everyone, after all, uses check sheets. Teachers record grades, hospitals list infection types, cooks make grocery lists, families record children’s behaviors, inspectors identify defects in products—all with check sheets in various forms. To be sure that a check sheet will be truly useful, it’s important to go back to that thinking process:

 …