Six Sigma Green Belt Certification Practice Exam

The effects of a change are observed during which step of the Deming-Shewhart cycle?

1. Act

2. Plan

3. Do

4. Study

The correct answer is: Study

The correct answer is that the effects of a change are observed during the Study step of the Deming-Shewhart cycle. This step is essentially about analyzing and evaluating the results achieved after implementing a change. In the context of the PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) cycle, "Study" corresponds to the "Check" phase, where you look back at the data collected during the implementation of a new process or change to assess whether it had the desired effect. During the Study phase, data is compared against the predictions made during the Plan phase, and the actual outcomes are analyzed. This step helps in understanding not just if the change resulted in improvement, but also why it worked or didn’t work. Gathering and interpreting this data is crucial for learning and informing future practices. The other steps of the cycle play distinct roles: the Plan step involves developing strategies and hypothesizing what changes could lead to improvement, the Do step is where the actual implementation of those changes occurs, while the Act step is about making decisions based on what was learned in the Study phase, potentially implementing broader changes based on the data and insights gained.