Chapter 6

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lesfing o Chonge,,,)oranr conrayhave the)f determinillnaturallyple selected,eriod. (Onel.) The timenprovementrt sets a conbeadequatex determinrchart are:ong periodsinticipated..ng lmprovemallrelative.t.:cognize patrightbe necethe change.ly when then in the syssthemselves)nts, or cuspointsmighthe side effecth as these, itest.roints duringts prototypesighr be high.thly basis. InHowever, ifed by includ-Iest llnder t Wide Ronge 0f tondilions Making a change in order to improve a process,systemr or product involves making a prediction. The prediction is that thechange will be beneficial in the long run. It is important to recognize that conditionsin the future will be different from the conditions of the test. Circumstanceswill arise that were unforeseen or not present at the time of the test. Isthe change still an improvement under these new conditions? The degree ofbelief in the results is increased as the same conclusions are drawn for a varietyof lest condirions (different times, materials, environmental condidons, tlpes ofpeople, and so on). Dr. Smith increased her degree of belief that the new rehabi.litationprocedure was an improvement by testing the procedure under differentconditions. She tested the procedure in different hospitals, with patients ofdifferent ages, and with physicians who had different levels of experience.Too often, tests of changes are not conducted over a broad range of conditionsSome reasons given for limiting the conditions include limited resources, timeconstraints, difficulty in analysis of the data, lack of knowledge of how to efficientlyinclude different conditions, and the existence of too many possible conditionsto consider. Following are some slmple ways of dealing with thesereasons:I. Collecting data oter time . Many conditions change over time. So, one way toinclude a range of conditions is to incorporate into the study a period duringwhich condj.tions are expected to change significantly lf a sequence of data col-Iected after a change exhibits a predictable pattem that shows improvement, one'sdegree of belief that the improvement will be sustained in the future will beincreased. Dr. Smith used the new rehabilitation procedure on twenty patientsover a four-month period. Except for the one special cause that was identified,the data collected on the new procedure exhibited a predictable pattern with anaverage of about nine days (see Figure 6.5).2. U sing planned grouping. Another way to include a range of conditlons in atest is to use planned grouping. Planned grouping allows for different conditionsto be brought into the test in a systematic way. Dr. Smith was able to conduct thetest of the new procedure under different conditions but still do a simple analysisof the results, because the analysis was done within two planned groups inwhich the conditions were uniform.3 . IJ sing judgement samples . The selection of people or things to be includedin the test provides an opportunity to consider a wide range of conditions. A randomselection of units is rarely preferred to a selection made by a subject matterexpert. This selection is called a judgement sample. Dr. Smith selected thepatients for her test from those who were either under thirty years of age or oversixty. She judged that age could have an impact on the results of the test. Thisjudgement sample assured her that both young and old people would beincluded.
SollyIlhe cctestedthot ilogedued tcwland tlnveshas y,are fiimpltdevelical, rnot bponechanTIchanpredfromteStechancoultlargerng a,r2 The lnprovenent GuideCondusionRunning cycles to test proposed changes logically follows from developingchanges. What happens to the changes that the testing indicates will result inimprovement? The next chapter discusses the implementation of these changes.
Page 1 and 2: Testing a ChangeChapter Five discus
Page 3 and 4: 94 The lnprovenent Guidemore. What
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Page 7 and 8: 9Elhe Inprovenent GuideTypes of Stu
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Page 18 and 19: Testing o honge109:-by-side withtes

Chapter 6

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