An Ishikawa diagram is also known as a

• A. Fishbone diagram
• B. Pareto chart
• C. Scatter diagram
• D. Control chart

Answer: (A)

An Ishikawa diagram is a visual tool used to perform root cause analysis by mapping out potential causes of a problem and showing how they contribute to the effect. It looks like a fishbone: the problem statement sits at the head, and major categories branch off the spine as bones, guiding brainstorming and data collection. This structure helps teams identify, organize, and prioritize causes across common areas such as people, methods, machines, materials, measurements, and environment. By visually linking causes to the problem, you can see where to focus investigation and what data to gather to confirm root causes. The other tools are different kinds of quality charts: a Pareto chart highlights the most significant causes by frequency or impact; a scatter diagram shows how two variables relate; a control chart monitors process performance over time. So this tool is known as a fishbone diagram.