Basic Steps in Conducting Root-Cause Analysis

1. Focus on a particular SRA component or principle. Define the human rights risk and ask basic questions, such as “What is the actual or potential human rights risk?” “What happened?” Gather the basic facts of the case, which are usually the what, who, where, when, and even a preliminary why of the issue.

2. Investigate further, this time using the information collected in the preliminary data-gathering activities and being more targeted or purposeful in your line of inquiry and people you talk to. Try to establish sequence of events leading to the rights violation. 

3. In synthesizing the data you gathered, identify or tease out factors that have caused or contributed to the problem.

4. Identify the root causes. It will help test the logic of causal relationships you are making by asking the question, “How likely is the issue to recur if the root cause is absent?” But of course, a true test will happen when a solution measure has been adopted and you wait and see if the problem recurs or not.