TY - JOUR T1 - Learning from samples of one or fewer JF - Quality and Safety in Health Care JO - Qual Saf Health Care SP - 465 LP - 471 DO - 10.1136/qhc.12.6.465 VL - 12 IS - 6 AU - J G March AU - L S Sproull AU - M Tamuz Y1 - 2003/12/01 UR - http://qualitysafety.bmj.com/content/12/6/465.abstract N2 - Organizations learn from experience. Sometimes, however, history is not generous with experience. We explore how organizations convert infrequent events into interpretations of history, and how they balance the need to achieve agreement on interpretations with the need to interpret history correctly. We ask what methods are used, what problems are involved, and what improvements might be made. Although the methods we observe are not guaranteed to lead to consistent agreement on interpretations, valid knowledge, improved organizational performance, or organizational survival, they provide possible insights into the possibilities for and problems of learning from fragments of history. ER -