Of course 5 whys is no substitute for the scientific method. It isn't meant to be. Criticizing 5 ways because it's not good at science is unhelpful. It's a way

Of course 5 whys is no substitute for the scientific method. It isn't meant to be. Criticizing 5 ways because it's not good at science is unhelpful. It's a way to dig pretty deep into a problem very quickly with a simple heuristic. A 5 whys analysis of anything shouldn't take more than a couple of minutes. If your problem is going to need more than a couple of minutes of analysis, don't do 5 whys.