Even the most accurate survey data can lose its value when fear and defensiveness take over. How can schools respond to survey results in constructive ways that drive real improvement?
Author: Bryan Smyth, Ph.D., ISM Senior Consultant and Director of Research
Good decisions don’t rely on gut feeling alone. They’re powered by reliable data, often gathered through surveys or key performance indicators. Data is essential for optimizing a school’s success, but only if the results are trusted, accepted, and used to drive improvement.
One often-overlooked challenge is how emotional reactions to statistics can quietly undermine their value.
When Emotions Overshadow Numbers
Here are three scenarios I have seen play out when presenting survey results to school leaders:
School 1: The results include a mix of both promising and concerning feedback. Instead of engaging with the whole picture, participants chip away at less-favorable results.
- “Yes, but this is in comparison to all schools. We should only be compared to schools like our unique school. These results may not apply.”
- “You can make statistics say anything”
- “I don’t really trust children to be honest on surveys”
- “Only 55% of our parents responded, these results don’t apply to all parents.”
On the surface, it sounds like the commenters are trying to be sure the results are valid and reliable. But these are made only about the negative results, suggesting the unconscious aim is to undermine trust in the results.
School 2: Most results are positive, but one serious concern emerges. Instead of exploring the underlying internal causes, discussion drifts toward external factors to explain the concern away and avoid accepting the results.
This is self-serving bias in action: claiming credit for good outcomes while blaming bad outcomes on forces beyond one's control.
School 3: The school undertakes a survey and data analysis, and the results are not going to paint a pretty picture. The results will not be surprising, but the report will establish a level of reality that will be sobering.
What ensues is a heated discussion between some in the room who adopt a defensive posture and try to spin the results, and others who take an aggressive posture bent on finding blame. The conversation is really about who is and who is not at fault, instead of synthesizing the data to gain insights on how to move forward.
In all cases, the results seem to evoke fear.
How to Move from Reaction to Resolution
Data itself has no emotional valence — it’s simply organized information. But once we assign meaning to the data, human reactions kick in. Fear often distracts us from productive problem-solving; instead, it redirects the conversation toward attacking the data, making excuses, or pointing fingers.
How can people deal with statistical results in helpful ways?
- Recognize fear’s side effects. When reviewing and analyzing survey results, watch for patterns like discrediting results, spinning interpretations, or leaning into self-serving or confirmation bias. Perhaps the most dangerous fear response of all: Avoiding data collection altogether.
- Acknowledge emotions as normal. If you care about your school, its people, and your role, it’s natural to react strongly to troubling results. But remember: That concern should center on the issues the data reveals, not the data itself. The true fear should emanate from the reality that if the issues are not dealt with effectively, negative consequences are likely.
- Use validated instruments and metrics. Many schools use homegrown surveys, thinking “personalization” will offer better data. However, personalized surveys have no criterion upon which performance can be reliably judged. Validated instruments and metrics offer meaningful ways of classifying your performance — this is essential for accurate analysis. Without them, conclusions are prone to be unreliable or invalid.
- Nurture a community built on support, predictability, and trust. Strong, respectful relationships — between students and teachers, faculty and administrators, heads and boards — are hallmarks of the most successful schools. Schools where trust, support, and predictability run deep are more likely to approach difficult results positively and constructively. In these environments, unhappy data prompts collaboration, not conflict.
About the Author
Bryan Smyth is Senior Consultant and Director of Research at ISM. His work focuses on academic leadership, governance, and finance. Bryan's central purpose is to help students flourish, and he believes the best way to facilitate growth in children (and adults) is to enhance school environments and cultures.
