Talking Stick - July/August 2017 - 56

But what if those questions are not applicable to or within the purview of the
department? For instance, some housing departments do not oversee dining
service, so sharing results related to
dining fees or dietary trends may not
be productive.
Finally, housing professionals may
choose to temporarily ignore unexpected results. This would be appropriate
while waiting for more information.
Maybe a committee is exploring the
methods or measures, gathering context information, collecting more data,
or discussing alternative explanations.
During that time, sharing information can be premature. Waiting until
the full picture develops may be more
responsible.
When housing professionals decide that acting
on unexpected results is the
correct course of action, they still have
a number of options. First, they can
share the results and recommend collecting more data. Sharing the results
can even be used as a way to ask for
outside input. A hall director surprised by resident dissatisfaction with
leadership opportunities could share
the results with student staff and hall
government. The process of sharing
becomes a method for validating the
findings and gathering more qualitative information.
In other situations, collecting additional data might require a more
formal process. The unexpected results
could prompt another assessment. For
example, unexpected survey results
may be followed up with focus groups
who will try to understand the reasons
for them. In the case of the new room
assignment process, focus groups
might clarify the findings and could
uncover issues related to implementation or high expectations. In other
situations, further research may be
warranted to explore courses of action.
A second option for action is to pass
the issue on to someone else. Housing
professionals may decide that oth-

talking stiCk

A final
option that
housing
professionals
have when
facing
unexpected
results is to
implement
change, using
the results
to challenge
existing
thinking and
to shape
next steps.
ers - perhaps another department or
committee - can act on the unexpected
results in a more appropriate manner. The other group can review and
interpret the results or act on them.
For example, results related to campus
safety concerns may need to be passed
to facilities, the campus police department, or a campus safety committee.
A housing committee may decide that
unexpected results have implications
related to the responsibilities of other
committees such as training/staff
development. In those situations, once
the assessment committee has made
sense of the unexpected results, they
would likely pass along the results to
other stakeholders.
Housing professionals who have
dug deeper into unexpected results

may decide to explain the results using the additional insights they have
found. That was the case with the
department that had a drop in response rates. They shared not only the
response rates but also the additional
information about the reason for the
drop and the actions taken as a result.
In subsequent years, their displays
of longitudinal response rates always
showed the single year with the drop
and their explanations. This practice
of sharing unexpected results, the explanations, and subsequent actions is
common in conference presentations.
Unexpected results become a point of
discussion.
Beyond just sharing information,
housing professionals have two more
action-focused options. One is to present the information and, in essence,
fight it. The housing professional with
the drop in satisfaction regarding the
new room assignment system chose
to share the information. But while
doing so, he provided a bigger context.
He shared the survey data, possible
explanations, and data about decreases
in roommate mediations and room
change requests. He also explained the
decrease in resources needed for the
new system. In addition, he argued that
data from the first year of implementation would become a baseline to measure future performance against. Thus,
his story became one of describing
what might look like negative results
within the context of bigger wins.
A final option that housing
professionals have when facing unexpected results is to
implement change, using the results
to challenge existing thinking and to
shape next steps. Comparisons among
halls can be used to draw attention to
bright spots, which demonstrate that
high results are possible. Changes
could focus on learning what the
bright spots are doing and spreading
those practices.
Unexpected results may expand
the range of ideas being discussed.

Talking Stick - July/August 2017

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Talking Stick - July/August 2017