Employee experience programmes live or die on the quality of their evidence. Treating feedback as a marketing exercise rather than a research one leads to confident conclusions that do not hold up.
Common methodological mistakes
- Over-interpreting small differences that are within the margin of error
- Drawing conclusions from unrepresentative samples
- Changing questions between waves, which makes trends meaningless
- Ignoring non-response bias, where the quietest voices matter most
- Confusing correlation with causation when acting on findings
A research mindset in practice
State your questions in advance, choose methods that genuinely fit them, and be willing to report findings you did not expect or hope for. Rigour is what makes the insight defensible when it challenges the status quo.
Close the loop
Insight creates value only when it changes something. Connect findings to specific actions, communicate what you learned, and track whether the change had the intended effect. That loop is what distinguishes a research programme from a recurring survey.