Giving Yourself Room to Grow is Critical to Long-Term Wellbeing, and In Turn, Success

February 15, 2025 by Jonah Hall

By M. Andrew Young

I’ve noticed that in higher education, particularly in graduate and professional programs, there are a lot of highly conscientious people. I am one of them. This anecdotal observation or generalization extends to faculty, staff, and students alike. A year ago, I was doing some research on the changing landscape of evaluation and assessment career skills, and when I looked at how much the landscape has changed post-pandemic, I was astounded how rapidly the culture, values, and demands in the workplace had shifted (see this resource included in my reference section for more info, even though it is even becoming outdated: Essential Post-Pandemic Skills | ACCA Global, 2021).  

The laws of physics demand that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, and I have noticed that oftentimes, being conscientious, which is a good thing, is counterbalanced by its less-useful companion: high levels of self-imposed demands for excellence or even perfection. In 2021, Forbes magazine released an article called “Why Failure is Essential to Success” (Arruda, 2021). It is a really good read, and their interview with Dr. Sam Collins was eye-opening. The basic premise is that our culture celebrates and glorifies success; we even idolize overcoming adversity success stories, but we rarely see the numerous and deep failures those success stories encountered along their road to success. We love victory, but do not fully feel the depths of the pain, depression even, or discouragement they waded through along the journey.  

People like me are often so concerned with getting it right the first time and setting a personal standard so high that when we can’t attain it, we immediately sink into an unproductive self-deprecating, self-condemnatory internal dialogue. Doubts gnaw at our own self-concept of our worth and capabilities to succeed, and there is an insidious voice telling us to give up, that we aren’t capable of succeeding, that we are alone or unique in our struggles, and that the effort we put into it won’t result in anything other than wasting our time we could be using by just being satisfied with our current status-quo. 

It is incredible how we can grow without even noticing it in the moment. Let me tell you about Andrew 10 years ago. Andrew worked for a web design and marketing consulting company. The hours were long, the pay was abhorrently low for the job title I had, and I was unhappy and out of my element. The original job I was hired to do was create data visualizations for marketing surveys. It morphed into learning survey instrument development, data cleaning, statistical analysis, search engine marketing, search engine optimization, and website quality assurance. I was not ready for the work because I was not properly trained nor supported by professional development for what I would encounter. I made a LOT of mistakes, and I was unhappy. I recall a conversation with my then supervisor. It was one of those uncomfortable conversations where my work quality didn’t measure up to the demands of the job or their expectations. We were speaking about data visualization, and they gave me a scenario of a creative way to visualize geographical map information. Something was said along the lines of, “This is the type of stuff we are looking for”, and my response was, “I don’t know that I am capable of thinking up those things on my own”.  

When I reflect on that moment, I chuckle at how simplistic that data solution was within the context of my current knowledge. When I look at the types of data analyses I’m capable of and knowledge I possess now through the lens of what I was capable of only two years ago, I can see the growth. When I look at the quality of my work today compared to in the past, distant and recent, there is growth. As a parent of school-aged children now, I see the incredible pressures this culture levies on immediate success and high performance. My middle child, who is four years younger than her older sister, has unrealistic expectations of her own capabilities and limitations, and often finds herself at a comparative disadvantage to her sister. Both my school-aged children have been asked to perform tasks, to which they fail or don’t perform to their level of desire or expectations, and when asked to do it again they’ve huffed in frustration and despair, “I can’t do that, dad!”, to which I always reply, “No. You can’t yet. You CAN figure it out!” 

Oh, if I had learned that lesson earlier in my life. Sometimes we have families with impossible expectations for us. Sometimes we work for employers who want us to perform at a high level, never make mistakes, and are waiting with the hammer held twitchingly above our heads, ready for us to fail. Sometimes our educational system is designed to grind us through the mill at their speed when we really need to back up and master foundational things….the list goes on. 

Let me assure you of some things: you will disappoint those you love. You will make an embarrassing mistake at your job. You will misunderstand a school assignment and get a bad grade. You will send that email or chat message that you didn’t think through well enough. You will forget a deadline. You will get turned down for that promotion. You will receive rejection letters for almost all of those “dream jobs” with the nice salaries you’ve applied for.  

And that’s ok.

Embrace failure. It isn’t the end; it is an opportunity to learn and grow. 

Embrace chuckling at the simpleton’s drivel you produced “back when”; you were proud of it then because it was what you were capable of then.

Pursue growth, not perfection; every project and every challenge are opportunities to get better, so embrace where you’re at.

Finally, never get comfortable. Life is a journey, not a destination, and if we ever deceive ourselves into thinking that we can rest on our laurels, we stop growing. It takes an oak tree a hundred years to tower over its peers. Do you see it now? If we recognize that our journey is about growth, it is ok to be where we are and recognize that growth takes time and persistence.

Cool Extra Resources:

A UTK Class I HIGHLY recommend to study student success: ELPS 595: Student Success in Higher Education 

A book that was instrumental for me understanding wellbeing/belonging/success:  

Quaye, S. J., Harper, S. R., & Pendakur, S. L. (Eds.). (2020). Student engagement in higher education: Theoretical perspectives and practical approaches for diverse populations (Third edition). Routledge. 

Wellbeing/Strengths Assessments: 

Gallup Clifton Strengths: https://www.gallup.com/cliftonstrengthsforstudents/ 

EdResearch for Action: https://edresearchforaction.org/research-briefs/evidence-based-practices-for-assessing-students-social-and-emotional-well-being-2/  

 
Full Reference List: 

Arruda, W. (2021, December 10). Why Failure Is Essential To Success. https://www.forbes.com/sites/williamarruda/2015/05/14/why-failure-is-essential-to-success/ 

Essential post-pandemic skills | ACCA Global. (2021). https://www.accaglobal.com/lk/en/affiliates/advance-ezine/careers-advice/post-pandemic-skills.html 

Evidence-Based Practices For Assessing Students’ Social And Emotional Well-Being. (n.d.). EdResearch for Action. Retrieved January 5, 2025, from https://edresearchforaction.org/research-briefs/evidence-based-practices-for-assessing-students-social-and-emotional-well-being-2/ 

Quaye, S. J., Harper, S. R., & Pendakur, S. L. (Eds.). (2020). Student engagement in higher education: Theoretical perspectives and practical approaches for diverse populations (Third edition). Routledge. 

Singh, A. (2021, August 23). The top data science skills for the post-Covid world. https://www.globaltechcouncil.org/data-science/the-top-data-science-skills-for-the-post-covid-world/ 

Clean, Correlate, and Compare: The Importance of Having a Data Analysis Plan

February 7, 2025 by Jonah Hall

By Dr. Jennifer Ann Morrow

Why a Data Analysis Plan?

While it can be tempting to just dive right on in and conduct your proposed analyses (I mean who doesn’t just want to run a multiple regression right away?!?) it’s good practice to have a detailed plan for how you intend to clean your data and how you will address your evaluation/assessment questions. Creating a data analysis plan BEFORE you start working with your dataset helps you think through the data that you need to collect to address your questions, what specific pieces of the data that you will use to address your questions, how you will analyze the data that you collect, and what are the most appropriate ways to disseminate the data that you analyze. While creating a data analysis plan can be time consuming, it is an invaluable part of the data management and analysis process. Also, if you are working with a team (as many of us evaluator/assessment professional do!) it makes collaboration, replication, and report generation easier. Just like the data codebook, the data analysis plan is a living document that changes as you make decisions and modifications to your dataset and planned analyses.  

I share the data analysis plan with my clients throughout the life of the project so they are aware of the process but also so they can chime in if they have questions or requests for different ways to approach the analysis of their data. At the end of my time with the project I routinely share a copy of the data codebook, data analysis plan, and a cleaned/sanitized dataset for the client to continue to use to inform their program and organization. 

What is in a Data Analysis Plan?

Whether you create your data analysis plan in Excel, Word, or some other software platform (I tend to prefer Word) these are my suggestions for what you should include in a data analysis plan: 

• 1.) General Instructions to Data Analysts
• 2.) List of Datasets for the Project
• 3.) Who is Responsible for Each Section of the Analysis Plan
• 4.) Evaluation/Assessment Questions
• 5.) Variables that You Will Use in Your Analyses
• 6.) Step by Step Description of Your Data Cleaning Process
• 7.) Specific Analyses that You Will Use to Address Each Evaluation/Assessment Question
• 8.) Proposed Data Visualizations that You Will Use for Each Analysis
• 9.) Software Syntax/Code (e.g., SPSS, R) that You Will Use to Analyze Your Data

Since many times there are multiple people working with my datasets (Boy…did it take me a long time to get used to giving up control here!) including step by step instructions for how your data analysts should name, label, and save files is extremely important. Also providing guidance for how data analysts should document what they do (see project notebook in your data codebook!) and how they arrived at their decisions is invaluable for keeping the evaluation/assessment team aware of each step of the data analysis process. 

I typically organize my data analysis plan by first listing any data cleaning that needs to be completed followed by each of my evaluation/assessment questions. This way all of my analyses are organized by the questions that my client wants me to address…and this helps immensely when writing up my evaluation/assessment report for them.  

Including either the software syntax/code (if using something like SPSS or R) or the step-by-step approach to how you are using the software tool (if using something like Excel) to clean and analyze the data is so helpful to not only your team members but also your clients. It allows them to easily rerun analyses and critique the steps that you took to analyze the data. I also include in my syntax/code notes about my decision-making process so anyone can easily follow how and why I approached the analyses the way that I did. 

Additional Advice

While it is important to develop your data analysis plan early in your project always remember that it is a living document and it will definitely change as you are collecting data, meeting with your client to discuss the evaluation/assessment, and during the data cleaning process. Your “perfect” plan may not work once you have collected your data, so be flexible in your approach. Just remember to document any changes that you make to the plan and to your data in your project notebook! 

Resources

12 Steps of Data Cleaning Handout: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/x2bf2t0q134p0cx4kvej0/TWELVE-STEPS-OF-DATA-CLEANING-BRIEF-HANDOUT-MORROW-2017.pdf?rlkey=lfrllz3zya83qzeny6ubwzvjj&dl=0 

http://fogartyfellows.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/SAP_workbook.pdf 

https://cghlewis.com/blog/project_beginning

https://learn.crenc.org/how-to-create-a-data-analysis-plan

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4552232/pdf/cjhp-68-311.pdf

https://the.datastory.guide/hc/en-us/articles/360003250516-Creating-Analysis-Plans-for-Surveys

https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/brief-introduction-to-the-12-steps-of-evaluagio/26168236#1

https://www.surveymonkey.com/mp/developing-data-analysis-plan

https://youtu.be/105wwMySZYc?si=9SEqjP2HWB5k4MDn

https://youtu.be/djVHKjmImrw?si=BdfSxl6C4weZEOgD