How do I ensure that historical items are comparable to the Glint taxonomy?

Survey design and mapping is an important step - getting this right is critical because if not done well, results could be misconstrued and consequently misinforms organization wide and team level interventions. Having worked as a People Scientist for a while now, this is where errors are commonly made so it is definitely worth investing more time and effort on this process. 

Now, once you have selected your questions from the Glint taxonomy that align to your organizational strategies, there may be a desire to compare trending data from previous surveys to your new Glint items. 

 

If you do decide to compare historical data to new items moving forward, it is vital that the previous and new questions are truly comparable. If historical data is not aligned to new insights, you risk misinterpreting the results, not having clear connections from historical to new insights or proceeding with misguided action steps. 

 

To ensure true comparisons between previous and new results, it is essential to match items accurately. In order to map to the Glint taxonomy, you must consider the wording, item intention, and referents. 

 

- Exact wording

- Similar wording with same intent

- Similar wording with same referent 

 

 

Item intention: If items have different wording, they can still be mapped to Glint items as long as the intention of the historical item aligns with the intention of the item you are mapping to –they must have the same aimed purpose and outcome (see attached Item Intention for examples)