What is psychological safety?
The belief that one will not be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes, and that the team is safe for interpersonal risk taking. Amy Edmondson,1999
Amy Edmondson is a leader in researching “psychological safety” in the workplace and in healthcare. She notes that teams that feel psychologically safe are more likely to be engaged, to feel like their contributions are meaningful, and to know that they can voice their opinions or concerns without fear of retribution or humiliation.
We can easily understand how psychologically safe teams benefit the work of academic libraries, given that so much of that work is performed in groups (including assessment committees). But we as librarians in higher education are also focused on providing an inclusive learning environment for everyone, and practicing ethical research.
Psychological safety is particularly relevant for academic libraries because it enables knowledge sharing and innovation. When library staff feel safe to suggest new ideas without fear of ridicule or punishment, libraries can better adapt to changing user and institutional needs. It also promotes error reporting and continuous improvement. In psychologically safe environments, mistakes are viewed as learning opportunities rather than failures to be hidden, enabling continuous improvement in services and processes. Additionally, psychological safety creates spaces where diverse perspectives can be heard, regardless of position, identity, or experience level. Bobbi Newman, 2025
Psychological safety and library assessment efforts
As I read through the psychological safety literature (mostly in the business and organizational studies fields; see bibliography below), I considered how psychological safety could apply to what we plan and implement in our library assessment efforts. Thanks to great discussions with assessment colleagues, I considered how closely elements of psychological safety intersect ethical research practice with human subjects, in particular informed consent.
Some ideas I noted from my reading included:
- How much we pay attention to (and practice!) confidentiality in library environments (yay, librarians/assessment practitioners!)
- How important it is to recognize power dynamics on campus, in the residential experience, in the classroom, amongst peers, etc., and to try to minimize those dynamics that might impact participation, responses, and results (undue influence)
- How critical it is to create assessment experiences where each participant has agency, while providing a supportive learning experience (e.g. many undergraduate students have never participated in focus groups or product interviews so they don’t know what to expect or even how to articulate their views)
- How beneficial is it to offer multiple/different modes of data gathering because it allows everyone in our targeted demographic or audience to be involved if they choose
- How we can’t guarantee a “safe space,” but rather a “brave space” for our assessment participants
- And, how productive and supportive assessment team members are when they feel like they can speak up authentically about assessment ideas or methods or result analyses, without dismissal.
The assessment environment, interpersonal interactions, technologies used, context and content, etc., impact how our participants respond and engage with our assessment efforts. So my internal question became: “What does psychologically safe library assessment look like?”
It is creating a space where participants can bring their own experiences and knowledge to a research session, and feel comfortable bringing them. Urska Ticar & Rachael Tunnard, 2021
Things to ponder and practice
That means that we could describe psychological safety in digital products as: The extent to which users feel safe to explore, make decisions, and provide feedback within a digital product or service without fear of negative consequences. It encompasses the freedom to take risks and interact without feeling penalized and the security to amend their mistakes. Maricela Arizaga, 2024
Getting inspiration from a 2021 presentation on psychological safety and user research as well as UX articles (see bibliography below), I started listing some guidelines for my future library assessment work.
- Create ground rules within the assessment team and between participants. Shaping the norms helps set expectations and hopefully creates an environment where folks feel comfortable to contribute and to disagree.
- Clearly state what stays confidential and what may have to be shared. And don’t forget to share the why’s of the assessment (why the library is doing this research, and why participants’ input is critical to the process), as part of informed consent and ethical research practice.
- Assure participants that they can end their participation at any time without retribution or penalty.
- Be empathetic! Respect participants’ experiences, opinions, feedback, and ideas.
- Assure participants that their participation isn’t a test – there are no wrong answers. And there is no connection to student grades!
- Be sensitive and appreciative of participants’ time – don’t ask questions tangential to my research question because I’m “curious.”
- Assessment team members can model psychological safety, by showing vulnerability to participants. Show my humanity in ways that make sense for my assessment format or methods. Don’t panic if someone backs out of the assessment activity. Put the participant's needs ahead of my research process.
- Particularly during UX testing, create an environment of trust. By humanely supporting the participants as they engage with new-to-them-technology or interfaces or products, I hope they will be willing to take risks and tell me what they’re feeling and thinking, especially if they are confused in any way. (E.g. I should practice asking, “Would you walk me through your thought process at that point?” rather than “Why did you do that here?”) Part of this support includes making it clear how I will handle their personal data (observational or feedback).
- In focus groups, psychological safety could be demonstrated as active listening by the research team. Survey methodologies could provide digital psychological safety in the text of the survey invitations, by modeling honest and clear communication. In an interview environment, the research team could create a sense of psychological safety by being open to feedback and/or criticism.
- Ask participants how they are feeling about the experience at the end of the interview, focus group, survey, UX test, etc. This check-in can tell me something about the authenticity of my research design and maybe the validity of my results.
I’m inspired to create a psychologically safe assessment experience for everyone that engages with my research process, in the hopes of developing shared trust and authenticity, but also as part of my ethical responsibilities as a researcher. As assessment practitioners, we can emphasize the value of learning relationships with our campus community and assessment work groups through application of psychological safety, rather than prioritize “right” answers or response rates.
Bibliography
Arizaga, M. (June 16, 2024). The Decision Lab—Behavioral Science, Applied. The Decision Lab. https://thedecisionlab.com/insights/innovation/psychological-safety-in-ux-fostering-trust-and-eng
Baskin, K. (2023, June 14). Four Steps to Building the Psychological Safety That High-Performing Teams Need | Working Knowledge. Harvard Business School. https://www.library.hbs.edu/working-knowledge/four-steps-to-build-the-psychological-safety-that-high-performing-teams-need-today
Edmonson, A. (2018). The Fearless organization: Creating psychological safety in the workplace for learning, innovation, and growth. Wiley & Sons, 2018
Gallo, A. (2023, February 15). What Is Psychological Safety? Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2023/02/what-is-psychological-safety
Gallo, A. (2023). What is Psychological Safety? [video] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZgmoxOgfig
How Leaders Can Build Psychological Safety at Work. (2026). Center for Creative Leadership. https://www.ccl.org/articles/leading-effectively-articles/what-is-psychological-safety-at-work/
Newman, B. (2025). Building Psychological Safety in Academic Libraries: Fostering Innovation, Well-Being, and Engaged Teams. College & Research Libraries News, 86(5), 188. doi:https://doi.org/10.5860/crln.86.5.188
Pallmer, B.W. (2015, September). Study participants and informed consent, Monitor on Psychology, Vol 46, No. 8. https://www.apa.org/monitor/2015/09/ethics
Solotroff, M. (2026, July 6). Psychological Safety in Research Interviews: A Practical Guide for Better Consumer Insight. C+R Research. https://www.crresearch.com/blog/psychological_safety_in_research_interviews_a_practical_guide_for_better_consumer_insight/
Ticar, U. & Tunnard, R. Curating psychological safety through the stages of your user research. (2021, October 21). https://paper.studio/2021/10/21/psychological-safety/