Could MBTI Be Integrated into KLS’s Advisories and Classes?

*Disclaimer: This article was written for entertainment purposes. Please do not take this article too seriously.*

Why did we do this?

Integrating into a new school can always be difficult, especially when you don’t know anyone, or know anything about the school culture. Because KLS is especially different compared to other private schools, it can be even harder for new students to find the right people to talk to. Because advisories have not changed much since last year, we tried coming up with our way of helping people come closer together in a unique way. 

Our main question was: Could personality tests be used to help new students become more integrated into the school? 

Explaining MBTI

To help us, we used MBTI, which stands for the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. Your personality ‘type’ comprises four letters, each representing a different way you perceive yourself. 

The Four Letters: 

I (Introversion) vs. E (Extroversion)

• These 2 letters tell you how you gain and direct your energy. Introverted people tend to gain energy when spending time alone and focusing on their inner world, while extroverted people feel more energized when they are out socializing with others. 

N (Intuition) vs. S (Sensing)

• This tells you how you take in information. Intuitive people like to look for the big picture and identify patterns while sensing people often focus on what they perceive by using their five senses. 

F (Feeling) vs. T (Thinking)

• This letter tells you how you come to conclusions and make decisions. Feelers like to consider what is important to people around them, while thinkers often logically analyze the situation. 

P (Perceiving) vs. J (Judging)

•  This tells you how you approach the outside world. Perceivers tend to enjoy spontaneous activities, while judgers prefer to be orderly and plan things out.  

How we conducted this study

Why we conducted our study:

In order to test our question of “could personality tests be used to help new students become more integrated into the school?”, we asked students of different grades to participate in a study. When you are going to a new school, oftentimes you get introduced to our peers through ice breakers, but sometimes they can feel too forced and structured. We wondered if new students could get to know their peers better through the integration of personality tests (MBTI).

Conducting the study:

To conduct our study we took a convenience sample* (which is a biased method of sampling with people who are convenient for you or are easily available to you), and we sent out a form to see who would want to be a part of our study. Once we got a list of volunteers we asked them to take the MBTI test and report their results in a form. We originally started our study with 10 pairs of people (20 students in total) but due to scheduling conflicts we were only able to get 8 pairs.  

Each pair was assigned either  an ice breaker or MBTI round.( Out of 8 pairs were split into 3 assigned to the icebreaker round, another 3 pairs were assigned to the MBTI round, and the last 2 pairs did both rounds.) There were prompts for each round and we let each pair talk to each other without any interference, participants got to know each other through icebreakers or through their personality types. Later we sent a form for each participant to reflect on if they got to know their partner better due to this study and how the conversation was flowing.

Improvements:

Our study has definitely evolved from when we began to when we ended. We also attempted to adapt our study as we learned more critical information. For example, while groups were only assigned to do either the MBTI round or just the Icebreaker round later, we later realized if we wanted to see the difference and were hoping to measure which round works better we needed at least two pairs who would do both rounds. By doing this we were able to come to a conclusion with their new perspective, which helped us with our study.

Other biases:

After we randomly assigned partners, we didn't know how well each person knew each other. Certain people are more talkative and some are less so we cannot control how different people interact (this is dependent on each peroles personality, it’s hard for people to act as controlled variables). Some pairs knew each other better while others didn’t really interact much with each other. There wasn't a set time, approximately we cut each pair at 30 minutes. 

What our results and the students who participated in our study thought

Overall, we saw mixed results for both ice breakers and MBTI, but when asking one of our participants, they said They concluded that icebreakers were an effective way to get to know each other better, and talking about MBTI gave a deeper insight into what kind of person they are. Despite mixed reactions, all participants reported that they got to know their partner better. 

Reflection

Although our study could have been planned out and conducted in a more organized way, we felt that the results were genuine and people were able to connect with each other. The design of our experiment evolved as we conducted interviews because we felt there could be more to improve our results. Though ideally, we would have stuck to the original idea, we quickly realized there were flaws to the design, and with a limited number of participants, we had to find a way to get the most amount of data out of each person. This led to the last two participants to begin with ice breakers, before changing the discussion topic to MBTI. 

Our conclusion

• They work better together! Icebreakers help people get to know each other on the surface but MBIT gets them to think deeper about who they are and can make more meaningful connections. 

• However, certain MBTI combinations work better together so it sometimes may be hard to get your desired outcome but individuals connecting 

If you are curious to learn about your personality type, click here for a simple result, and this longer one for a more detailed result.

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