diff --git a/pkg/restheadspec/handler.go b/pkg/restheadspec/handler.go
index 092c70a..8f7f895 100644
--- a/pkg/restheadspec/handler.go
+++ b/pkg/restheadspec/handler.go
@@ -2144,15 +2144,14 @@ func (h *Handler) sendResponse(w common.ResponseWriter, data interface{}, metada
 func (h *Handler) sendResponseWithOptions(w common.ResponseWriter, data interface{}, metadata *common.Metadata, options *ExtendedRequestOptions) {
 	w.SetHeader("Content-Type", "application/json")
 	
-	// Calculate data length
-	dataLen := 0
+	// Handle nil data - convert to empty array
 	if data == nil {
-		// When data is nil, return empty array instead of null
 		data = []interface{}{}
-	} else {
-		dataLen = reflection.Len(data)
 	}
 	
+	// Calculate data length after nil conversion
+	dataLen := reflection.Len(data)
+	
 	// Add X-No-Data-Found header when no records were found
 	if dataLen == 0 {
 		w.SetHeader("X-No-Data-Found", "true")
@@ -2210,13 +2209,14 @@ func (h *Handler) normalizeResultArray(data interface{}) interface{} {
 func (h *Handler) sendFormattedResponse(w common.ResponseWriter, data interface{}, metadata *common.Metadata, options ExtendedRequestOptions) {
 	// Normalize single-record arrays to objects if requested
 	httpStatus := http.StatusOK
-	dataLen := 0
+	
+	// Handle nil data - convert to empty array
 	if data == nil {
-		// When data is nil, return empty array instead of null
 		data = []interface{}{}
-	} else {
-		dataLen = reflection.Len(data)
 	}
+	
+	// Calculate data length after nil conversion
+	dataLen := reflection.Len(data)
 
 	// Add X-No-Data-Found header when no records were found
 	if dataLen == 0 {