Illustrating and Enacting a Critical Quantitative Approach to Measurement with MIMIC Models

Abstract

Quantitative methodology and the field of measurement have racist, sexist, and eugenicist histories. These histories have led many to abandon quantitative methods, believing that achieving equity is not possible with methods developed to propagate oppression. However, more critical and emerging scholarship has begun to articulate a Critical Quantitative (CQ) perspective. This paper aims to move beyond the critique of quantitative methods and to consolidate this emerging CQ literature, by articulating specific applications and enactments of a CQ framework. To do so, this paper articulates five guiding principles (i.e., foundation, goals, parity, subjectivity, and self-reflexivity) and details how CQ can address racism and inequity. We then use two examples to illustrate how CQ researchers can use MIMIC models to identify and mitigate racist uses of measurements. Finally, we note that while CQ can help scholars identify and mitigate how racism permeates measurement, this is not the same as directly intervening on the interlocking systems of inequality that perpetuate racism, anti-Blackness, and other forms of oppression that constrain humanity and opportunity.