Course abstract
Sound measurement is foundational to quantitative methodology and to the assessment enterprise. However, the racist and eugenicist legacies of quantitative methodology and measurement may lead to the (understandable) conclusion that these approaches are not redeemable.
Instead of “throwing the baby out with the bathwater,” acknowledging their troubling histories is one step toward repurposing quantitative methodology toward critical, anti-racist, and/or equitable purposes.
An equity-oriented quantitative perspective is another important step. Critical Quantitative perspectives (Diemer et al., 2023; Stage, 2007) merge critical theories and quantitative methodology to synergize their unique strengths. This perspective is anchored by five guiding principles (i.e., foundation, goals, parity, subjectivity, and self-reflexivity) to mitigate racism and advance social justice.
Within the broader Critical Quantitative framework, MIMIC (Multiple Indicator and MultIple Causes) models are an approach that exemplifies a more critical, anti-racist, and/or equity-oriented measurement approach (see Randall, 2021). Briefly, MIMIC models are variants of confirmatory factor analyses, which include an exogenous covariate(s) to test for latent mean differences as well as item differences (“DIF,” or differential item functioning).
MIMICs simply and efficiently test whether a measure means the same thing and can be measured in the same way across (e.g., racial/ethnic and/or gender) groups. This capacity to test for scalar measurement invariance provides affordances for equity-oriented measurement. Further, the sample size efficiency of MIMICs –not dividing sample into multiple groups, as in multi-group measurement invariance – has advantages when studying minoritized populations, which (by definition) are smaller in number. Despite these affordances, MIMICs have important limitations to also consider.