Reclaiming and recasting: An anti-racist approach to psychometric instrument development

Abstract

The development of anti-racist quantitative measures is troubled by educational psychology’s long reliance on quantitative methodologies that have reinforced White supremacy. To move the field of educational psychology forward, we must critically analyze and challenge methods that do not consider race and racism as realities for communities of color. This manuscript proposes grounding the development of instruments in critical, transformative frameworks such as Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Phenomenological Variant Ecological Systems Theory (PVEST). Considerable attention is given to the instrument development process, theoretical frameworks, and validation of the instrument. This paper highlights the use of a Critical Race Mixed Methodology (CRMM), which involves the combining of Critical Race Theory and Mixed Methods (DeCuir-Gunby & Schutz, 2018), to develop the first quantitative tool to measure the STEM identity of African American students while accounting for their racial identity and lived experiences with racism in STEM spaces. Essentially, this manuscript seeks to emphasize the importance of scrutinizing current methods and adopting a more nuanced approach that accounts for the role of power and racialized realities of communities of color.