Promoting Equity in Methodological Considerations for Disaggregated Data

Abstract

PROMOTING EQUITABLE APPROACHES IN SOCIAL SCIENCES RESEARCHAs we anticipate the readers of this journal are aware, there has been a growing number of conversations in recent years regarding equity and justice. These discussions have spread throughout many fields and sectors, including among those of us in the public policy analysis and management social sciences. Our own organization (Mathematica) joined with eight others in the policy research field to form the Evidence and Equity Collaborative. 1 Staff within our organizations connect to share strategies that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion within our institutions; collaborate together on partnerships and opportunities that could expand the diversity of those exploring policy research careers; and discuss equitable methods and approaches for conducting policy research. By sharing and learning alongside one another, we hope to build a foundation for analysis ready to advance equitable systems, policies, and programs across the nation. Throughout our experience, we have learned that there are a variety of perspectives on what it means to promote equity in research and evaluation methodologies, and that individuals hold different beliefs about how equity can or should be incorporated into this work.This column breaks from our traditional format of having two authors share a back-and-forth exchange on a specific policy area. However, we uphold the spirit of the Point/Counterpoint column by sharing different authors' perspectives on a key topic of interest to many in the JPAM audience. We have enlisted contributors from member organizations in the Evidence and Equity Collaborative to share their views and experiences using equitable approaches to research and evaluation methods. Nitya Venkateswaran of RTI begins with an essay on how researchers can conceptualize the principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion in their work and provides concrete examples of how those principles can be embedded. Next, Vanessa Hoffman and Glynnis Melnicove of the American Institutes for Research share an essay describing their experience using a participatory research approach in a Ugandan community to involve those who would traditionally be considered as "research subjects" into the research process itself. Then, Marjorie Dorimé-Williams of MDRC provides her reflections on how quantitative research methods, including disaggregating data, have the opportunity to more accurately reflect the experiences of those from historically underrepresented communities; however, she warns that unless equitable practices are used in these methods, such as critical quantitative inquiry, they can result in further harm to the communities. Then, John Hotchkiss, Divya Vohra,