HOLDING THE IN-BETWEEN: A CRITICAL QUANTITATIVE CONSCIOUSNESS SCALE FOR INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH AND ASSESSMENT

Abstract

This study developed and validated the Critical Quantitative Consciousness Scale (CQCS), a measure designed to assess how institutional research and assessment professionals engage quantitative work through a critical lens. Quantitative methods in higher education have historically been rooted in positivist traditions that claim objectivity while often obscuring structural inequities, racism, and power. Rather than accepting methodological neutrality as given, this study examined how professionals navigate, resist, reproduce, and reimagine quantitative traditions in their daily practice.Using an exploratory sequential mixed methods design, I first conducted qualitative interviews with experts in institutional research, assessment, and critical quantitative inquiry to conceptualize the construct of critical quantitative consciousness (CQC). Findings from this phase informed the development of the CQCS. I then administered the instrument nationally to institutional research and assessment professionals to examine its factor structure, reliability, and validity. The final validated scale reflected three interrelated dimensions: knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors. Beyond instrument development, this study investigated the factors that shape CQC. I examined how demographic characteristics, professional characteristics, and institutional context impacted critical quantitative consciousness. Findings demonstrated that attitudes were the strongest predictor of engagement in critical quantitative behaviors, complicating assumptions that technical training alone produces equity-oriented data practice. This research addresses a significant gap in the literature by empirically examining how institutional research and assessment professionals understand and enact critical quantitative methods. Grounded in Chicana feminist epistemology, QuantCrit, and intersectionality, the study advances a framework for understanding quantitative work as inherently political rather than neutral. The CQCS offers both a conceptual and practical contribution to higher education by providing a tool to assess, support, and cultivate critical quantitative praxis in institutional research and assessment contexts.