Illuminating Contradictions: Racialized Aberrations and the Non-hierarchical Limits of Quantification

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Friday 11:45 am - Gold 4
  In Roundtable Session: Reconceptualizing Measurement, Classification, and Validity in Critical Quantitative Work

Abstract

This study introduces the Racialized Aberration Typology, a tool developed through a critical mixed methods analysis of teacher candidates’ survey scores and discussion board reflections on race. Challenging the hierarchical privileging of numerical data, we argue that contradictions between quantitative and qualitative findings offer insight into the epistemic limits of measuring racialization. Grounded in Critical Race Mixed Methodology and quantification, our work conceptualizes contradiction as a generative site for justice-centered inquiry. We identify four aberration types—Cross-Modal, False-Negative, Theoretical, and Inverse Effect—that reveal the complexity of racialized learning and the inadequacy of traditional psychometrics alone. This typology offers a framework for non-hierarchical, relational, and participatory research designs that center equity and acknowledge the complex nature of racialized experiences.

Author

• Nathaniel D. Stewart, University of Minnesota