“Four ‘-ologies’ of Inequality Research”

Adam Hollowell and Kennedy Ruff

“I’m completely irritated at myself for spending a good part of the afternoon making this,” Katie Strom tweeted in August 2022, “But I’m also kind of proud of it.” Attached to the tweet was a meme explaining four technical terms in academic research – epistemology, ontology, methodology, and axiology – with pop culture images. Strom, professor of educational leadership at California State University, East Bay, made the image for her classes on research design for social justice.

We teach research design, too, as part of a summer program for high school students in Durham, North Carolina called the Aaron Young Scholars Research Institute. The program is offered in partnership with Durham Public Schools and the Cook Center on Social Equity at Duke University, where we work. High schoolers come to Duke’s campus each summer for intensive training in inequality studies, research methods, and academic writing.

We decided to turn Strom’s meme into a presentation. With a few tweaks to her pop culture references, we introduced our summer researchers to four core concepts in social scientific research and explained what difference inequality makes to our understanding of these concepts. (We also swapped axiology for phenomenology, for reasons explained below.) After a few years of positive feedback from the students, we decided to write the presentation into an essay, adding stories of our conversations with students who wrestle with these terms as they pitch and develop inequality research of their own. (For privacy, each story below is a composite depiction.)¹

We call it “Four ‘-ologies of Inequality Research.”

Ontology is the first term.

In philosophy, ontology refers to theories of being. (It asks questions like, “What sorts of things exist?” and “What properties do existing things have?”) In research, ontology refers to the concepts and categories that describe the world we study. It could include seemingly obvious categories of existence, like “human,” “tree,” or “apple,” or the categories could be up for some debate: for example, “upper class,” “disabled,” and “adult” can have different meanings to different people and in different contexts.

In philosophy, ontology refers to theories of being. In research, ontology refers to the concepts and categories that describe the world we study.

All research includes assumptions about the concepts and categories that describe what exists. Sometimes researchers make those assumptions explicit by defining their terms: for example, “In this study, upper class describes households in the top 25% of annual income in the United States.” Other times, researchers assume that their categories speak for themselves. Most studies do not define the term “person,” for example, they simply use it.

In 2020 @DrawnToIntellect posted² on X (formerly Twitter), “Use caution when describing barriers. Being Black is not a barrier for me. White supremacy is the barrier. Being female is not a barrier for me. Patriarchy is the barrier. Name the systems of power. These are the barriers.”

This illustrates why ontology matters in research. If a researcher puts “Black” into the ontological category of “barrier,” then the study will fail to describe the white supremacist system of power. Researchers have the power to make some features of the world more significant and other features less significant based on which concepts and categories they use. It is especially important to pay attention to this kind of power when researching inequality.

“Categories are not static variables,” writes Alejando Covarrubias and others³

Covarrubias, A., Nava, P. E., Lara, A., Burciaga, R., & Solorzano, D. G. (2018). Expanding Educational Pipelines: Critical Race Quantitative Intersectionality as a Transactional Methodology. In T. K. Chapman, P. A. Schutz, & J. T. DeCuir-Gunby (Eds.), Understanding Critical Race Research Methods and Methodologies (1 edition, pp. 138–149). Routledge. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315100944-12/expanding-educational-pipelines-alejandro-covarrubias-pedro-nava-argelia-lara-rebeca-burciaga-daniel-sol%C3%B3rzano., “but historically situated realities of how positions of power mediate opportunity. Even data collected and analyzed on intersectionality does not speak for itself.” Manuela Boatcă⁴

Boatcă, M. (2015). Global Inequalities Beyond Occidentalism (1st edition). Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/Global-Inequalities-Beyond-Occidentalism/Boatc/p/book/9781138215573. makes a similar observation in Global Inequalities, where she says that the “core categories” of inequality research have rendered class conflict and social mobility “more visible” than colonialism and the slave trade.Inequality researchers should be able to answer the ontological question, what concepts and categories am I using to describe what exists? And if you need a quick prompt, just think of country music superstar LeAnn Rimes, sings, How Do I Live?

Ontology:
What concepts and categories am I using to describe what exists?

In other words: How do I live?

_{Image credit: LeAnn Rimes. How Do I Live? Curb Records, 1997. Design by Curb Records.}

At the beginning of each summer we ask high school students to draft an inequality-related research question that they’d like to answer, fully knowing that the first round of responses will take some work. For instance, “How do healthcare systems around the world compare?,” is an excellent idea, but we’ll need to help the student narrow it into something more manageable for a summer project. “I’m interested in gender inequality in Olympic sports,” is a statement rather than a question, but it’s specific enough to send the student digging for evidence.

In most cases, a quick conversation can help students clarify an idea, narrow their topic, and identify initial steps to move forward. With Gloria, however, it took the whole afternoon. We talked for over two hours and only stopped when her mother’s blue sedan pulled into the rides out line.

“How does teacher bias impact the education Latinx students receive in the U.S.?” was her research question, which seemed straightforward enough. Teacher bias can be difficult to measure, partly because so many different variables affect student performance, but we encouraged Gloria to stick with the topic. You could consider reviewing findings from studies using the Implicit Association Test (IAT)⁵, a widely-used assessment for racial and other forms of bias.

“That’s not what I want to research,” Gloria said. “I want to focus on something more obvious.”

You could compare long-term educational outcomes, we suggested, across racial groups with similar levels of parental education and socioeconomic status.

“No,” said Gloria, “I’m talking about classroom interactions.”

How about microaggressions, we asked, pointing to the literature about stereotypes, slights, and invalidations that Latinx students face. Again, she refused.

Gloria eventually shared an experience she’d had a few years prior, where a teacher responded to a physical altercation between a white student and a Latino student with harsher discipline for the Latino student. What she’d witnessed wasn’t implicit bias, she explained, it was explicit bias. And, to Gloria, it was an aggression rather than a microaggression. She received our suggestions as attempts to downplay the intensity of the experience and the severity of the problem for Latinx students across the country who may find themselves in similar situations.

The following day we introduced Gloria to data from Russell Skiba and others⁶

Skiba, R. J., Horner, R. H., Chung, C.-G., Rausch, M. K., May, S. L., & Tobin, T. (2011). Race is not neutral: A national investigation of African American and Latino disproportionality in school discipline. School Psychology Review, 40(1), 85. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02796015.2011.12087730. showing that Latinx students are more likely than their white peers to receive expulsion and out of school suspension for the same or similar infractions. “This is what I’ve been describing,” she said, and her research was off and running.

What we experienced with Gloria was a mismatch of research concepts and categories. She used the phrase teacher bias to describe what she’d witnessed, and it certainly was bias, but research literature used a different term – school discipline. The point isn’t that Gloria’s language should conform to the research language because one is superior to the other. Rather, the point is that ontology matters to research, particularly inequality research, because the concepts and categories that we use to describe what exists are contested. Once we clarified what, exactly, Gloria was describing, we were able to align her experience with the research literature in a way that enabled her to move forward with the project.

Epistemology is the second term.

In philosophy, epistemology refers to theories of knowledge. (It asks questions like, “How is new knowledge acquired?” and “Can we ever know anything with certainty?”) In research, epistemology refers to the “theoretical perspective” that explains how we know what we know in a scientific inquiry. As with concepts and categories, some theoretical perspectives may seem obvious, like “We theorize that the best way to know a person’s body weight is to measure that weight on a scale,” or debateable, like “We theorize that the best way to know (and rate) a person’s physical health is to measure their bodyweight.”

In philosophy, epistemology refers to theories of knowledge. In research, epistemology refers to the “theoretical perspective” that explains how we know what we know in a scientific inquiry.

“Research methods have implicit philosophies of science embedded in them,” researchers Ruth Fassinger and Susan L. Morrow⁷

For instance, Michelle Fine,⁸

Fine, M. (2015). Decolonizing Knowledge: Toward a Critical Research Justice Praxis in the Urban Sphere. In A. J. Jolivétte (Ed.), Research Justice: Methodologies for social change (1st ed., pp. 199–204). Bristol University Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1t89jrt. professor of psychology at City University of New York, explains that most decisions about research design – which survey questions to ask, which population to sample, etc. – are generally made by a small handful of researchers without direct input from the population under examination. Fine suggests, instead, that research should begin with “the recognition that people who have paid the highest price for injustice carry the most intimate knowledge about how to design research about that injustice.” This suggestion is a direct challenge to traditional assumptions of who can (and should) create new knowledge.

It also indicates why epistemology matters to research design in inequality studies. Researchers must think carefully about their theory of knowledge and be able to give an account of who that theory of knowledge shapes their scientific inquiry. They must be explicit about the values that guide their research process and what influence those values will have on their findings.

“Anti-oppressive research involves making explicit the political practices involved in creating knowledge,” Karen Potts and Leslie Brown⁹

Potts, K. L., & Brown, L. (2015). Becoming an Anti-Oppressive Researcher. In S. Strega & L. Brown (Eds.), Research as Resistance, 2nd Edition (pp. 17–42). Canadian Scholars’ Press Inc. https://canadianscholars.ca/book/research-as-resistance-2nd-edition/. write in Research as Resistance. “It starts with paying attention to, and shifting, how power relations work in and through the processes of doing research.”Inequality researchers should be able to answer the epistemological question, what theoretical perspectives will inform my pursuit of new knowledge? Whitney Houston, bestselling musician and iconic vocalist, provides an easy reminder when she sings, How will I know?

Epistemology:
What theoretical perspectives will inform my pursuit of new knowledge?

In other words: How will I know?

_{Image credit: Whitney Houston. How Will I Know. Arista Records, 1985. Cover design by Ariola-Eurodisc/Studios.}

“Volunteering Does More Harm than Good,” ran across the top of the research poster draft. We sat down for a workshop with Ryan, the student who submitted it, and asked what drew him to the topic.

“I am the only one in my grade who genuinely cares about community service,” Ryan said. “Everyone else is just doing it to look like they care so they can put the hours on their college application,” he added.

Ryan had volunteered for the previous three years at the Boys and Girls Club in our city. As a “Knowledge Builders Tutor,” he offered academic support to elementary school students each afternoon, forgoing high school sports and delaying his own homework to later in the day. He’d made a legitimate sacrifice to help his community, and he had become close with the younger students that he tutored. Compared to the depth of his commitment, Ryan felt that everyone else’s community service seemed shallow and inauthentic. He hoped to use his summer research project to prove the point.

“I want to show that fake community service doesn’t benefit anyone,” Ryan said, “except the people who are applying to colleges.”

Without judging Ryan’s claim as right or wrong, we invited him to consider the source of his knowledge. “What evidence could you provide to prove that no one benefits?,” we asked. “If someone read your research, would they be convinced that the claims you make are justified with relevant information?”We needed Ryan to consider his epistemology, including the assumption that his perception of other people’s experiences counted as evidence of their experiences. As a researcher, he needed to be able to explain how he would know what he would know.

Phenomenology is the third term.

In philosophy, phenomenology refers to direct experiences with “phenomena” in the world. (Phenomena include objects, people, or environments, so phenomenology asks questions like, “How does a dog make you feel?” or “Can you describe an experience of intense pain?) In research phenomenology considers human experiences and the influence of context or situation on our understanding of those experiences. It can refer to the “positionality” or “social location” of the people involved in research.

In philosophy, phenomenology refers to direct experiences with “phenomena” in the world. In research phenomenology considers human experiences and the influence of context or situation on our understanding of those experiences.

All research takes place at a particular time, in a particular place, and with particular people, and these factors influence how research data is collected and interpreted. For instance, in Queer Data Kevin Guyan¹⁰

Guyan, K. (2022). Queer Data: Using Gender, Sex and Sexuality Data for Action. Bloomsbury Academic. https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/queer-data-9781350230729/. observes that data about LGBTQ people and communities can be used harmfully (for example, to categorize, stigmatize, or separate queer people from social context and common life) or helpfully (for example, to raise awareness, demonstrate social problems, or challenge misinformation). “A society with more data about LGBTQ people is not automatically a society that is better for LGBTQ people,” Guyan writes. He suggests that researchers conducting a new effort to collect queer data will need to think carefully about the potential uses (and misuses) of that data before moving forward with their research.

“Scientific exploration is never value-free,” Ruth Fassinger and Susan Morrow¹¹

Fassinger, R., & Morrow, S. L. (2013). Toward Best Practices in Quantitative, Qualitative, and Mixed- Method Research: A Social Justice Perspective. Journal for Social Action in Counseling and Psychology, 5(2), 69–83. https://doi.org/10.33043/JSACP.5.2.69-83. write, “but is culturally and temporally situated, enacted by human beings who bring their own unique lenses to each research endeavor.” (The belief that social location comes before determinations of value is why we removed axiology – the study of value – from Strom’s original meme and replaced it with phenomenology.) Engaging phenomenology in research design means attempting to give an account of that cultural and temporal “situated-ness.” It means thinking about what the research will observe and what difference it makes that this particular research team, in this particular time and place, are the observers.

It can begin simply. “Positionality starts by describing who you are and that in turn affects how you see the world,” write Sara Maria Acevedo and others¹²

Acevedo, S. M., Aho, M., Cela, E., Chao, J.-C., Garcia-Gonzales, I., MacLeod, A., Moutray, C., & Olague, C. (2015). Positionality as Knowledge: From Pedagogy to Praxis. Integral Review, 11(1), 28–46. https://integral-review.org/issues/vol_11_no_1_acevedo_et_al_positionality_as_knowledge.pdf. in “Positionality as Knowledge.” Amanda Freeman¹³

Freeman, A. (2015). Blurred Lines: Creating and Crossing Boundaries between Interviewer and Subject. In A. J. Jolivétte (Ed.), Research Justice: Methodologies for social change (1st ed., pp. 27–32). Bristol University Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1t89jrt. notes, “Reflexivity is essential, checking in on the ways in which my identity and experience might be influencing my data collection, analysis, and interpretation.” Over time, this reflexive work can become an “active verb,” add Mildred Boveda and Subini Annamma¹⁴

Boveda, M., & Annamma, S. A. (2023). Beyond Making a Statement: An Intersectional Framing of the Power and Possibilities of Positioning. Educational Researcher, Generic, 13189. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X231167149., “where researchers reflect and address where their locations lie in relationship to interlocking systems of oppression; fields of study; and, most importantly, research participants.”

Inequality researchers should be able to answer the phenomenological question, what will I observe and what difference will it make that I am the observer? Georgia-based hip-hop duo Tag Team can help you remember that when you hear them sing, Whoomp! (There It Is!).

Phenomenology:
What will I observe and what difference will it make that I am the observer?

In other words: Whoomp! (There it is!)

_{Image credit: Tag Team. Whoomp (There It Is). Life Records, 1993. Design by Dennis (Solid!) Loren.}

Hannah spent the month before joining our summer program shadowing two obstetricians at a nearby hospital. She learned about medicines and procedures, witnessed a life-saving surgery, and observed doctor/patient interactions. When we discussed her research interests, Hannah said that she wanted to explore the experiences of women and patients who could become pregnant in reproductive healthcare.

Specifically, Hannah had been unsettled by the difference in behavior she observed between the two physicians in their patient interactions. One doctor was warm and unruffled, the other was impersonal and hurried. “What impact does this difference have on patients and their health outcomes?,” Hannah wondered.

The question is important, as researchers continue to report disparities in maternal health on the basis of race and socioeconomic status, but we had to explain to Hannah the barriers she would face in directly researching patient experiences. We introduced her to the Institutional Review Board of Duke University, which is responsible for guaranteeing the protection of human research subjects and would require appropriate education and training before allowing in-person interviews. We discussed the history of mistreatment in medical research and how that history can impact what patients will share with researchers and the overall reliability of the findings.

Hannah’s research question was a good one, but as a high school student in a summer program, she wasn’t in a position to conduct the kind of inquiry she’d originally imagined. It was a matter of phenomenology – who she was made a difference to what she wanted to observe and how she would observe it.

After some conversation, Hannah decided to commit her summer research to evaluating the quality of medical school curriculums. Most top schools had an outline of their curriculum online, including required training in interpersonal skills and patient interaction. Hannah was able to compare and contrast the quality of those curricula via publicly available information and present findings about what kinds of training future doctors receive, and how this training might impact their bedside manner in the years ahead.

Methodology is the fourth term.

In philosophy, methodology refers to a structured process. (It asks questions like, “What actions do we take to achieve a goal?” and “Under what conditions is this true?) In research, the definition is very similar. Methodology refers to the methods, or steps, that a researcher takes when trying to answer a research question.

In philosophy, methodology refers to a structured process. In research, the definition is very similar. Methodology refers to the methods, or steps, that a researcher takes when trying to answer a research question.

A research method both organizes the steps a researcher will take in a study and offers a blueprint for future researchers to attempt a similar study. Providing a clear outline of a study’s methodology is an essential part of the transparency and integrity of scientific research. As Johannes Wheeldon and Mauri Ahlberg¹⁵

Wheeldon, J. P., & Ahlberg, M. K. (2011). Visualizing Social Science Research: Maps, Methods, & Meaning (1st edition). SAGE Publications, Inc. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781483384528. note, “Seeing research as a series of decisions acknowledges that different research problems, data-collection strategies, and methods of analysis shape research findings.”

Research methods can be qualitative, measuring the “quality” or features of something, or quantitative, measuring the “quantity” or number of something. Some studies, called “mixed methods,” combine both qualitative and quantitative inquiries. Other methodological decisions concern the size or scope of a study, which components will be included in the study or excluded from it, and what safeguards are in place to prevent research misconduct.

“When we choose a research focus, we must ask not only whose story it has the potential to tell, but also whose story it will hide, why, for whom, and with what consequence,” according to Susan Strega and Leslie Brown¹⁶

Strega, S., & Brown, L. (Eds.). (2015). Research as Resistance, 2nd Edition. Canadian Scholars’ Press Inc. https://canadianscholars.ca/book/research-as-resistance-2nd-edition/.. They note, for instance, that many more researchers examine the “problem” of extreme poverty than examine the “problem” of extreme wealth, even though poverty and wealth hoarding are related economic phenomena.

Research methods are particularly important in inequality studies, where concerns remain about the origins of scientific research, historical damage to vulnerable populations, and harmful statistical interpretations, as Jenna Sablan¹⁷

Sablan, J. R. (2019). Can You Really Measure That? Combining Critical Race Theory and Quantitative Methods. American Educational Research Journal, 56(1), 178–203. https://doi.org/10.3102/0002831218798325. observes. Inequality researchers must work to align their methodology – the “how” of research – with a broader commitment to equity and justice – the “why” of research. As Max Liboiron¹⁸

Liboiron, M. (2021). Pollution Is Colonialism. Duke University Press Books. https://www.dukeupress.edu/pollution-is-colonialism. has noted, research methods are, therefore, “a key site” for practicing “good relations (sometimes called ethics).”Inequality researchers should be able to answer the methodological question, what series of steps will I take to conduct this analysis? All you have to do is think of singer and producer Montell Jordan, as he sings, This is How We Do It.

Methodology:
What series of steps will I take to conduct this analysis?

In other words: This is how we do it.

_{Image credit: Montell Jordan. This is How We Do It. Rush Associated Labels, 1995. Design by The Drawing Board.}

Isaac is ambitious. He carries himself as a political figure destined for higher office, and when he pitches an idea, it’s going to be a big one.

“How to Unlock the Solution to Food Scarcity in North Carolina,” is his research proposal, and we try to channel this particular ambition into a more achievable goal.

Developing a research methodology is all about embracing limitations, but this can feel constraining, even downright mean, to students like Isaac. When we ask whether the solution will be federal, philanthropic, or corporate, he tells us it will take commitment from all three sectors. When we ask if he’d consider focusing on a particular county in the state, he tells us that the key to impact is an ever-ready potential for scale.

We try a different tack and ask Isaac to give us an example of a bad version of a research question on this topic. He thinks and says, “What explains the history of food scarcity in North Carolina?,” adding, “I want to look forward, not backward.” When we ask for another, he says, “Where are North Carolina’s food deserts?,” and “It’s not solutions-oriented.”

It would be great if Isaac could draw a line down the center of a piece of paper and write “Bad Research Questions” on the left side and “Good Research Questions” on the right. When we’ve already decided that a question is bad, it’s easier to see where it might go wrong, or where it fails to satisfy our curiosity. The problem is that narrowing a research method requires more than this. It means leaving good questions behind, too.We tell Isaac his homework for the next day is to draw a line down the center of a piece of paper and write “Good Research Question (That I Can Answer This Summer)” on the left side and “Good Research Questions (That I Might Answer One Day)” on the right. The left hand column can only have one entry in it, whereas the right hand column can have an infinite number of them. Limitation is the key.

“If you can’t tell us what you’re not researching, then you can’t tell us what you’re researching,” we say to Isaac. Because limitation is the key to a good methodology.

The Aaron Young Scholars Summer Research Institute ends, each year, with a capstone presentation attended by university faculty, local teachers and community supporters, and, of course, very proud family members. Each student stands before a 48″ x 36″ poster board with their research question printed across the top and describes the focus of their project, their research findings, and what they’ve learned about critical inquiry along the way.

Attendees walk among the students and their posters, listening intently and asking follow up questions. We mingle, too, offering affirmation and encouragement to the young scholars. They don’t need our help at this point, having graduated from the days of using album covers and catchy songs as mnemonic devices.

The importance of these four terms to the process of inequality remains. Ontology, epistemology, phenomenology, and methodology shape how inequality researchers operate, what they study, and the potential impact of their findings. Only when we better understand ourselves, our intentions, our methods, and our impact, can we advance social scientific knowledge for the formation of new policy and practice for a more equal world.

Bibliography

Boatcă, M. (2015). Global Inequalities Beyond Occidentalism (1st edition). Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/Global-Inequalities-Beyond-Occidentalism/Boatc/p/book/9781138215573.

Guyan, K. (2022). Queer Data: Using Gender, Sex and Sexuality Data for Action. Bloomsbury Academic. https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/queer-data-9781350230729/.

Liboiron, M. (2021). Pollution Is Colonialism. Duke University Press Books. https://www.dukeupress.edu/pollution-is-colonialism.
Potts, K. L., & Brown, L. (2015). Becoming an Anti-Oppressive Researcher. In S. Strega & L. Brown (Eds.), Research as Resistance, 2nd Edition (pp. 17–42). Canadian Scholars’ Press Inc. https://canadianscholars.ca/book/research-as-resistance-2nd-edition/.

Strega, S., & Brown, L. (Eds.). (2015). Research as Resistance, 2nd Edition. Canadian Scholars’ Press Inc. https://canadianscholars.ca/book/research-as-resistance-2nd-edition/.

Wheeldon, J. P., & Ahlberg, M. K. (2011). Visualizing Social Science Research: Maps, Methods, & Meaning (1st edition). SAGE Publications, Inc. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781483384528.

Footnotes

1
For best practices on nonfiction writing that includes children, see UNICEF’s “Ethical Guidelines for Reporting on Children.” https://www.unicef.org/montenegro/en/ethical-guidelines-reporting-children ↩︎
2
The tweet and account have since been deleted. A screenshot remains available at https://www.instagram.com/p/Cj0vjaUssYi/. ↩︎
3
Covarrubias and colleagues explore social scientific research methods that utilize both quantitative data analysis and critical theoretical analysis of race and intersectionality. They apply these methods in the field of education to investigate educational practices, policies, and movement-building.

Covarrubias, A., Nava, P. E., Lara, A., Burciaga, R., & Solorzano, D. G. (2018). Expanding Educational Pipelines: Critical Race Quantitative Intersectionality as a Transactional Methodology. In T. K. Chapman, P. A. Schutz, & J. T. DeCuir-Gunby (Eds.), Understanding Critical Race Research Methods and Methodologies (1 edition, pp. 138–149). Routledge. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315100944-12/expanding-educational-pipelines-alejandro-covarrubias-pedro-nava-argelia-lara-rebeca-burciaga-daniel-sol%C3%B3rzano. ↩︎
4
Global Inequalities Beyond Occidentalism tracks reproductions of inequality across history under global capitalism. Boatcă urges researchers to adopt a “relational” perspective on social hierarchies that can better describe the way “interdependencies” between world regions have contributed to global inequality.

Boatcă, M. (2015). Global Inequalities Beyond Occidentalism (1st edition). Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/Global-Inequalities-Beyond-Occidentalism/Boatc/p/book/9781138215573. ↩︎
5
To learn more or to take the test, visit https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html ↩︎
6
Skiba and colleagues review disciplinary data from over 350 elementary schools to assess disparities in infractions, disciplinary referrals, suspensions, and expulsions. Findings suggest that students from African American families and Latino families are more likely than their white peers to receive expulsion or out of school suspension as consequences for similar infractions.

Skiba, R. J., Horner, R. H., Chung, C.-G., Rausch, M. K., May, S. L., & Tobin, T. (2011). Race is not neutral: A national investigation of African American and Latino disproportionality in school discipline. School Psychology Review, 40(1), 85. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02796015.2011.12087730. ↩︎
7
Fassinger and Morrow discuss strengths and weaknesses of quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods approaches to anti-oppressive research and recommend best practices for social justice researchers.

Fassinger, R., & Morrow, S. L. (2013). Toward Best Practices in Quantitative, Qualitative, and Mixed- Method Research: A Social Justice Perspective. Journal for Social Action in Counseling and Psychology, 5(2), 69–83. https://doi.org/10.33043/JSACP.5.2.69-83. ↩︎
8
In a keynote speech at the 42nd Annual National Association for Ethnic Studies Conference in 2014, Fine outlines best practices for research justice.

Fine, M. (2015). Decolonizing Knowledge: Toward a Critical Research Justice Praxis in the Urban Sphere. In A. J. Jolivétte (Ed.), Research Justice: Methodologies for social change (1st ed., pp. 199–204). Bristol University Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1t89jrt. ↩︎
9
Potts and Brown introduce the term “anti-oppressive researcher” and outline three tenets of anti-oppressive research: Anti-oppressive research is social justice and resistance in process and outcome; Anti-oppressive research recognizes that all knowledge is socially constructed and political; The anti-oppressive research process is all about power and relationships.

Potts, K. L., & Brown, L. (2015). Becoming an Anti-Oppressive Researcher. In S. Strega & L. Brown (Eds.), Research as Resistance, 2nd Edition (pp. 17–42). Canadian Scholars’ Press Inc. https://canadianscholars.ca/book/research-as-resistance-2nd-edition/. ↩︎
10
In the first book to take a sustained look at queer data, Guyan examines contemporary data collection practices and data biases that can impact policy changes, access to services, and visibility for LGBTQ+ people.

Guyan, K. (2022). Queer Data: Using Gender, Sex and Sexuality Data for Action. Bloomsbury Academic. https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/queer-data-9781350230729/. ↩︎
11
Again, Fassinger and Morrow discuss strengths and weaknesses of quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods approaches to anti-oppressive research and recommend best practices for social justice researchers.

Fassinger, R., & Morrow, S. L. (2013). Toward Best Practices in Quantitative, Qualitative, and Mixed- Method Research: A Social Justice Perspective. Journal for Social Action in Counseling and Psychology, 5(2), 69–83. https://doi.org/10.33043/JSACP.5.2.69-83. ↩︎
12
Acevedo and colleagues reflect on insights from an interactive session at the 2014 California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) Founders Symposium on Integral Consciousness. They explore the importance of “positionality” to education, knowledge, and critical reflection.

Acevedo, S. M., Aho, M., Cela, E., Chao, J.-C., Garcia-Gonzales, I., MacLeod, A., Moutray, C., & Olague, C. (2015). Positionality as Knowledge: From Pedagogy to Praxis. Integral Review, 11(1), 28–46. https://integral-review.org/issues/vol_11_no_1_acevedo_et_al_positionality_as_knowledge.pdf. ↩︎
13
Freeman discusses her experience conducting interviews with low-income single mothers in New York City and reflects on emerging practices in justice-oriented qualitative research.

Freeman, A. (2015). Blurred Lines: Creating and Crossing Boundaries between Interviewer and Subject. In A. J. Jolivétte (Ed.), Research Justice: Methodologies for social change (1st ed., pp. 27–32). Bristol University Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1t89jrt. ↩︎
14
Boveda and Annamma consider the trend of “positionality statements” in critical and intersectional research and offer a framework for crafting nuanced statements in the field of education research.

Boveda, M., & Annamma, S. A. (2023). Beyond Making a Statement: An Intersectional Framing of the Power and Possibilities of Positioning. Educational Researcher, Generic, 13189. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X231167149. ↩︎
15
This textbook uses visual mapping to present and help readers understand basic principles of social science research.

Wheeldon, J. P., & Ahlberg, M. K. (2011). Visualizing Social Science Research: Maps, Methods, & Meaning (1st edition). SAGE Publications, Inc. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781483384528. ↩︎
16
Strega and Brown gather essays from contributors on theories, practices, and aims of anti-oppressive research. In the introduction, they outline common features of scientific research on inequality.

Strega, S., & Brown, L. (Eds.). (2015). Research as Resistance, 2nd Edition. Canadian Scholars’ Press Inc. https://canadianscholars.ca/book/research-as-resistance-2nd-edition/. ↩︎
17
Sablan applies critical race theoretical tenets to quantitative research methods in the field of education, drawing conclusions about the promises and perils of quantitative methods in intersectional research.

Sablan, J. R. (2019). Can You Really Measure That? Combining Critical Race Theory and Quantitative Methods. American Educational Research Journal, 56(1), 178–203. https://doi.org/10.3102/0002831218798325. ↩︎
18
Liboiron outlines a framework for anticolonial scientific research methods that can align with Indigenous, particularly Métis, concepts of land, ethics, and relations.

Liboiron, M. (2021). Pollution Is Colonialism. Duke University Press Books. https://www.dukeupress.edu/pollution-is-colonialism. ↩︎

About the Author

Adam Hollowell

Adam Hollowell is an author, ethicist, and inequality researcher. He is the author of You Mean It or
You Don’t: James Baldwin’s Radical Challenge (2022) and Stratification Economics and Disability Justice
(forthcoming 2025). He serves as Senior Research Associate at the Samuel DuBois Cook Center on
Social Equity at Duke University, where he directs the university’s Inequality Studies Minor. He lives
in Durham, North Carolina with his family.

Find him at adamhollowell.com.

About the Author

Kennedy Ruff

Kennedy Ruff is a graduate student at North Carolina State University studying clinical mental health
and associate in research at the Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Social Equity at Duke University.
Kennedy serves as the program coordinator for the Hank & Billye Suber Aaron Young Scholars
Summer Research Institute and a Research Associate in the Cook Center’s Health Working Group.
She lives in Durham, North Carolina with her family and enjoys gardening, reading, and catching up
on various TV shows.

Find her at www.linkedin.com/in/kennedy-ruff.

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Bibliography

Footnotes

Adam Hollowell

Kennedy Ruff

By The Upper New

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