Leveraging a Critical Quantitative Perspective and the MIMIC Approach to Produce More Equitable Measures in Vocational Psychology

Abstract

This article positions Critical Quantitative methodology (CritQuant) as a justice-oriented framework for conducting quantitative research in vocational psychology that interrogates power, centers context, and resists the reproduction of structural inequities - aligning with historical and contemporary social justice currents within the discipline. To illustrate specific applications of CritQuant within vocational psychology, an empirical example applies Multiple Indicators Multiple Causes (MIMIC) modeling to Youth Development Study (YDS) data to examine differential item functioning in a measure of intrinsic work values across subjective social class groups. This model indicates systematic differential item functioning, or DIF, in two YDS items. This illustrates how vocational psychologists could leverage a CritQuant perspective and the MIMIC approach to identify biased items, which could subsequently be removed or modified to ensure vocational measures less contaminated by class bias (in this example), along with other systems of oppression (more broadly). In sum, this article aims to illustrate how vocational psychologists can leverage quantitative approaches to attain more equitable measures, and thus produce more equitable scholarship, practice implications, and policy recommendations.