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Decolonising quantitative research methods pedagogy: teaching contemporary politics to challenge hierarchies from data

Published version
Peer-reviewed

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Authors

Zwiener-Collins, Nadine  ORCID logo  https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5244-9262
Saini, R 

Abstract

Decolonisation of the curriculum in higher education is a radical, transformative process of change that interrogates the enduring Eurocentric and racist narratives surrounding the production of academic ‘knowledge’. Our key argument is that it is essential for students of politics to understand the authorities and hierarchies exerted through quantitative data. In this paper, we show that (1) quantitative methods and data literacy can be an explicit tool in the endeavour to challenge structures of oppression, and (2) there is a need to apply decolonial principles to the teaching of quantitative methods, prioritising the historical contextualisation and anti-racist critique of the ways in which statistics amplify existing micro and macro power relations. To explain how this can be done, we begin with a commentary on the ‘state of decolonisation’ in higher education, its relevance to the sub-disciplines of politics, and its application to quantitative teaching in the UK. We then suggest some guiding principles for a decolonial approach to quantitative methods teaching, and present substantive examples from political sociology, international political economy, and international development. These suggestions and examples show how a decolonial lens advances critical and emancipatory thinking in undergraduate students of politics when it is used with quantitative methods.

Description

Peer reviewed: True

Keywords

4408 Political Science, 44 Human Society, 4 Quality Education

Journal Title

Politics (Oxford): cutting edge political science in short-article format

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0263-3957
1467-9256

Volume Title

43

Publisher

Political Studies Association