A consideration of racial/ethnic diversity conceptualization and measurement: Clarifying ambiguities and advancing scholarship

Abstract

There has been little discussion of racial/ethnic diversity conceptualization and measurement in educational and psychological research. With the surge of research on school diversity and its significant social meaning, the lack of clarity on how diversity is conceptualized and operationalized warrants a systematic review. This article (1) reviews diversity concepts in the literature, (2) describes potential conceptual and methodological concerns, (3) proposes an alternative method to measure two specific types of diversity, and (4) highlights considerations for future research and methodology when studying diversity. More specifically, we conducted a systematic review to summarize the available measures that quantify diversity, mapped these measures onto existing diversity definitions, and elaborated on the similarities and differences of the existing diversity indices. Additionally, we proposed a new measure, the Frequentist-based Representative Diversity index, which can capture two different aspects of diversity, is easy to interpret, and potentially broadens the scope of diversity research. Future research directions and recommendations are also discussed.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s)