Centering Antiracism in Social Work Research: Applications of Quantitative Critical Race Theory (QuantCrit)

This workshop draws on Quantitative Critical Race Theory (QuantCrit) and other interdisciplinary perspectives to provide practical guidance for conducting antiracist quantitative research in social work. As a field committed to social justice, social work increasingly emphasizes the need to confront systemic racism across research, policy, and practice. While progress has been made in addressing racial inequities, there is a pressing need to more intentionally center antiracism in quantitative research.

QuantCrit has emerged as an extension of Critical Race Theory for empirical research. It challenges researchers to examine how racism and systems of power are embedded in the researchers’ choices, from asking research questions to interpreting results. Despite its growing application in education, psychology, and other fields, QuantCrit remains underutilized in social work. This workshop aims to fill that gap by introducing the foundational tenets of QuantCrit and illustrating how they can be applied across a wide range of quantitative social work studies. The workshop also highlights core practices of qualitative research, already adopted by QuantCrit, which can offer insights for strengthening quantitative approaches.

First, the workshop will provide an overview of the historical context of scientific racism in statistics and research design, introduce key tenets of CRT and QuantCrit, and explore how traditional quantitative methods may unintentionally reproduce racial hierarchies. Participants will engage with culturally responsive and justice-oriented approaches that call for deeper sociopolitical consciousness in research.

Second, we will focus on practical applications. Using examples from the presenters’ own research, we will demonstrate how QuantCrit principles can guide decisions in study design, measurement, analysis, and interpretation. Key topics will include defining and operationalizing race and ethnicity, avoiding deficit-based framing, analyzing within- and between-group variation, and contextualizing findings within systems of structural oppression. We will also highlight practices that quantitative researchers can learn from qualitative research, such as reflexivity, centering of marginalized voices, and using theory in study design, which can strengthen rigor and deepen the sociopolitical relevance of quantitative research.

Finally, we will conclude the workshop with an opportunity for participants to discuss in small groups and consider applications of QuantCrit in their own research projects. This interactive session will provide both conceptual foundations and practical strategies for integrating QuantCrit into social work research. It is designed for quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods researchers, faculty, doctoral students, and practitioners committed to producing work that actively challenges structural racism. Participants will gain a deeper understanding of how to embed antiracist values into quantitative research and will leave with a toolkit to inform their current and future projects.

By bridging theoretical and methodological approaches, drawing on knowledge from multiple disciplines, and integrating quantitative and qualitative methods, this workshop challenges the binaries between theoretical and empirical work, between quantitative and qualitative research, and across disciplinary boundaries. It also elevates qualitative inquiry as essential to advancing antiracist scholarship in social work across methodological approaches. Grounded in antiracist theory and practice, the workshop supports scholars in producing research that not only documents disparities, but also drives change to advance equity and justice.