Disrupting Your DEI Data: Using Qualitative Data to Unpack the Root Causes of Injustice

We say it all the time: “Diversity is more than a numbers game.” Yet, in almost every industry diversity work is met with skepticism, followed with some combination of the following: “Show me the numbers,” or “The data doesn’t back it up,” or “People say this is happening, but the data doesn’t show it." In heightened times of racial tension globally, if we are truly going to make change and progress toward a just and antiracist workplace, community, society, and nation, we must highlight and enlighten the nuances and intricacies of the -isms and injustices that have been embedded in our behaviors, actions, and systems by disrupting the dominant narrative around data and bringing light to innovative methods of qualitative data analysis.

This case study will share results from The Winters Group's meta-analysis of equity audits across a variety of organizations and the results of their mixed-method, four-step process, as highlighted in Racial Justice at Work: Practical Solutions for Systemic Change (Berrett-Koehler, 2023).

The presentation of this case study will:

• Introduce the Dominant Culture Analytic Framework for qualitative data analysis that can be integrated with your organization’s data collection, equity audits, and DEI strategy.
• Share key insights and patterns of a qualitative meta-analysis of organizational equity audit findings related to actualizing DEI strategy.
• Identify new techniques for qualitative research with a racial-justice approach.

Speakers

Thamara Subramanian Equity Audit and Strategy Manager at The Winters Group Inc.