Imperialism and Measurement

"In Victorian Britain, the propagation of standards and values was the means through which physicists reckoned they could link their work with technical and economic projects elsewhere in their society. In an unprecedented manner, late Victorian scientists joined networks in which standard machines, values and practices were distributed worldwide: imperialism, mass production and metrology dominated their universe. They saw an immediate connection between imperial standards and the integrity of their laboratory work" (Schaffer, 1992, p.24).

The mainstream of quantification remains imperialist because it unthinkingly imposes unarticulated assumptions on all subjects and groups. Rating scale categories are assumed to correspond to equally spaced increments of the latent variable. A given raw score is assumed to mean the same, one thing no matter how it was obtained. Different groups and treatments are assumed part of a homogeneous whole.

Rasch practitioners, on the other hand, search for and identify conflicting performances and construct definitions among subjects or groups. Rasch methods build, as far as is possible, a post- imperial system based on shared expression, rather than imposed assumption. Individuals and groups manifesting different world- views are linked to the shared measurement system wherever they come into conjunction with it, but are not forced into it where they do not.

Since "the physical values which the laboratory fixes are sustained by the social values which the laboratory inculcates" (p. 23), the purpose of the May 1996 "Outcome Measurements in Rehabilitation" Conference is to strengthen the network through which our measurement standards and practices will be distributed. In a fragmenting world we need to establish a virtual metrology that fixes, at least temporarily, the agreement among those participating in the measurement effort as to the construct that is being measured and the relationships between measures on that construct. This metrology is virtual because the construct being measured is an idealized fiction, a figment of our imagination, a virtual reality that no one's data ever matches.

Schaffer S. (1992) Late Victorian metrology and its instrumentation. In R. Bud & S. Cozzens, Eds. Invisible Connections. Bellingham, WA: SPIE Press.

Imperialism and measurement. Fisher WP Jr. … Rasch Measurement Transactions, 1996, 9:4 p.463

Rasch-Related Resources: Rasch Measurement YouTube Channel
Rasch Measurement Transactions & Rasch Measurement research papers - free	An Introduction to the Rasch Model with Examples in R (eRm, etc.), Debelak, Strobl, Zeigenfuse	Rasch Measurement Theory Analysis in R, Wind, Hua	Applying the Rasch Model in Social Sciences Using R, Lamprianou	El modelo métrico de Rasch: Fundamentación, implementación e interpretación de la medida en ciencias sociales (Spanish Edition), Manuel González-Montesinos M.
Rasch Models: Foundations, Recent Developments, and Applications, Fischer & Molenaar	Probabilistic Models for Some Intelligence and Attainment Tests, Georg Rasch	Rasch Models for Measurement, David Andrich	Constructing Measures, Mark Wilson	Best Test Design - free, Wright & Stone Rating Scale Analysis - free, Wright & Masters
Virtual Standard Setting: Setting Cut Scores, Charalambos Kollias	Diseño de Mejores Pruebas - free, Spanish Best Test Design	A Course in Rasch Measurement Theory, Andrich, Marais	Rasch Models in Health, Christensen, Kreiner, Mesba	Multivariate and Mixture Distribution Rasch Models, von Davier, Carstensen
Rasch Books and Publications: Winsteps and Facets
Applying the Rasch Model (Winsteps, Facets) 4th Ed., Bond, Yan, Heene	Advances in Rasch Analyses in the Human Sciences (Winsteps, Facets) 1st Ed., Boone, Staver	Advances in Applications of Rasch Measurement in Science Education, X. Liu & W. J. Boone	Rasch Analysis in the Human Sciences (Winsteps) Boone, Staver, Yale	Appliquer le modèle de Rasch: Défis et pistes de solution (Winsteps) E. Dionne, S. Béland
Introduction to Many-Facet Rasch Measurement (Facets), Thomas Eckes	Rasch Models for Solving Measurement Problems (Facets), George Engelhard, Jr. & Jue Wang	Statistical Analyses for Language Testers (Facets), Rita Green	Invariant Measurement with Raters and Rating Scales: Rasch Models for Rater-Mediated Assessments (Facets), George Engelhard, Jr. & Stefanie Wind	Aplicação do Modelo de Rasch (Português), de Bond, Trevor G., Fox, Christine M
Exploring Rating Scale Functioning for Survey Research (R, Facets), Stefanie Wind	Rasch Measurement: Applications, Khine	Winsteps Tutorials - free Facets Tutorials - free	Many-Facet Rasch Measurement (Facets) - free, J.M. Linacre	Fairness, Justice and Language Assessment (Winsteps, Facets), McNamara, Knoch, Fan

Forum

Rasch Measurement Forum to discuss any Rasch-related topic

Go to Top of Page
Go to index of all Rasch Measurement Transactions
AERA members: Join the Rasch Measurement SIG and receive the printed version of RMT
Some back issues of RMT are available as bound volumes
Subscribe to Journal of Applied Measurement

Go to Institute for Objective Measurement Home Page. The Rasch Measurement SIG (AERA) thanks the Institute for Objective Measurement for inviting the publication of Rasch Measurement Transactions on the Institute's website, www.rasch.org.

The URL of this page is www.rasch.org/rmt/rmt94e.htm

Website: www.rasch.org/rmt/contents.htm