AISP Toolkit Feb25 2025 - Flipbook - Page 33
possible using a single source. Better understanding of these experiences then allows for specialized
policy and program interventions and supports.
Intersectionality refers to the interconnected identities of an individual—including race,
gender identity, nationality, sexual orientation, and disability. Collecting demographic data
to better understand disparate impact based upon intersectionality can be an important
step toward equity.
—Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw13
An equity lens considers these advantages and vulnerabilities in the data collection and reuse
process and how they can be weighed or contextualized appropriately in response. The Work in
Action examples below highlight different strategies for centering equity when designing and
implementing primary data collection. These strategies range from oversampling populations that
are often overlooked because they are small in numbers (see Albuquerque Area Southwest Tribal
Epidemiology Center), to enlisting community partners to redesign survey instruments (see Oregon),
to changing the standards on what is collected (see Allegheny County and Connecticut), to digitizing
and cataloging records to provide public access (see Mapping Racist Covenants). The practices
below highlight different strategies for collecting data with equity centered.
Positive and Problematic Practices: Data Collection
POSITIVE PRACTICE
PROBLEMATIC PRACTICE
Designing 昀氀exible data systems that can support
shifts in data collection and data management
needs over time, and consulting the governance
structure as updates are made.
Changing data collection practices without
documenting and considering the impact on
longitudinal analyses.
Protecting data and ensuring data are made
accessible for approved uses by creating clear
contracts and agreements with technology
providers.
Storing data in systems where cost (昀椀nancial,
technical, contractual, or otherwise) impedes the
ability to adapt data collection practices, access
the data, or migrate data to other platforms (e.g., a
tech provider charging for an export of data).
Co-creating a data development agenda with
community partners that identi昀椀es what data are
meaningful and will be collected and reused, and
for what purpose.
Pursuing data sources that reinforce de昀椀cit
narratives, stereotypes, or biases rather than
informing meaningful policy and practice change.
CENTERING RACIAL EQUITY THROUGHOUT THE DATA LIFE CYCLE
“Intersectionality is simply a prism to see the interactive effects of various
forms of discrimination and disempowerment. It looks at the way that racism, many times,
interacts with patriarchy, heterosexism, classism, xenophobia—seeing that the overlapping
vulnerabilities created by these systems actually create speci昀椀c kinds of challenges.
13 Quoted in Guobadia, O. (2018). Kimberlé Crenshaw and Lady Phyll Talk Intersectionality, Solidarity, and Self-Care. Them.
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