There are two kinds of measurement: ontic--meaning finding out how big or small a thing is using a scale, beginning point and unit; and ontological--more of an experience than an act, when we sense that things don't "measure up" to what they could be. The argument is that anything complex cannot be described through ontic measures, though we may think we have perfected them. We are tempted to seek all meaning through ontic measuring, perhaps because we have not made similar gains in developing ontological measurement methods.
This has implications for how we approach measuring progress toward sustainability, especially as we describe it as relationships in a complex system. Are scales and indices appropriate to describe something like "community capacity"? Can it be measured empirically? Is such an exercise worthwhile? Or should we pursue an ontological method?
I think this is a central question. And since you're making us use big words, I'll say it has to do with epistemiology -- how do we know what we know. We live, sometimes for better and sometimes not so much, in a culture of numbers. Saying "I measured Parameter X at 43.7% plus or minus 5.7% at a 95% confidence level", has far more "power" than saying "I observed that Parameter X could be described as such and such, and this led some people to take the following action." It's the quantitative reign over the qualitative. If it has a number, we feel that we know more about it. After all 43.7% is easy to remember.
ReplyDeleteGreat trail -- reminds me of another column on measurement -- maybe I'll follow up with that in a week or so.
Thanks Jennifer.
No doubt that numbers have a place. Understanding rates and prevalence, cost, and how shockingly tall my daughter (my baby!) is, is important and useful. But some things--complex things--cannot be understood through ontic measures, yet we try to force it, thereby creating more work and even less understanding about something through a reductive approach--examples: human intelligence; a teacher's ability in a classroom; community capacity. This article describes a comparative approach or model--hold something up to something that works and describe similarities and differences. I also think that the mixed method approach that we often employ to triangulate data is useful, ultimately providing more information from a variety of directions and enhancing overall understanding.
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