The Field Guide › Article
Seven principles for measuring people without mistaking them for data, inspired by UKRI's principles of ethical research, and the newsletter that gathers the practice's measurement writing into one place. Jade's argument is that measurement is never neutral: someone always chooses what to count, what it means and how to present it, and it is rarely the people being counted, so a badly run survey can teach that speaking up is pointless just as easily as a good one can help; she calls this trap 'survey theatre'. The principles codify the ethical alternative: measure to benefit, not to surveil; make participation voluntary and informed; be honest about power; protect the people who answer; focus on learning, not judgement; work with integrity and transparency; and close the loop, or don't open it. The capstone to the measurement edition, and the ethical spine beneath its streetlight-effect and Goodhart's-law critiques.