Torres Irribarra's Perspective on Measurement: a Commentary

David Torres Irribarra's new book (2021), A Pragmatic Perspective of Measurement describes the most prominent definitions of measurement, which tend to focus on the properties of score scales, and offers a new definition of measurement based on the philosophy of Pragmatism. Torres Irribarra gives the purpose or goal of measurement a central role in his model, and treats measurements as tools for achieving these goals. His emphasis on particular relevant variables and on the intended use of measures of these variable to achieve a specific goals is akin to validity theory as practiced in educational and psychological measurement. The traditional definitions of measurement focus on abstract scaling models that can be applied equally well to a range of variables, but in practice, the uses of data in the social sciences do not usually require strong scaling assumptions. Torres Irribarra's definition requires that we attend to the specific interpretations and uses of the measures.