Critical mixed methods approaches allow us to reflect upon the ways in which we collect, measure, interpret, and analyze data, providing novel alternatives for quantitative analysis. For institutional researchers, whose work influences institutional policies, programs, and practices, the approach has the transformative ability to expose and create space for altering rather than reproducing problematic institutional stratifications and inequities. The usefulness of this approach is illustrated here using examples from a critical mixed methods study of student pathways through postsecondary STEM education.