The methodology forging these linkages involves a form of root cause analysis, which
explores why a problem or issue arose, and persists by asking insistent questions that
trace the problem to its organizational source (Sturm & Gadlin, 2007). This approach
connects gender and race to core institutional problems, using race and gender dynamics
as a signifier of more general organizational problems. The intermediary continually
probes to determine whether the questions as initially posed locate the problem at the
level where it can be meaningfully addressed.