The sociologies of quantification, university rankings, and infrastructure are a loosely connected set of scholarly endeavors. Research in these areas typically examines production of certain types of quantification, their effects, and institutionalization. Despite these commonalities, scholars have noted a lack of conceptual coherence, debates on how to study quantification, a need to examine their socio-epistemological prerequisites, and research that crosses organization and national boundaries. In this paper, I argue that institutional ethnography—an alternative sociology for people—provides a unifying ontology for the sociology of quantification and studies of rankings and metrics in higher education. Institutional ethnography examines socio-epistemological prerequisites of quantification and facilitates a collaborative transnational project due to its focus on the extra local coordination of action. I also share results of the first transnational institutional ethnography of university rankings and related metrics, demonstrating coordinated action across several junctures of what has been called a global university ranking surveillance assemblage.

量化社会学、大学排名和基础设施是一组松散的学术活动。这些领域的研究通常检查某些类型的量化的产生、它们的影响和制度化。尽管存在这些共性，学者们注意到缺乏概念连贯性，关于如何研究量化的辩论，需要检查其社会认识论先决条件，以及跨越组织和国界的研究。在本文中，我认为制度民族志——一种替代人类社会学——为高等教育中的量化社会学和排名和指标研究提供了统一的本体论。制度民族志研究量化的社会认识论先决条件，并促进合作跨国项目，因为它侧重于地方以外的行动协调。我还分享了大学排名和相关指标的第一个跨国机构民族志的结果，展示了在所谓的全球大学排名监测组合的几个关键点上的协调行动。