[Air-L] Gender and surveys

[sky c]

I seem to be sending a similar email quite often lately, so I thought it
might be worth sending out a version to the list more generally.

Many of the surveys I see sent out over this list still include a
'gender' option that offers users the choice of only 'male' or 'female'.
If you're developing a survey to send out, it might be worth
considering:
* Whether gender is relevant to your research question/topic? (If not,
you may consider leaving out a question about gender)
* Offering more options for gender. Gender is complex, and many people
don't identify as either male or female. Offering an option for a text
field is a useful way to allow people to answer the question honestly:
http://www.sarahmei.com/blog/2010/11/26/disalienation/

I'm also curious how people who are already addressing the gender
spectrum in research surveys are approaching this: do you use a text
field, 'male'/'female'/'other', or something else?

Thanks,
sky.