[Air-L] Gender and surveys

[Peter Timusk]

A quick search of the US and UK census web pages shows these large reference agencies are not yet doing anything about it.


Peter Timusk working in government statistics.

-----Original Message-----
From: Air-L [mailto:air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of sky c
Sent: Tuesday, April 12, 2016 9:43 PM
To: Air-L at listserv.aoir.org
Subject: [Air-L] Gender and surveys

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.

_______________________________________________
The Air-L at listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org

Join the Association of Internet Researchers:
http://www.aoir.org/