Gather Demographic Data About Gender, Sexuality, and Relational Identities: Asking the Right Questions

Abstract

In this tutorial, we suggest ways to improve current practices for measuring gender identity, sexual orientation, and demographics about relationships based on previous datasets and a newly collected survey of people’s behavior and perceptions of alternative-response formats. We apply lessons learned from racial identity/ethnicity to suggest broader principles of improving demographic measurement. We offer guides to meet the expectations of diverse stakeholders, including participants. The response options we recommend were curated to balance global identities and emerging trends to be applicable for online international research and in-person psychology research conducted primarily by U.S. institutions. We also offer practical suggestions for researchers to handle more complex data, including multiselect response options, which tend to be preferred by participants. Improved demographic data allow researchers to more fully capture multidimensional and complex social identities that are related to social inequities. In sum, the current tutorial is a guide to and discussion about challenges in collecting demographic data on social identities in which we use illustrative data to address important points related to measuring gender, sexuality, and relational demographics, specifically.