When conducting research, we often ask about gender without much thought. Like other demographic questions, it is often slotted into a study because it is seen as something all studies should include. Like all survey questions in research, we should only ask what is relevant. Asking irrelevant questions makes surveys longer and more costly.
When a survey is done voluntarily – like in community, customer and employee research – asking irrelevant survey questions also reduces survey completion and future response rates and can lead to the very thing we are trying to do research to avoid: dissatisfaction.
In recent years, questions around gender, sex, and sexual orientation have come into greater focus due to the evolving nature of these concepts. This shift is driven by a growing awareness that they are separate entities, a need for greater accuracy, a desire for inclusivity in research, and, for some, a political dimension.
Within Australia, the incidence of non-heterosexuals is estimated between 3% to 10%. For people who don’t fall into a binary of the same gender and sex, the incidence is less than 1% to 3%. Younger people and surveys that use preference measures tend to give higher incidence results.
These changes and tensions are not unique to the sex, gender and sexual orientation questions. In the past, research would include family questions that only included single, married, living in a de facto relationship, divorced and widowed. Some government research also conflates family with living arrangements by including things like ‘living in a shared house’. It is better practice now to ask about relationships or who is living in the same household and avoid asking about their legal marital status and if their partner is deceased. Asking about living arrangements and who is cared for in a household is a separate question. Many households have adults who are being cared for, such as elderly parents.
So, what are the right questions to ask? What is the best practice you should follow?
In short, the best practice is to determine if you need to ask about sex, gender or sexual orientation in your studies, and if you do, then what do you need to know?
While some researchers and organisations have kept to simple measures, others have sought longer lists that attempt to include all potential groups with their own terms and classification. A UK government study among children included over 25 classifications. While noble in its attempt to be inclusive, it created a confusing list of choices. However, for some studies, details are needed. Working undertaking research in sexual and reproductive health and well-being, I needed to understand gender, sex, and sexuality in much greater detail than when in a study on banking or grocery buying. In the sexual and reproductive health and wellbeing study, we needed over five questions to identify the necessary groups.
When choosing what survey questions to ask, consider these questions:
- How will the information be used? If the information is used only to ensure sample representation, a more straightforward gender question is most likely needed. If you need the information to select a specific type of person based on their biology, then sex is more likely appropriate. If you are specifically interested in sexual behaviour, health-related to sexual behaviour and relationships, then sexuality in combination with gender and sex may be needed.
- Is the data personally identifiable? In government and employee research, any data that can be linked to an individual should not be included. If it is, it should be separated from their responses in a way that does not allow identification. The general rule is that people should never be penalised for being honest and completing a survey. Legally, in many countries, you also have an obligation to protect individuals’ privacy and prevent abuse.
- How large is your sample? Always be mindful that the incidence of people who don’t identify as female or male for gender and sex or who are not heterosexual will make up a small part of a survey. In many commercial and community research, their size will be too small to provide meaningful analysis within that group. Keeping groups broad and inclusive will reduce privacy issues and avoid lengthy surveys.
What are the questions you need to ask before asking the questions?
When designing gender, sex, and sexuality survey questions, the best rule is to keep it simple, understandable, and the classification categories as MECA (mutually exclusive, collectively exhaustive). This approach ensures that everyone can answer and that each area does not cross over with another group, providing clarity and confidence in the research process.
Researchers often ask participants to identify their gender or sex, but there is sometimes confusion about what vocabulary should be used or what different terms mean. It’s important to be aware of this potential confusion and to strive for clarity in the research process.
Gender Survey Questions
The most straightforward survey question is to ask, “Do you identify as . . .” with the response questions Female/ Male/ Other/ Prefer not to answer. Gender is implied in the question for people. Adding in other groups, such as ‘Non-Binary’, does not improve inclusion or accuracy. Asking if you are Non-Binary would be the same as asking a female if they were ‘Non-male’. People who do not identify as female or male identify themselves as who they are, not who they are not.
If you do not know if gender or sex is more important to your study, then asking gender is the safest option. For the large majority of people, the outcome is the same. However, if your research specifically focuses on biological differences, then asking about sex might be more appropriate.
Q: Do you identify as . . .
- Female
- Male
- I use another term (specify)
- Prefer not to answer
If you need to state ‘gender’, then the recommended approach is to ask, “What gender do you most identify with?” or “Which of the following most closely reflects your gender?”. The term ‘most’ acknowledges that gender is something people feel and that it exists along a spectrum.
Q: What gender do you most identify with?
- Female
- Male
- I use another term (specify)
- Prefer not to answer
If a spectrum is needed in your research, consider asking sexuality as a spectrum rather than forcing multiple categories with definitions.
Q: What gender do you most identify with?
- Only female
- Mostly female
- Female and male equally
- Mostly make
- Only male
- I use another term (specify)
- Prefer not to answer
What about the words we use for gender language?
Some researchers recommend using woman/ man for gender and female/ male for sex. This is not essential and is a source of confusion. The only reason for these different words in English is because of history. More specifically the Norman invasion of England in 1066. Female/ Male originates in Latin (from the Normans), and Woman/ Man is from Anglo-Saxon. Because of the preference for Latin in science, law, and academic research, the female/ male is more common. For studies than include children, Man/ Woman becomes Man-boy/ Woman-girl, which is cumbersome and not needed.
Other researchers also like to include categories like ‘gender queer’, ‘transgender female’, ‘transgender male’ and ‘gender questioning’. These are problematic. ‘Gender queer’ is both rooted in an activitist language of ‘queer’ that has a history of meaning different things and being considered offensive to the people who were labelled it. While using the term ‘transgender’ outside of specific studies where gender, sex and sexual identity are a key focus, also carriers the issue of people who identify as a female or male, but feel others see them is different, to not classify themselves as their gender. If your research is among younger people where gender identify is not established the ‘gender questioning’ would be better asked as ‘unsure’. Asking others if they are ‘questioning’ their gender implies not identifying as female/ male requires questioning. Like the term ‘queer’. ‘questioning’ comes with historical and political baggage.
The words ‘feminine’ and ‘masculine’ were once the words used for gender, which also included the understanding that gender exists on a spectrum. However, these terms are not commonly used and are more often used to refer to qualities about a person rather than an identity.
Sex Survey Questions
Asking about sex can be more difficult. The simplest approach is to ask, “What is your sex?” and pair it with a gender question such as “What gender do you identify most with?”. Unlike gender, sex is not an identification but a biological grouping. How people are grouped by sex can be done differently, for example by DNA or genitals, for most surveys, respondents will know how to classify themselves. A definition is not needed. If you do need sex based on a specific criteria, then asking a follow-up question may be more accurate.
Q: Which of the following best describes your sex . . .
- Female
- Male
- I use another term (specify)
- Prefer not to answer
If your research needs to understand both current and past sex, then you will need to ask “What was you sex recorded at birth?”. In studies that are focussed on people who may also include transitioning, then you should include ‘transitioning’ as an option for current sex.
When surveying women and products and services specifically relating to reproduction or reproductive organ health, I’ve used behavioural questions or survey questions relating to the area of interest. For example, are they planning on conceiving a child, their menopausal stage, or using other products purchased as a proxy-measure rather than using the term ‘menstruators’, which is occasionally used in health practices and health research. For women, this term can be seen as objectifying and dehumanising in much the same way that it is better to describe someone as having a characteristic than being that characteristic.
Sexuality Survey Questions
Sexuality is not the same as having sex or the sex of someone’s partner. A person’s sexuality may or may not match their identity or their activity. When asking about sexuality, the researcher needs to decide if they are looking at sexuality, sexual identity, sexual partner and if they need to know if people are having sex. In studies by our company on sexual health and wellbeing and family planning, all options needed to be understood.
When asking about sexuality, our preferred approach is to ask it as a preference scale and not as labelled groups. Using a scale in combination with a gender or sex survey questions, will provide the needed sexual groups.
Q: Which of the following best describes your sexual preference . . .
- Only prefer same sex
- Prefer same sex
- Equal preference
- Prefer opposite sex
- Only prefer opposite sex
- I use another term (specify)
- Prefer not to answer
Although some researchers like to specify out different groups, like the below approach. This approach is problematic. Pansexual and bisexual can mean the same depending on the respondents interpretation of sex and gender in the sexuality. The separation of lesbian and gay into assumed gender or sex based groups but treating all other groups makes analysis more difficult because a research will need to then combine the question with sex and gender to show differences, but not for gay and lesbian. The use of the term ‘queer’ in a sexuality context can and has meant gay, bisexual and lesbian, transgender, transvestite (not the same as transgender) and drag (not the same as transvestite).
Q: How do you describe your sexuality?
- Heterosexual or straight
- Lesbian
- Gay or homosexual
- Bisexual
- Pansexual
- Queer
- I use a different term
- Prefer not to answer
Subculture Research
If your research is among a specific group where gender, sex and sexuality is central to their identity, your research should include a discovery and stakeholder phase to align with what terms are being used within that group. However, good research should still ensure ease of answering and avoid using classifications that are not universally understood, accepted or could be interpreted to include multiple groups.
If You are Still Unsure!
If you are still unsure of what to ask, a safe approach is to use the approach used by country where you are doing the research, so you can compare your results. The approaches we have recommended align with the same approaches used in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, UK, Canada, USA and in most of the EU.
- Australian Bureau of Statistics
- UK Office of National Statistics
- Statistics Canada
- Stats New Zealand
- Ireland Central Statistics Office
- United States Census Bureau
Next Steps
Asking about gender, sex, and sexuality does not need to be complex and problematic. Unless your research in a politicised domain, people just want to be counted and feel they have given the right answer for the survey. Problems occur when we exclude groups so they can’t answer the question, or use language that makes identifying the right answer easy.
Remember, only ask survey questions that you need to ask and ask them in a way that helps you with the analysis and respondents in responding.