Coding Responses to an Open-ended Gender Measure in a New Zealand National Sample. Issue 8 (12th October 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Fraser, Gloria; Bulbulia, Joseph; Greaves, Lara M.; Wilson, Marc S.; Sibley, Chris G.
• Is Part Of: Journal of sex research. Volume 57:Issue 8(2020)
• Page Start: 979
• Page End: 986
• Publication Date: 2020-10-12
• Subjects: Sexology -- Research -- Periodicals; Sex -- Periodicals; Psychiatry -- Periodicals; Sex; Psychiatry; 306.705
• DOI: 10.1080/00224499.2019.1687640
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0022-4499

Abstract

ABSTRACT: In light of the methodological and ethical issues associated with using a male/female tick box to collect gender data, researchers are increasingly questioning how to measure gender inclusively in survey research. Open-ended measures afford the greatest flexibility, though whether they are practical for large-scale surveys has yet to be tested. Here, we systematically assess the feasibility of open-ended gender measures drawing on a New Zealand national probability sample (New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study, N = 15, 758). We asked participants "What is your gender?" as an open-ended measure of gender, and developed a simple, cost-effective coding scheme for coding qualitative gender data. Results indicate that very few participants ( n = 15) self-identified as transgender, or outside of the male/female gender binary. Moreover, we find no evidence that implementation of the open-ended measure contributes to non-response rates or panel attrition. Taken together, these results demonstrate that large-scale surveys can feasibly implement inclusive measures of gender as an alternative to binary categorical measures. Because the single-measure approach likely underestimates the number of transgender participants, however, researchers interested in identifying all participants whose gender differs from their assigned sex should utilize two-step methods, which assess gender as well as assigned sex at birth.