Capturing Gender. Prevalent Practice and Recommendations for Innovation From Community-Based Research

Abstract

Inquiring about gender / sex has become a standard sociodemographic question. In most cases, it allows for only a general classification as female or male (binary query). In fact, however, gender / sex is a multidimensional construct that can refer to a wide variety of aspects: legal, biological, psychological, social, etc. None of these aspects can be captured adequately by employing solely binary options. In this article, we present alternative question formats based on a multidimensional understanding of gender / sex, empirical testing, and ethical considerations. We focus on the desires and needs of groups marginalized in research: 179 individuals who self-identify as trans*, nonbinary, or inter* (underrepresented: N = 2) or who indicated that they were currently questioning their gender as well as 121 dyadic cis-individuals evaluated five different formats of gender inquiry. Despite varying ratings across all formats, there was a clear preference for a free and optional input field to indicate gender. We critically reflect on the advantages and disadvantages of each question format and provide general recommendations for research practice.