Multifaceted Gender Identity Measurement As An Alternative to Forced-Choice Assessments

Oregon Convention Center 

While suggesting specific question wording for surveys collecting data on gender identity and sexual orientation, a 2022 National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report on "Measuring Sex, Gender Identity, and Sexual Orientation" recognized limitations of "forced-choice measurement" using multiple-choice items and recommended further research into representing nonbinary gender identity and gender fluidity. Here we describe a framework for "Multifaceted Gender Identity Measurement" (M-GIM) asking respondents about the extent to which they agree or disagree with a series of gender-identity and sexual-orientation prompts, anticipating that identifiable clusters will emerge from patterns in ordinal responses without requiring individuals to self-classify into one of a limited number of categories. After highlighting the appeal of keeping such queries free of the implicit constraints and negative associations built into mutually-exclusive response options, the presentation will discuss a conceptual framework for investigating disparities in quality-of-life outcomes across population subgroups characterized by similar gender-identity or sexual-orientation profiles.

gender identity

sexual orientation

ordinal data

cluster analysis

nonbinary

gender fluidity 

Social Statistics Section