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Category: Project

Description: Commonly used categorical measures of gender provide only limited response options and are exclusive of non-binary and genderqueer individuals making them invisible in research. More inclusive gender measures have been suggested and a free response format has been recommended. However, no previous studies have assessed how gender measures make non-binary and genderqueer participants invisible and no insights exists on how they respond to gender questions with exclusive response options. To answer this question, participants (n = 924) responded to a Binary, a Short and a Long List, and a Free Response gender assessment format. Additionally, participants rated how represented they felt by the options provided by each format and were asked for additional comments. The results show that the majority of Non-binary (n = 323) participants opted to use binary response options when no non-binary options were available. The Free response and the Long list were most sensitive to recording Non-binary participants and both Binary (n = 519) and Non-binary participants felt most represented by the Free response question. The objection that free response gender questions cause an increase in missing data is found to be unsupported and the concern that responses are too time-consuming or difficult to code is addressed. It is concluded that a free response question accompanied by guidance on why gender is assessed and how responses will be coded is a gender assessment format that is both feasible to process and inclusive of non-binary and genderqueer individuals.