ESRA 2025 Preliminary Program

Monday 14 July    Tuesday 15 July    Wednesday 16 July    Thursday 17 July    Friday 18 July   

All time references are in CEST

Survey research beyond the binary - Exploring the potentials, challenges and consequences of alternative measures for assigned sex, gender identity/expression and sexual orientation 2
Session Organisers	Professor Stephanie Steinmetz (University of Lausanne) Dr Verena Ortmanns (DIE Bonn) Dr Lisa de Vries (Bielefeld University) Dr Angelo Moretti (Utrecht University) Dr Katharina Meitinger (Utrecht University) Professor Mirjam Fischer (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin)
Time	Thursday 17 July, 15:30 - 17:00
Room	Ruppert 0.33

Awareness of gender diversity beyond the heteronormative male-female binary has grown rapidly in Western society. As recognition of diverse gender identities increases, the question of how to reflect this in surveys arises. With 39 out of 47 Council of Europe member countries now having legal processes in place to recognize trans and gender nonconforming (TGNC) people, this is a timely and necessary conversation. Using more inclusive measures in surveys not only promotes greater accuracy but also ensures a more equitable representation and visibility of gender diversity. It allows individuals to answer questions and define themselves according to their identity.
In this context, survey providers and population registers/censuses have shown a growing interest in more accurately capturing gender diversity in their data collection efforts in recent years. This shift, however, presents challenges and potentials for survey design, particularly for questions related to sex (assigned at birth), gender (expression and identity) and sexual orientation. These changes may also affect respondents' responses to other survey questions. A key issue is balancing the need for valid and reliable survey measures with the goal of being inclusive of gender-diverse populations, such as trans and non-binary individuals. Traditional survey methods may not adequately reflect this diversity, but new approaches may also pose challenges, particularly in terms of whether they are interpreted consistently by the general population.
Against this background, the session welcomes papers that provide practitioners, survey designers, and researchers interested in assessing assigned gender, gender identity/expression, and sexual orientation with new tools and measurement strategies; address the benefits and risks of including gender diversity in surveys and official registries/censuses while ensuring the validity and reliability of these measures; and/or address cross-cultural challenges, such as those related to translation. We especially welcome contributions that provide insights and perspectives

Keywords: sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, measurement, gender minority people

Papers

What Adding a “Nonbinary” Response Option Tells Us About (Trans)Gender Identity: Findings from the California Health Interview Survey

Mr Todd Hughes (University of California Los Angeles) - Presenting Author
Dr Tara Becker (University of California Los Angeles)
Dr Ninez Ponce (University of California Los Angeles)

The measurement of transgender and gender expansive populations has become increasingly common in population surveys. The most common method used in the USA is the two-step gender identity sequence. Differences across surveys in the set of gender identity response options that are provided to respondents may affect the ways in which respondents report their gender identity. The California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) provides a unique opportunity for understanding how the response options provided to respondents shape the gender identification they report. CHIS introduced a two-step gender identity sequence to its annual adult survey in 2015, and its annual adolescent survey in 2019, allowing measurement of trends over time in gender identification in California and in the size of California’s transgender and gender expansive population. In 2023, CHIS modified this two-step sequence to introduce a new non-binary response category to the gender identity question, and adopt additional changes. As a result of these changes, we see a large shift in gender identification from the “Transgender” to the “Nonbinary” category, as well as a substantial reduction in the number of respondents who choose to write-in another term. However, despite these changes, estimates of the overall size of the transgender and gender expansive population remained consistent with existing trends within both the adult and adolescent populations. The results suggest that within the nonbinary population there are at least two different groups of respondents: those who will identify as “Transgender” when no other gender expansive response option is provided and those who prefer to write in a nonbinary gender identity. This complicates estimates of the size of the nonbinary population when no explicit nonbinary option is provided, but also suggests a significant proportion of the nonbinary population may not see themselves as part of the broader transgender community.

Examination of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Measurement in a U.S. Probability-based Multi-purpose Panel

Dr Christopher Hansen (University of Illinois Chicago) - Presenting Author
Dr Ipek Bilgen (NORC at the University of Chicago)

Valid and reliable measurement of sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) remains of critical importance to surveys and survey panels. Survey organizations balance respondent experience (e.g., inclusivity, cognitive burden, etc.) with their clients’ need for representativeness and oversampling of sexual and gender minority (SGM) groups. SOGI measurement is an evolving area of survey science, with recent scholarly work offering new approaches to measuring lived experience outside traditional binary conceptions of sex, gender, and sexuality. Our presentation contributes to this research area by sharing results from SOGI experiments conducted during 2024 recruitment for a probability-based multi-purpose panel based in the U.S.

Data for this study were collected in English and Spanish from April-December 2024 as part of a panel recruitment survey conducted by sequential web, phone, and in-person data collection modes. Approximately 3,000 newly recruited panelists were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 SOGI batteries that varied in terms of response options, including the use of open-ended text boxes, and 2- versus 3-step gender identity measurement. The first battery tested measures recommended by the U.S. federal government; the second tested measures with higher-specificity response options as well as an additional item for gender modality (i.e., cisgender/transgender); and the third tested the panel’s existing measures for comparison purposes.

Our presentation provides results from these experiments, including a comparison of response distributions (e.g., prevalence estimates of SGM groups) and data quality indicators (e.g., item nonresponse, breakoffs) by battery. We will also present cross-cultural considerations (e.g., differences by language) as well as potential mode effects by web, phone, and in-person administration. Lastly, we will discuss the findings’ implications for future panel data collection and their contributions to the SOGI measurement literature more broadly.

Measuring Gender Beyond the Binary: Challenges and Approaches in Cross-National Surveys

Mrs Johanna Dau (Institute for Advanced Studies (IHS, Vienna)) - Presenting Author

For over 25 years, researchers grounded in queer theory have criticized the gap between methods used to measure gender and theoretical understandings of gender. As trans, intersex, and non-binary (TIN) individuals gain visibility, scholars across disciplines have worked to improve gender measurement, emphasizing the need for inclusivity, validity, and research-practicality.

This presentation examines the challenges of measuring gender in large-scale, cross-national surveys using the EUROSTUDENT project – a study harmonizing student surveys from 27 European countries – as a case study. It addresses barriers to comparability, alignment with administrative datasets, and designing inclusive questions that capture gender diversity while ensuring robust analyses.

Drawing on international literature and my experience with gender measurement in student surveys, I present three approaches: an old-fashioned two-step design used in EUROSTUDENT rounds 7 and 8*, an improved three-step design implemented in the Austrian National Student Social Survey 2023, and a streamlined two-step approach developed for EUROSTUDENT 9, taking place in spring 2025. Empirical data and metadata, such as response times and dropout rates, enrich the discussion, highlighting trade-offs between inclusivity and operational feasibility.

The analysis explores balancing inclusivity with the demands of cross-national, large-scale surveys. It focuses on question formats, response options, and weighting processes, aligning with queer-feminist theory while maintaining compatibility with official statistics and minimizing respondent burden. Framed within Critical Quantitative Research, this work addresses the tension between deconstructionist theories and quantitative methodologies. It also proposes strategies for analysing small TIN populations in large datasets, offering actionable insights for capturing gender diversity in large-scale studies.

*EUROSTUDENT 7 (2019; unweighted N≈221,800; 17 countries in SUF); EUROSTUDENT 8 (2022; N≈194,800; 18 countries in SUF). Austrian Student Social Survey 2023 (N≈43,400) as part of EUROSTUDENT 8.

Varieties of measuring gender identity in cross-national surveys: Respondents’ preferences and associations

Dr Katharina Meitinger (Utrecht University) - Presenting Author
Dr Angelo Moretti (Utrecht University)

For decades, large-scale social science surveys measured gender as a binary question (Men/Woman or male/female). Since this question format often conflates sex and gender and does not account for the complexity of different gender identities, different more inclusive question formats have been proposed and adopted in large-scale surveys, such as adding an open-ended “Other” option or different two-step procedures. However, survey methodological research evaluating the different approaches were predominantly single-country studies. Less is known which version is preferred by the respondents and which version performs best in a cross-national survey.
As part of a NWO funded research project on cross-national measures of attitudes towards LGBT, we conducted a web probing study in six countries (France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, USA) in 2024 and presented respondents with three gender identity questions: 1) One question version with the answer options “man”, “woman”, “other, please type in”, 2) two-step version first asking for the sex recorded at birth and then whether the respondent describes him/herself as male, female, or transgender, 3) two-step version asking first whether the respondent was born male or female and then whether he/she describes him/herself as a man, woman, or in some other way. After responding to all three versions, the respondents were asked which version they preferred and why.
In this presentation, we evaluate whether the three different formats arrive at similar response distributions regarding cis- and non-cis respondents, discuss which countries and subgroups prefer which version and show the reasons for these preferences.