UIUC Quant Brownbag
What is Gender?
Jaime Lane Derringer - University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Gender is a common variable in psychology research, but it's rarely examined closely. Most studies use single-item binary measures of gender, but the proportion of people (participants) who identify as non-binary has been growing steadily in recent years. This reflects positively on the wider recognition of and reduced stigma around historically marginalized gender identities, but complicates data analysis. Even within binary gender categories, gender expression and experience varies widely among people who share gender identity labels. I’ll discuss alternative forms of gender measurement, from both psychometric and participant perspectives, and describe current best practices in collecting and analyzing diverse gender data.