Counting Out Loud: Data Collection Issues Essential for Improving the Welfare of Sexual Minorities

• Activity Number: 60
• Type: Topic Contributed
• Date/Time: Sunday, August 7, 2005 : 4:00 PM to 5:50 PM
• Sponsor: Section on Survey Research Methods
• Author(s): Randall Sell*+ and Susan Cochran*+ and Gary Gates*+ and Lee Badgett*+
• Companies: Columbia University and University of California, Los Angeles and The Williams Project and University of Massachusetts
• Keywords: sample design ; Questionarie design ; Bias

Abstract

Much of the little scientific information available about sexual minorities in the US derives from surveys or other studies of limited parts of the population. Most of the rest of what passes as systematic information is derived from marketing surveys---which raise serious questions about biases---and from even more informal sources. When U.S. society appears to be showing increasing acceptance of sexual minorities, their legal and human rights are points of intense debate. In the absence of substantial information about sexual minorities, the public is left prey to stereotypes. This panel seeks to point a way torward more informed discussion. It will focus on three issues: the scientific and scholarly needs that argue for including questions related to sexual preference in government surveys and other data collection efforts, information on difficulties in deriving "standard" definitions to use in classifying sexual minorities, and results of existing work.