Annotated Scenarios
The PRISMATIC team developed a set of ethical scenarios related to the inclusion of LGBTQIA+ participants in higher education STEM education research, and provide information for people who want to use these scenarios in their own professional development settings (suggested resources and potential responses to the scenario). These scenarios are not meant to encompass all potential ethical situations, instead reflecting the ethical dilemmas encountered by PRISMATIC participants and leaders in conducting STEM education research in higher education in the United States.
Annotated Resources
We provide a set of annotated resources. The PRISMATIC team and participants identified a number of resources related to the ethical inclusion of LGBTQIA+ participants in higher education STEM education research, and provide additional annotations for those materials. These resources are not meant to be all encompassing, but represent resources identified by our used by the PRISMATIC participants and leadership team members. To suggest additional resources we could add here, please contact scimath@unl.edu
Sex and Gender Equity in Research: Rationale for the SAGER guidelines and recommended use
Heidari, S., Babor, T.F., De Castro, P. et al.
Publication Date: 2016
Resource Type: Journal Article
SAGER guidelines for reporting gender and sex in peer-reviewed journals. This is a biomedical research piece that can be useful information for people who are inappropriately conflating sex and gender, but it is not about LGBTQIA+ populations.
National Institutes of Health
Publication Date: 2023
Resource Type: Glossary
This is fairly limited in scope but does provide a clear source, creates a shared set of terms based on an authoritative source (AP Stylebook) and gives date.
Measuring Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Research Group
Federal Committee on Statistical Methodology
Publication Date: Accessed 11/28/2023
Resource Type: Research working group website
"The Measuring Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) Research Group explores the best practices of the measurement of SOGI in the context of Federal information collections. The Group provides ongoing opportunities for individuals interested in statistical methods or data quality related to SOGI to interact, exchange information, and explore issues related to this topic." Several links to other documents, including a research agenda, charter document, and other working group papers.
Updates on Terminology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Survey Measures
Federal Committee on Statistical Methodology
Publication Date: August 2020
Resource Type: Report
It is a longer resource that covers more of the history of SOGI questions with the intention “to inform researchers and interested parties beyond the U.S. federal statistical system” (p. 1) and has a focus on “those who might be a sexual and/or gender minority and do no see a response with which they identify.” (p. 2). This is not a resource for cut & paste survey items but rather a resource to build a research backed understanding of question development.
Measuring Sex, Gender Identity, and Sexual Orientation for the National Institutes of Health
National Academies of Science Engineering and Medicine
Publication Date: 2022
Resource Type: Report
"Sex, gender, and sexual orientation are core aspects of identity that shape opportunities, experiences with discrimination, and outcomes through the life course; therefore, it is crucial that measures of these concepts accurately capture their complexity....The committee’s report offers principles for data collection, guidelines for collecting sex and gender data, and criteria for selecting recommended measures for sexual orientation identity." Issue briefs are detailed but specific, full document is helpful but extensive and detailed and also notes it is not necessarily up to date because newer terms haven't been verified.
How to Collect Data About LGBT Communities
Baker, K; Durso, L; Ridings, A.; Center for American Progress Website
Publication Date: March 2016
Resource Type: Fact sheet
This is overall a very user-friendly resource that provides explicit examples of types of questions you may want to ask in a survey. It also talks about what language was currently inappropriate and why standalone “What is your sex?” questions should not be used. The authors have assembled a helpful fact sheet with an overview of how to collect "more and better data about sexual orientation and gender identity, or SOGI," which they argue is "essential to meet the needs of LGBT people and their families across the United States."
Ready, Set, Go: a Guide for Collecting Data on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
National LGBTQ+ Health Education Center
Publication Date: 2022
Resource Type: How to guide
Healthcare specific- "This guide was designed to help health centers and other health care organizations successfully collect sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) data and document the data into the electronic health record (EHR)"
Considerations for Conducting Sensitive Research with the LGBTQIA+ Communities
Clifford Lewis & Nina Reynolds
Publication Date: 2021
Resource Type: Journal article
"Focusing on the notions of respect and beneficence underlining ethical research practice, this research note explains the heterogeneity inherent in the LGBTQIA+ acronym and draws implications for research practice. The article concludes by putting forward some considerations, focusing on the researcher, the research project, and the participant; to help market researchers when conducting research with LGBTQIA+ people." (From journal abstract)
Challenges to Doing Research on LGBTQ Issues in Education and Important Research Needs
George L. Wimberly and Juan Battle
Publication Date: 2015
Resource Type: Book chapter
"This chapter addresses some of the prevailing research challenges that have inhibited effective and rigorous studies on LGBTQ issues in education research. The political climate may produce challenges to conducting studies on topics about sexuality in schools. Also, research funding and support and the status hierarchies among academic publications may limit where and how studies are undertaken and disseminated. This chapter examines some of these challenges and offers recommendations to encourage further studies on LGBTQ issues and to support knowledge production in this area." (From chapter's abstract)
Research Ethics with Gender and Sexually Diverse Persons
Mark Henrickson, Sulaimon Giwa, Trish Hafford-Letchfield, Christine Cocker, Nick J. Mulé, Jason Schaub, and Alexandre Baril
Publication Date: 2020
Resource Type: Journal Article
The goal of the article is to suggest ways to address ethical challenges raised by work into gender and sexually diverse communities with a target audience of cisgender and heterosexual researchers, researchers looking at general populations, sexually diverse researchers, and human ethics committees. The authors encourage reflection about how western discourses may not translate across cultures and how the choice of language used in dissemination of work should be explained. Furthermore, the authors provide 12 guiding principles for researchers and ethic committees.