Surveying trans and nonbinary communities: Research methodologies, accountability, and ethics with the Trans Bodies, Trans Selves Survey (2nd edition)

Gleisberg, A. I., Pacha, K., Chang, S., Erickson-Schroth, L., Johnson, K., & Luz Hernandez, S. (2022). Surveying trans and nonbinary communities: Research methodologies, accountability, and ethics with the Trans Bodies, Trans Selves Survey (2nd edition). Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/sgd0000575

The present study addresses many of the methodological issues encountered during the Trans Bodies, Trans Selves Survey (2nd Ed.)—a qualitative survey that contained 97 open-ended questions—and uses an intersectional approach to compare the results to the National Transgender Discrimination Survey and the U.S. Transgender Survey—two large-scale quantitative studies. While the Trans Bodies, Trans Selves Survey (2nd Ed.) included a breadth of topics, depth of responses, and trans/nonbinary-led research questions, it encountered similar issues to other studies on trans and nonbinary populations. Some of these issues include sampling problems, the inability to verify the total size of the trans and nonbinary population, recruitment challenges, and difficulties with survey completion. By reflecting on how these issues relate to previous research, we provide recommendations on how to produce more representative data while remaining accountable to trans and nonbinary communities.