Demographic questionnaires are a series of questions
aimed to identify the main characteristics (aka
Demographics) of those belonging to the research sample
(e.g., humans, animals, cell cultures). Researchers
across disciplines regularly present demographic information
about their sample for a variety of purposes.
Information about the variety—homogeneity vs heterogeneity—
of the study sample can be used to answer the
research questions, describe the sample, and inform the
generalization of the results to a population, as well as study. Often mindful of survey length, researchers carefully
select the type and number of questions in a survey,
including the demographic questions. This often
leads researchers to balance the inclusion of identifying
demographic questionnaires for testing research hypothesis(
es) and providing a description of the ‘make-up’ of
the sample participants that is accurate, appropriate,
comprehensive, and uses culturally sensitive wording.
While the use of demographic questionnaires is widespread,
the collection of demographic data that meets the
above needs can be difficult; particularly when researchers
strive to collect data from participant groups less regularly
represented in their field’s research studies.
Another challenge can be using the appropriate terminology
to achieve greater inclusion of category intersections
and more finely defined categories. An additional challenge
is the movement toward the dissolution of identifying
with or fitting a single category by individuals.
Unfortunately, this can lead to not including or properly
capturing research participants of minority and/or marginalized
identities and groups.
This situation may be due to the misleading assumption
that the same demographic questions can equally
capture the quality and quantity of information across a
variety of cultural and social contexts. Generally, this
occurs with the use of predetermined response options
that may limit the solicitation of individual information.
Thus, researchers may not fully describe the complexity
of participants’ intersectional identities within the
research sample, as well as the uniqueness of the sample’s
cultural and social background. General recommendations
to address some of these challenges with
demographic questionnaires are to:
• provide response options covering all possible
scenarios
• select descriptors that can be correctly interpreted
and understood by the respondents
• provide the option not to answer and/or self-identify
• limit demographic questionnaires to information specifically
needed for descriptive and analysis purposes
Common considerations when selecting demographic
questionnaires include:
• distinguishing among biological sex, assigned sex,
gender identification (binary vs nonbinary), and sexual
orientation
• distinguishing between race and ethnicity
• testing questions for cultural and linguistic clarity/
appropriateness
Finally, researchers could incorporate open-ended
demographic questions for a more ‘qualitative’
approach. Although this approach enables participants
fully to describe their identities and provide accurate
information about themselves, it also presents some
challenges. For example, when researchers need to
quantify this qualitative information into taxonomies,
they are trying to do so without compromising the complexity
of the information gathered. It is recommended
that, as with all other aspects of data collection,
researchers are thoughtful when determining the demographic
variables needed and questionnaire wording
used to collect participants’ demographic data. This can
include explicitly stating the scope of the question, as
well as providing adequate terminology to identify the
different intersectional identities to ensure the most
accurate and representative description of the sample is
collected. Finally, research has also shown that answering
demographic questionnaires may trigger participants’
stereotype threat related to a specific identity,
which may influence their responses to subsequent
items (Steele, 2011). Therefore, an important design
aspect for researchers to consider is when the demographic
questionnaires are presented to participants.
