Dissertation decision time - PLEASE HELP ME MY TRANS, GNC AND CIS FRIENDS W/ CONCEPT FAMILIARITY!!!
EDIT: Forget it. I can't make this variable work in a way that truly reflects people's multiplicity of identities. So I will recommend it to be a qualitative study in the limitations discussion section and also recommend future studies to ask a question such as "how do you explain your identity to others" as a way to get at whether people are treated differently if they express a nonbinary identity.
Greetings flist.
Well, I decided to name the plants Remus and Romulus because, indeed, the cilantro started to flower and was not at all happy in the heat. But then I got another basil plant and another cilantro plant. So now I've put them in two pots of like kinds.
Sound like mental juggling? That ain't nuthin' compared to my dissertation. I am deep in the throes of putting together my hypotheses and combing through the variable.
So here is where I need your help PEOPLE ON MY FLIST WHO IDENTIFY AS TRANS, GENDER NON-CONFORMING, OR CISGENDER BUT ARE FAMILIAR WITH THE CONCEPTS!!!!
The original researcher asked three questions:
1-Do you consider yourself trans in any way? Yes, No, don't know/questioning)
2-What was your sex assigned at birth (SAAB) (Male, Female, Don't Know)
and then later on,
3- What terms do you use to describe your gender identity? with the answers:
crossdresser
drag queen/king
feminine male
FTM/transgender man
GNC/variant
genderqueer
masculine female/butch
MTF/transgender woman
transgender
transsexual
two-spirit
none of these apply to me
female
male
intersex
When they did their report, they assigend anyone who said "yes" to 1 and male to 2 as MTF and anyone who said yes to 1 and female to 2 as FTM.
But my dissertation looks beyind the binary. I am looking to see if gender nonconformity or inconsistent presentation or people who others guess as being trans receive differential treatment.
Still with me?
So I am thinking of recoding the variables in question 3 to reflect three overarching categories: FTM, MTF and GNC.
BUT
This is not so easy.
If someone says they are a two-spirit, do I not include them in the analysis of certain questions? Do I assign them MTF or FTM based on SAAB and current gender presentation (another question).
If someone identifies as a feminine male and was male at birth, are they GNC? But if they say feminine male and was female at birth, still GNC or FTM?
If someone identifies as intersex but indicated their gender presentation as different from that assigned at birth, should that person be coded as GNC or left out?
I am concerned about adequately reflecting those people's experiences when asking questions like are they at risk of working in a street economy, or having lower income/living in poverty, or experiencing discrimination on the job.
So I have to make a decision about how to recode and I can't decide. Are there underlying thoughts or assumptions in going with one decision vs another on what category to put them in? You see, I have to choose SOMETHING or else I can't run statistics on that sort of variable. You wind up with what is called "too small cell size" because there are too many categories and not enough people in them to accurately test against another variable. (Sorry for the nerdtalk...)
Any thoughts?
(Note: I appreciate all constructive feedback that will help me make a decision on the variable. If anyone responds to this, please don't assume they are in any given category of gender identity unless explicitly expressed here. I'm making this note because I'm not f-locking the entry and some people may not wish to comment for fear of outing themselves in some way or another).
Greetings flist.
Well, I decided to name the plants Remus and Romulus because, indeed, the cilantro started to flower and was not at all happy in the heat. But then I got another basil plant and another cilantro plant. So now I've put them in two pots of like kinds.
Sound like mental juggling? That ain't nuthin' compared to my dissertation. I am deep in the throes of putting together my hypotheses and combing through the variable.
So here is where I need your help PEOPLE ON MY FLIST WHO IDENTIFY AS TRANS, GENDER NON-CONFORMING, OR CISGENDER BUT ARE FAMILIAR WITH THE CONCEPTS!!!!
The original researcher asked three questions:
1-Do you consider yourself trans in any way? Yes, No, don't know/questioning)
2-What was your sex assigned at birth (SAAB) (Male, Female, Don't Know)
and then later on,
3- What terms do you use to describe your gender identity? with the answers:
crossdresser
drag queen/king
feminine male
FTM/transgender man
GNC/variant
genderqueer
masculine female/butch
MTF/transgender woman
transgender
transsexual
two-spirit
none of these apply to me
female
male
intersex
When they did their report, they assigend anyone who said "yes" to 1 and male to 2 as MTF and anyone who said yes to 1 and female to 2 as FTM.
But my dissertation looks beyind the binary. I am looking to see if gender nonconformity or inconsistent presentation or people who others guess as being trans receive differential treatment.
Still with me?
So I am thinking of recoding the variables in question 3 to reflect three overarching categories: FTM, MTF and GNC.
BUT
This is not so easy.
If someone says they are a two-spirit, do I not include them in the analysis of certain questions? Do I assign them MTF or FTM based on SAAB and current gender presentation (another question).
If someone identifies as a feminine male and was male at birth, are they GNC? But if they say feminine male and was female at birth, still GNC or FTM?
If someone identifies as intersex but indicated their gender presentation as different from that assigned at birth, should that person be coded as GNC or left out?
I am concerned about adequately reflecting those people's experiences when asking questions like are they at risk of working in a street economy, or having lower income/living in poverty, or experiencing discrimination on the job.
So I have to make a decision about how to recode and I can't decide. Are there underlying thoughts or assumptions in going with one decision vs another on what category to put them in? You see, I have to choose SOMETHING or else I can't run statistics on that sort of variable. You wind up with what is called "too small cell size" because there are too many categories and not enough people in them to accurately test against another variable. (Sorry for the nerdtalk...)
Any thoughts?
(Note: I appreciate all constructive feedback that will help me make a decision on the variable. If anyone responds to this, please don't assume they are in any given category of gender identity unless explicitly expressed here. I'm making this note because I'm not f-locking the entry and some people may not wish to comment for fear of outing themselves in some way or another).