Comments | gsa_lj: Community Demographics

tko_ak in gsa_lj

Community Demographics

Jul 12, 2008 16:52

Below is our semi-annual community demographics survey. It covers a gamut of questions - some of which are predictable, others which aren't. I encourage you to take a few minutes and fill it out. I find this sort of thing fascinating, and I know I'm not alone in that regard ( Read more... )

membership surveys, demographics, administrivia

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nikolche July 13 2008, 01:31:01 UTC

[grins] Only I could have problems filling out a survey with every inclusive option known to man. Ethnicity is technically hispanic/latino, but [a] no one would ever know by looking at me and [b] I'm the worst latin boy ever. I tend to say my physical sex is FtM (that is, I have female anatomy with male secondary sex characteristics and confuse the hell out of doctors). I don't ID as transgender because I'm neither changing my gender nor attempting to leave the binary (I like my box, I simply wish other people would recognise I was in it), but at the same time I knew what you were going for. I'm an atheist agnostic Jew who considers both California (specifically, not the entire US) and the UK home. My political beliefs are usually too liberal for liberals, but I'm also not exactly an anarchist. I was a step away from joining the Marines when my best friends got kicked out under DADT (I was raised in Marine programmes, turned down an acceptance to the Naval Academy, and only had to sign on the dotted line when I backed out in protest). I'm neither a parent nor an educator, but while I don't hope to be either I'm also not adverse to them if the chance ever came along.

In short...I am here to screw with your data!

demerick July 13 2008, 01:34:39 UTC

ROFL...where would surveys be without someone to screw with the data.

starfish327 July 13 2008, 01:35:35 UTC

it would be a very boring world if there wasn't data for us grad students to clean.

nikolche July 13 2008, 01:36:20 UTC

I screw with most people's data, it's rather entertaining

starfish327 July 13 2008, 01:38:13 UTC

actually on a serious note this is why i begged my adviser to let me put so many options on my survey for my data, because i knew there would be so many people that would do something similar.

tko_ak July 13 2008, 01:43:48 UTC

Yeah, but if someone maliciously wants to screw with the results, they're going to even if there is a reasonable option for them to choose.

It can also become harder to read if there are a ton of options that no one chooses. In several of the questions, I ranked the answers by what I assumed would be the most popular, so it would be easier to read.

starfish327 July 13 2008, 01:46:22 UTC

oh yeah but then people are people. there's no such thing as perfectly clean data without guiding people into choices.

it's a total gray area.

nikolche July 13 2008, 01:43:50 UTC

I have problems filling out any survey designed for the GLBT community. No one ever gets how I perceive my sex/gender so I always end up scribbling in margins. General surveys are actually easier because then I can just mark male without feeling like I'm misleading them somehow.

tko_ak July 13 2008, 01:45:30 UTC

Don't feel guilty, by any means. Just try to choose the best answer that fits. It doesn't have to be 100% accurate, so long as it's honest.

nikolche July 13 2008, 01:48:18 UTC

Oh I did. Most of the answers were "other" for sake of honesty, but I filled it out fine.

starfish327 July 13 2008, 01:48:28 UTC

oh i know. i put polyamorous and asexual as choices on mine, as well as letting people choose as many as you want. my adviser thought i was nuts, and i said, trust me on this one, if i miss ANYTHING it's going to be the one that someone's going to complain was left off the list.

the same thing with trans. i specifically added a trans option and he thought i was crazy for that one too.

nikolche July 13 2008, 01:51:36 UTC

Especially within the GLBT community it's important to put down as many options as possible. I've seen people go up in arms because male, female, and trans* were listed, but not non-gendered in a community about a TV show.

starfish327 July 13 2008, 01:56:11 UTC

you know i forgot about genderless/non gendered, but i'm honestly not sure i could get it approved like that. my school likes to say that's all for equality but i think it only goes so far.

nikolche July 13 2008, 02:00:04 UTC

It's more a matter of people not recognising that some people don't identify as any of the above. It doesn't make sense to most people, they feel that you have to identify as something. Same issue that comes up when trying to explain asexuality.

starfish327 July 13 2008, 02:02:17 UTC

yeah a lot of the questions that i pushed to put in were because of that. i was told no one's going to identify that or they'll find something that comes close, and i said, trust me i know a really wide range of people and there's going to be someone. if nothing else, if no one identifies that way we'll end up with an n= 0 for that measure.

tko_ak July 13 2008, 01:52:21 UTC

In one of my research methods, I had to conduct a (scientific) survey. One of the demographic questions was on sex. I included "Other" and the professor wanted me change it. I posted about it here, last fall. I don't remember if I changed it or not, but there was some question people were kept laughing at because I included other.

You can't please everyone.

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