Queering data: Producing data on sex, gender and sexuality
Date:
10/06/2025 - 18/06/2025
Organised by:
University of Glasgow
Presenter:
Kirstie Ken English
Level:
Entry (no or almost no prior knowledge)
Contact:
Penny White
NCRM Centre Manager
p.c.white@southampton.ac.uk
Venue: Online
Description:
Queering data introduces participants to issues surrounding the ways that sex, gender and sexuality are represented in UK data. The course focuses on the production of data via surveys, helping participants design survey questions in an inclusive, transparent and reflexive manner. It takes place over four half days (10th & 11th and 17th & 18th June), with each session on a specific theme. The first two sessions engage with critical theories surrounding how populations are categorised and counted and dives into the UK data context. The final two sessions provide participants with insights and tools for designing their own survey questions and engaging with data in an informed and reflexive manner. The recommendations provided in this course are based on a mixed method research project that directly engaged with people with relationships to sex, gender and sexuality overlooked in UK survey data.
The course covers:
Introduction to critical queer and feminist theories on data collection
Introduction to the UK census and the controversies around them
The pros and cons of data visibility for LGBTI+ people
Being a reflexive data collector
Being transparent data collector
Ways to design sex, gender and sexuality survey questions based on research with overlooked populations
By the end of the course participants will:
- Be able to summarise the pros and cons of LGBTI+ data collection as seen by queer theorists
- Be able to summarise feminist critiques of quantification
- Know what the UK census are, what they are for, how they are designed and the latest debates surrounding how they represent sex, gender and sexuality
Course format:
- Four half days over two weeks - 10th & 11th and 17th & 18th June 2025
- All sessions running from 10:00-13:00 with two 15 minute comfort breaks
- A mix of lectures and group discussion based activities.
- Some short post session activities, should take no more than 15 minutes.
- Additional reading which the participants can choose to do if they wish.
Required preparatory reading:
Browne, K. (2010). Queer quantification or queer(y)ing quantification: Creating lesbian, gay, bisexual or heterosexual citizens through governmental social research. In Queer Methods and Methodologies: Intersecting Queer Theories and Social Science Research (pp. 231-249).
D'ignazio, C. & Klein, L. 2020. 4.“What Gets Counted Counts”. Data Feminism.
https://data-feminism.mitpress.mit.edu/pub/h1w0nbqp/release/3
Additional reading will be provided closer to the time but these are the only two pieces required before the course.
Presenter:
Kirstie Ken English (they/them)
Kirstie Ken is a mixed methods social researcher and quantitative methods tutor at The University of Glasgow. Their interests and expertise are in the production and use of equality, diversity and inclusion data, gender, sexuality and human rights. Their PhD in Sociology was on “How differences of in terms of sex and gender should be represented by UK population surveys”. To find out more about their work visit their website.
Cost:
The fee per teaching day is £60 per day for students / £150 per day for staff working for academic institutions, Research Councils and other recognised research institutions, registered charity organisations and the public sector / £350 per day for all other participants.
In the event of cancellation by the delegate a full refund of the course fee is available up to two weeks prior to the course. NO refunds are available after this date.
If it is no longer possible to run a course due to circumstances beyond its control, NCRM reserves the right to cancel the course at its sole discretion at any time prior to the event. In this event every effort will be made to reschedule the course. If this is not possible or the new date is inconvenient a full refund of the course fee will be given. NCRM shall not be liable for any costs, losses or expenses that may be incurred as a result of its cancellation of a course, including but not limited to any travel or accommodation costs. The University of Southampton’s Online Store T&Cs also continue to apply.
Website and registration:
Region:
Scotland
Keywords:
Survey Research, Data Collection, Survey and Questionnaire Design, Questionnaire design, Sex, Gender, Sexuality, Queer, LGBTI+, Intersex, Trans, Equality diversity and inclusion (EDI), Populations, Census, Demographics
Related publications and presentations from our eprints archive:
Survey Research
Data Collection
Survey and Questionnaire Design
Questionnaire design