Asking Questions About Sexual Orientation and 

Gender Identity on the Experimental Household 

Pulse Survey: Evidence from Initial Evaluations

Presentation for the 2022 FCSM Annual Meeting

Thomas File, Social, Economic, and Housing Statistics Division

Zachary Scherer, Social, Economic, and Housing Statistics Division

U.S. Census Bureau

October 25, 2022

Any opinions and conclusions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not represent the views of the U.S. Census Bureau.

The U.S. Census Bureau reviewed this data product for unauthorized disclosure of confidential information and approved the disclosure avoidance practices applied to 

this release. 

CBDRB-FY22-POP001-0103; CBDRB-FY22-POP001-0075 
Today You Will Hear About...

• Quick reminder of what SOGI questions are asked

• Evaluations:

• Allocated sex at birth (SAB)

• SAB/gender identity confirmation

• Question order experiment

• Characteristics of ‘residual’ respondents and 

nonrespondents to SOGI questions

• Research in progress

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HPS Methodology

• HPS remains an experimental survey

• HPS has relatively low overall response rate

• Questions asked only of respondents (i.e., no proxy response) 

• Questions asked only of those aged 18 years and over

• Self-response, online survey (no interviewer-administered option)

• Quick turnaround – data released less than two weeks after collection ends

• Census Bureau dissemination policies determine granularity of products 

• Limited time for Census to cognitively test revisions to baseline SOGI items

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HPS SOGI Questions

Sexual Orientation

Q1. Which of the following best represents how you 

think of yourself?

o Gay or lesbian 

o Straight, that is not gay or lesbian 

o Bisexual 

o Something else 

o I don’t know 

Gender Identity

Q1. What sex were you assigned at birth, on your 

original birth certificate?

o Male 

o Female 

Q2. Do you currently describe yourself as male, female 

or transgender?

o Male 

o Female 

o Transgender 

o None of these 

Q3. Just to confirm, you were assigned {FILL} at birth and 

now you describe yourself as {FILL}. Is that correct?

o Yes

o No <skip back to Q1 and/or Q2 to correct>

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Impact of Allocating Sex at Birth (SAB) on 

Transgender Estimates

• Rapid response framework = limited data editing

• Data edited only for age, race, Hispanic origin, sex at birth, education, 

and total number of adults in households (required for survey 

weighting)

• Respondents categorized as transgender in one of two ways:

1. Specifically select transgender on current identity question

2. Different values on sex at birth and gender identity

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Impact of Allocating SAB on Transgender 

Estimates

• Imputation of SAB raises possibility of incorrectly categorizing 

respondents as transgender based on edited value

• Errors influencing small population estimates in big ways (i.e., 

estimates of same-sex couples)

• Need to assess ramifications of removing allocations from sample on 

transgender estimates overall and by characteristics

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Current Gender Identity

Note: X-axis labels with * indicate statistical significance (95%)
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Note: X-axis labels with * indicate statistical significance (95%)

Note: “Non-Hispanic other” includes those reporting 2+ races
Impact of Allocating Sex at Birth (SAB) on 

Transgender Estimates

• Although removing allocated SAB values does not radically shift SOGI 

distributions, it does matter

• There does appear to be some differential impact by age and 

race/Hispanic origin

• Overall distribution of transgender is younger and less likely to be 

non-Hispanic White and non-Hispanic Black once we remove SAB 

allocations

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Impact of SAB/Gender Identity Check

• Since July 2021, reported binary sex replaced with two questions 

(SAB and gender identity)

• Only non-matching reports received confirmation check

• Once again, goal is to limit errors in small populations

• Who gets the check, and are there differences in outcomes?

• Of unweighted sample, only 1.7 percent receive the check

• Of those who receive the check, most (86 percent) affirm original 

responses

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Note: X-axis labels with * indicate statistical significance (95%)
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Impact of SAB/Gender Identity Check

• Most reports of inconsistent SAB and gender identity are affirmed as 

accurate when checked

• Those who affirm are younger, while those who correct are older

• The White non-Hispanic population was more represented among 

those who affirm; the Black non-Hispanic population was more 

represented among those who correct

• On SOGI outcomes, sexual and gender minorities more represented 

among population that affirmed; cisgender male/female and straight 

respondents more prevalent among those who correct

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Results From Built-In Question Order 

Experiment

• Built-in question order experiment was included when new SOGI items were 

added

• Half sample received sexual orientation question before SAB/current gender 

identity questions, and vice versa

• In both treatments, SOGI questions asked at end of survey’s first section 

(demographics)

• Treatment Group A: sex assigned at birth gender identity sexual orientation

• Treatment Group B: sexual orientation sex assigned at birth gender identity 

• Does question order matter?

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Note: X-axis labels with * indicate statistical significance (95%)
Results From Built-In Question Order 

Experiment

• Overall, question order did not drastically change LGBT outcomes

• Non-response for gender identity summary measure was slightly 

lower in Treatment A (SAB and gender identity asked before sexual 

orientation) than in Treatment B (sexual orientation asked first)

• Characteristics of LGBT population stable across treatment groups

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Characteristics of ‘Residual’ Respondents and 

Nonrespondents

• Accurate survey measurement requires not only understanding those who clearly 

report being part of the SGM and non-SGM populations, but also those who 

select less definitive responses (‘none of these’ for their current gender identity, 

and ‘something else’ or ‘I don’t know’ for their sexual orientation)

• The choice of including or excluding those who respond with “something else” to a sexual 

orientation question as part of the SGM population has been found to affect research 

findings

• Some respondents may use ‘residual’ categories if they are unsure of their 

sexuality or uncomfortable with labels

• Others may use these categories if they do not understand or wish to voice 

objection to the relevant questions

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‘Residual’ Respondents and Nonrespondents

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Key Findings from Logistic Regression Models

• In general, younger respondents were more likely to respond to SOGI 

questions (though they were also more likely to select a residual 

response category), whereas older respondents were more likely to 

not respond at all. 

• Those responding in Spanish were more likely than those responding 

in English to select residual responses to the sexual orientation 

question or to not respond at all to either SOGI question

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In Summary...

• Data users encouraged to remove allocated SAB from SOGI 

analysis

• Consistency check is useful and operating as intended

• Question order does not yield drastic differences, but asking 

sex at birth and gender identity before sexual orientation 

may reduce nonresponse

• Nonrespondents to SOGI questions tend to be older with 

lower educational attainment; ‘residual’ respondents tend to 

be younger and, for sexual orientation, more likely to have 

completed the survey in Spanish

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Ongoing Evaluations

• Next steps include evaluating questions by COVID-19 experiences 

• HPS designed for this

• Additional characteristics and geography to consider

• Modeling and record linkage projects

• Outside research and collaboration important (and encouraged!)

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Thank you!

Thomas File 

Social, Economic, and Housing Statistics Division

U.S. Census Bureau

thomas.a.file@census.gov

Zachary Scherer 

Social, Economic, and Housing Statistics Division

U.S. Census Bureau

zachary.scherer@census.gov

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