Sex, gender identity, trans status - data collection and publication: guidance

Questions

Interviewer led (Face to face/phone) interview – Sex

Question wording

What is your sex? Or "what is the sex of (name of respondent)?" when responding for another person

Question responses

1. Female

2. Male

3. Prefer not to say

To not include in the question, but to code:

9. Not known

Question guidance

This aligns with the guidance for Scotland's Census 2022[19] with the exception that the respondent may state that they would prefer not to answer the question. The value "Not known" indicates that sex has not been recorded. This covers the sex of an unborn child, when someone has refused to answer the question or when the question has not been asked.

Written (paper or online) questionnaire – Sex[20]

Question wording

What is your sex?

Question responses

1. Female

2. Male

3. Prefer not to say

To not include in the question, but to code:

9. Not known

Question guidance

This aligns with the guidance for Scotland's Census 202219 with the exception that the respondent may state that they would prefer not to answer the question. The value "Not known" indicates that sex has not been recorded. This covers the sex of an unborn child, when someone has refused to answer the question or when the question has not been asked.

Interviewer led (Face to face/phone) interview – trans status

Question wording

Do you consider yourself to be trans, or have a trans history?

Question responses

1. No

2. Yes

3. Prefer not to say

To not include in the question, but to code

9. Not known

Question guidance

Here we use trans is as a term used to describe people whose gender identity is not the same as their sex registered at birth. To only be asked for people aged 16 or over Ideally present a show card with options 1-3. Otherwise read out options 1-3. Responding with the answer 2-Yes opens the question on trans status description The value "Not known" indicates that trans status has not been recorded. This covers when someone has refused to answer the question or when the question has not been asked.

Interviewer led (Face to face/phone) interview – trans status description

For those who respond to the trans status question "yes"

Question wording

If you would like to, please describe your trans status (for example non-binary, trans man, trans woman):

Question responses

This is an open text response

8. Prefer not to say

9. Not Applicable

Question guidance

The value "Not applicable" indicates that the trans status description question was not asked, i.e. the trans status question has a response of 1, 3 or 9.

Written (paper or online) questionnaire – trans status

Question wording

Do you consider yourself to be trans, or have a trans history? Tick ONE box only

Question responses

1. No

2. Yes

3. Prefer not to say

To not include in the question, but to code:

9. Not known

Question guidance

Here we use trans as a term to describe people whose gender identity is not the same as their sex registered at birth To only be asked for people aged 16 or over The write-in box for the trans status description should be visible underneath the trans status question The value "Not known" indicates that trans status has not been recorded. This covers when someone has refused to answer the question or when the question has not been asked.

Written (paper or online) questionnaire – trans status description

For those who respond to the trans status question "yes"

Question wording

If you would like to, please describe your trans status (for example non-binary, trans man, trans woman):

Question responses

This is an open text response

9. Not Applicable

Question guidance

The value "Not applicable" indicates that the trans status description question was not asked, i.e. the trans status question has a response of 1, 3 or 9.

Coding Framework for Trans Status free text response question

The Office of the Chief Statistician has produced a coding framework designed to help analysts categorise free text responses to the recommended question on trans status. 

Respondents who answer 'Yes' to the question 'Do you consider yourself to be trans, or have a trans history?' are asked the follow-up question 'If you would like to, please describe your trans status (for example non-binary, trans man, trans woman):'. This coding framework provides guidance for how to code free text responses to this question. 

Where people have been asked an open-ended question, such as the one above, they are able to write whatever answer they wish, and are not able to pick from a drop-down list of options. The framework is used to help analysts to categorise the same, or closely similar answers, under one term that can act as a catch-all for the group of answers people have given, and should never be used as a list of options for people to pick from.

The coding framework is merely a tool for analysts. It should not be interpreted to mean there are a particular number of genders and it will not inform policy or have any impact on operational decisions. It is designed to fully interpret free text responses to accurately record data for further analysis. We fully appreciate that there is a wide range of strongly held legitimate views about this subject and the coding framework should only be used as a guide to classify responses to the recommended trans status question in surveys.

How the framework was developed

Scotland’s Census 2022 included a voluntary question on trans status or history. National Records of Scotland (NRS) consulted data users and agreed seven high level categories to classify census responses so that data could be published. NRS used a coding framework to group similar responses together before classifying them into the seven categories. The coding framework was a tool used as part of the process to categorise similar responses to facilitate analysis. The list of terms on the coding framework was informed by how people described themselves in responses to Scotland’s Census, the census rehearsal in Scotland, and the ONS Census for England and Wales. The list may include terms that are preferred/used by some people but not others.

NRS published a report on the trans status or history data from Scotland’s Census in June 2024. This included data for the seven high level categories.

Alongside this report NRS published a list of write-in responses from people who were coded to one of the five trans categories (trans man, trans woman, non-binary, trans status: not specified and other trans status or history). Responses that were similar in nature but used different terms, or different spellings were not combined for this list. The write-in list does not include responses that were provided by fewer than 10 respondents to avoid privacy concerns. The write-in data does not sum to the published trans status or history numbers.

In December 2024, NRS published data for the 27 subcategories used in their trans status or history coding framework. This includes responses that were not coded to one of the five trans categories. Responses that were similar in nature but used different terms, or different spellings were combined into one of the 27 coding framework subcategories at this stage. The coding framework categories data includes a combined figure for categories with fewer than 10 respondents to avoid privacy concerns.

How to use the framework

The coding framework provides three levels of grouping for free text responses. These are:

TRANS_PERSON - This has 3 categories

TRANS_CATEGORY - This has 7 categories.

TRANS_SUBCATEGORY - This has 27 categories.

Analysts should first assign the write-in response to a TRANS_SUBCATEGORY based on the wording the respondent used to describe themselves and using the definitions as a guide. The TRANS_SUBCATEGORY values, which act as an intermediate variable, are then grouped into the TRANS_CATEGORY and TRANS_PERSON categories. We recommend that you assess which level of granularity is most appropriate for the analysis you are producing.

Revision of the framework

In December 2024, National Records of Scotland published data for the categories used in this trans status or history coding framework. When preparing this data it was apparent that people who wrote in ‘intersex’ had been coded into the ‘Other trans status or history’ category. This affected a small number of records (less than 20).  

National Records of Scotland asked the Office of the Chief Statistician in Scottish Government to make a change to the framework to be consistent with stakeholder feedback they received before the census. They were told that people who identify as ‘intersex’ or with 'differences of sex development' or ‘variations in sex characteristics’ should not be counted as trans people by default. NRS reclassified all responses in the ‘intersex’ group into the ‘No - not trans and does not have trans history’ category.  

National Records of Scotland's data tables, report, and quality report have all been updated to reflect this change.

The update to the framework to move the 'Intersex' category as described above and the update to this accompanying note to include more detail about the development and intended use of the framework took place on Wednesday 18th December 2024.

The coding framework is available in an excel file that can be downloaded from the supporting documents.