Measurements We Live By: Revisiting Sex and Gender in Canadian Sociology
Date
2025-04-30
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
ORCID
Type
Thesis
Degree Level
Masters
Abstract
The project is guided by a theoretical question: how does Canadian sociology approach transgender and nonbinary populations? To understand how sociologists are engaging with gender in their research, a content analysis of publications in the Canadian Review of Sociology was performed. Data was collected for the conceptualization, measurement, and analysis of sex/gender for each of the publications from 2014 to 2024. A total of 109 research papers were included in the sample. Descriptive statistics were used to understand how researchers were conceptualizing, measuring, and analyzing sex and/or gender. Results show that 84.4% of publications (n=92) relied on a binary conceptualization of sex and/or gender. Regarding measurement, 90.8% of papers (n=99) relied on a binary tool for collecting data. 95.4% of the sample (n=104) analyzed sex/gender using a binary framework. Finally, results from logistic regression models show that year of publication was not able to significantly predict conceptualization, measurement, or analysis, meaning that there has been no statistically significant change in our methods over time. This project describes current methods used in published Canadian sociological research and supports the need for more open conversations about the role and use of sex and gender in our discipline.
Description
Keywords
transgender, trans, gender, methodologies, cisnormativity, measurement tools
Citation
Degree
Master of Arts (M.A.)
Department
Sociology
Program
Sociology