A Qualitative Approach to the Intersection of Sexual, Ethnic, and Gender Identities

Abstract

This article reports on a qualitative strategy designed to study the intersection of sexual, ethnoracial, and gender identities, and how people who hold those identities interact with social contexts. Researchers often study identities as isolated constructs (e.g., “Latino,” “gay”) and by using separate measures to characterize each construct. This approach may be helpful depending on the questions asked, but it can also miss important elements of a self-system, such as those that stem from the intersection of identities or from people's interactions with social contexts. The strategy suggested in this article can help researchers overcome these limitations. It allows researchers to study how people craft their identities over time, through recurring and sometimes conflicted negotiations with institutional settings such as those of the church, family, and work.