Surveys, Big Data, and Experiments

Abstract

There is little rigorous quantitative data about the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) people in developing countries. This makes the development of policy to improve the welfare of LGBTI people difficult, and it also makes it difficult to know whether sexual orientation and gender identity and expression focused policies and programs are working. Filling this data gap is necessary to understand the development outcomes for LGBTI people. Quantitative data practices exist that can be drawn on to fill the gap, including household surveys, experiments, and big data analysis. Summarizing existing experience, this chapter provides guidance on how to study development outcomes for LGBTI people, by paying attention to the different ways to define sexual orientation, gender identity and expression (SOGIE), and sex characteristics; and collecting samples that allow conclusions to be drawn among LGBTI people, as well as the general population.