Kirstie Ken English (they/them)

Kirstie Ken English (they/them)

Sociology PhD student researching how differences of sex, gender and sexuality should be represented in UK surveys.

Social researcher role search

1 minute read

Published:

Updated for Summer 2023

I’m a mixed methods social researcher with specialised quantitative data analysis skills and particular insights into gender, sexuality and human rights. I am close to completing my PhD in Sociology on how differences of sex, gender and sexuality should be represented by UK surveys. From Summer 2023 I will be available to assist on research projects. See my CV for specific details on my skills, experiences and qualifications. If you wish to work with me please email kenglishresearch@gmail.com.

Areas of expertise:

  • Quantitative data analysis
  • Mixed methods research
  • Gender
  • Sexuality
  • Human Rights
  • Feminist research
  • Queer theory and queer methods
  • Survey design
  • Methods training
  • Research engaging with LGBTI+ people
  • EDI data collection
  • Using illustrations as part of dissemination

Examples of previous work:

The Status of Young Women in Scotland 2022-2023: Experiences of Accessing Healthcare

  • Qualitative & qualitative research, working group facilitation and illustrations for final report

The Practitioner Perspective on Access to Justice for Social Rights: Addressing the Accountability Gap

  • Analysing qualitative data, feeding back to research team and producing a policy briefing

Open Budget Survey 2019: Scotland: Summary

  • Collecting data on budget documents and assessing it via internationally recognised best practice. I have repeated this work for the 2021/2022 Scottish budget, which a report will be released on after I have engaged with the Scottish government alongside the SHRC.

Role requirements:

Pay: Between £20-£33 an hour depending on the nature of the role and length of the contract. This is based on my latest earnings and recommendations from the Scottish Artist Union.

Hours: 7.5-22.5 hours a week until September 1st from which time I will be open to full time roles.

Start date: As soon as needed

Location: Remote, commutable from Glasgow or only requiring occasional in person meetings or in person field work outside of Glasgow.

LGBTQ+ Census Guide 2022

3 minute read

Published:

The 20th of March 2022 is census day in Scotland. This census year is of particular importance to the LGBTQ+ community. Here I provide some information for LGBTQ+ people filling in the census. As a non-binary person, I’m disappointed by the binary sex question. However, that makes the optional text box in the “trans status or trans history” question more important. If your trans and feel comfortable doing so please make use of that box so our community is represented accurately.

Perspective on the Sex & Gender Data Working Group Guidance

12 minute read

Published:

On the 22nd of September, the Scottish Government’s Sex & Gender Data Working Group published guidance on the production & publication of sex, gender and trans status(gender modality) data by public bodies. The guidance is updated from the daft guidance, which the working group took feedback on in December. Here I will highlight key strengths and weaknesses of the new guidance as well as questions it leaves unanswered.

Survey: Representing differences of sex, gender and sexuality in UK population surveys

2 minute read

Published:

Survey Link! Ends on July 2nd 2021

The third and final strand of my research has begun and I need your help. My research aims to find out how differences of sex, gender and sexuality should be represented in UK population surveys. For the final strand of my research, I am surveying people ages 16 and over who live in the UK and are part of the LGBTI+ community. The survey asks for your perspectives on what information about your sex, gender or sexuality should be recorded. It features questions designed by people whose relationship to sex, gender or sexuality is usually overlooked by UK censuses. You will have the opportunity to share your perspectives on these questions and help identify if they would be good alternatives to current survey practices.

The above diagram depicts my research process. The survey is part of Strand 3. In Strand 2 I engaged with 4 different overlooked groups that were identified by reviewing current survey practices they were:

  1. People with variations of sex characteristics (often referred to as intersex people or people with differences of sex development)

  2. People whose gender identities (or lack thereof) are not completely represented by the categories of man or woman (often referred to as non-binary people)

  3. People who do not identify with their sex assigned at birth (often referred to as trans people)

  4. Anyone who does not identify as only heterosexual/straight, gay, lesbian or bisexual (for example: asexual, aromantic, queer, pansexual and polyamorous people)

In Strand 3’s survey I want to continue to engage with these groups while also talking to the wider LGBTI+ community. This is due to the fact that although lesbian, gay and bisexual people are occasionally represented in population surveys if there is no sexuality question, they are not the assumed norm unlike straight people. The purpose of the survey is to see if the perspectives shared by the Strand 2 focus group participants are held by a larger group. It also gives the opportunity to test the “ideal” questions designed by the focus group participants.

The survey will be used to construct an idea of best survey practise for representing differences of sex, gender and sexuality in the UK. I will then compare that to what is currently done to produce recommendations on how to improve upon our current approaches to asking about sex, gender and sexuality. The overall objective of this research is to further respectful representation of marginalised groups in an attempt to produce data that will help us understand our communities and meet our needs.