Demographic questions help researchers understand the context around the data they collect. However, obtaining demographic information can be tricky. First, some demographic questions require participants to disclose sensitive information about their identity and background. Second, with the growing concerns around data privacy and security, people are becoming apprehensive about sharing any kind of personal information.
How can we design good demographic questions and put participants at ease? This article discusses guidelines for collecting and using demographic data in UX research.
What Are Demographic Questions?
Demographic questions are used to understand the characteristics of a group of people. Depending on the nature of the research and its goals, demographic questions might ask about characteristics such as:
- Age
- Gender
- Sex
- Ethnicity
- Race
- Location
- Education
- Employment status
- Income status
Corporations, governments, and other organizations use demographic data to understand who buys their products or uses their services.
In UX research, you will find demographic questions in surveys and screeners; occasionally, they may be also asked verbally in qualitative-study sessions. Usually, such questions are used to:
- Segment data from surveys or quantitative studies
- Screen participants to make sure they are eligible to participate
- Recruit a diverse group of participants for a survey or a study
What Do You Do with Demographic Questions?
Here are three common ways in which demographic questions are applied in UX research:
- To ensure you have a balanced response rate or diverse participant pool: It’s not only about having a good response rate or a high number of people participating in your study. Demographic information is an important tool in making sure that your data is fair and representative of your target population.
- To segment your data: After you’ve collected data, you need to make sense of it. You can sometimes add nuance to your findings by segmenting your data into groups based on age, location, socioeconomic background, and so on.
- To understand context around a new product: When launching a new product, you have a lot to learn about your user base. Demographic information can build context around your early adopters and, thus, identify potential growth areas.
Let’s put this into action. Assume that a new chatbot feature has been just launched on your ecommerce site. You conduct a survey about how likely your users are to use the chatbot and, if they used it, their experience with it. You can compare responses from different demographic groups or look for correlations between a demographic variable and responses from a particular survey question. For example, perhaps a certain age group used the chatbot more than others. Thus, demographic questions could uncover whether age, gender, or location affected the interactions with the chatbot.
Demographic information can also help you understand whether you can generalize your findings to your whole user population. For example, if your survey indicates that the chatbot was easy to use, but the demographic questions suggest that most respondents were under 40, then your findings might not apply to your whole target population (assuming that the user population covers a wider age range). Further research will be needed to understand the limits of your results.
Asking the Right Demographic Questions
You don’t want to ask demographic questions just for the sake of asking them. These questions lengthen a survey or a screener, are often sensitive in nature, and, thus, can impact participation rate and accuracy of responses. Researchers should be intentional about the demographic questions they include in their survey and not add them out of habit. Here are 3 aspects to consider when brainstorming demographic questions:
- How is this demographic question important for the data I am collecting? Researchers should be able to justify the need for the demographic information collected by their study. Make a list of the demographic variables you plan to collect and describe how each could potentially shape your results.
- Do I really need this piece of demographic information? Ask yourself this question to (1) protect participant privacy and avoid collecting unnecessary personal information, and (2) prevent survey fatigue, which can lead to inaccurate results or low response rates.
- How long ago did I use this demographic questionnaire format? Language around identity is changing and evolving to be more inclusive. People are now adopting new terminology around sensitive topics such as gender or race. Your questions should not make participants uncomfortable. For example, ten years ago, a question may have listed “male” and “female” as the only gender options. But now, you should include inclusive terms like “nonbinary,” “transgender,” to put everybody at ease.
6 Guidelines for Designing Demographic Questions
Here are 6 guidelines around how to design and frame typical demographic questionnaires:
1. Be mindful of the granularity of your response ranges.
Generally, the more response options a question has, the more effort it takes for people to select the right one. Moreover, narrow ranges or questions that require an exact response will be perceived as more intrusive. For example, asking someone if they are between 45–50 is a lot more intrusive than asking them whether they are between 30–50; asking them whether they make between $70,000–$80,000 will be perceived as more sensitive than asking them whether their income is over $50,000.
Sometimes you may have a good reason to ask for a narrow range. For instance, if you are surveying parents about their children’s early education, it is okay to ask for low-granularity age ranges. While “three years old” and “seven years old” are not far apart, there is a huge developmental difference between the two ages. On the other hand, in a survey about how adults use technology, 4-year–wide age ranges (e.g., 18–22,23–27) will be too narrow in most situations.
If you have a good reason to ask for precise information or use narrow ranges, provide participants with an explanation of why you need this information.
2. Always include a Prefer not to say option.
Due to the sensitivity of some demographic questions, always include a Prefer not to say option, especially if you are requiring responses to all questions. This option provides participants a way out of answering an uncomfortable question and may encourage them to continue the survey and not feel “trapped.”
3. Use inclusive language when describing gender.
Sex and gender are often used interchangeably but are different. Sex refers to biological attributes assigned by a doctor at birth. Gender is more complicated and refers to social status, legal status, and expectations from society. Language around gender is constantly evolving. When asking a demographic question about gender, remember that gender can change over time and always give the participant the option to describe what they currently identify as.
You should also include a Prefer not to say option here so participants can opt out of the question if they aren’t comfortable selecting an answer. Some researchers prefer listing out a comprehensive list of gender options, but there is a chance that a long list may overwhelm the participant or drive survey fatigue.
4. Rethink the Other option.
It’s always good to include an option where participants have the choice to explain their circumstance, but you may want to rethink using the word Other –– particularly for demographic questions that are perceived as sensitive. This word may suggest difference from the norm. As an alternative to Other, researchers can say Not listed or Prefer to self-describe and leave space for participants to explain. For example, use A gender not listed instead of Other because it validates any gender identity and prevents people from feeling not normal if they must choose Other.
5. Do not automatically start a screener or survey with demographic questions.
It’s always good to place demographic questions at the end of the screener or survey, unless these questions will help you filter out participants. You don’t want your respondents to spend time answering demographic questions only to later discover that they don’t qualify for the study. Questions that allow you to reject participants quickly should be placed first to avoid wasting their time.
Another reason to start with important, nondemographic questions is that, after successfully answering those, respondents will feel more invested in the study and less likely to abandon the survey than if you started with sensitive demographic questions.
6. Allow participants to Select all that apply for sensitive questions such as race, gender, or sexual orientation.
Sometimes single-option questions related to race, gender, and sexual orientation can feel restrictive. Provide the option to Select all that apply where it makes sense. For example, such an option could be relevant for someone who is biracial.
This approach can also apply to less sensitive demographic questions associated with occupation — for example, a participant might be a student and a working professional.
Conclusion
Researchers use demographic questions to ensure they have a balanced response rate or diverse participant pool. Demographic data can also be used to segment data and build context around your user base.
Reference
Jennifer L. Hughes, Abigail A. Camdem, and Tenzin Yangchen. 2016. Rethinking and updating demographic questions: Guidance to improve descriptions of research samples. Psi Chi Journal of Psychological Research 21, 3 (2016), 138–151. DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.24839/2164-8204.jn
