The FIRST question "about yourself" is whether you are Trans in Nationwide...PostGraduate Taught Experience Survey

[loveyouradvice]

literally the FIRST question is about whether you are trans - before questions about disabilities, whether first generation to go to uni, etc.... I am shocked this is their No 1 priority....This is a nationwide survey on postgrad student experience that they are constantly emailing us about filling in so clearly wanting a high response....

Below - as it appears on Online Survey....

To help us understand whether provision at this institution and across the sector is meeting the needs of all postgraduates, we would now like to ask some questions about you and your course. As with the rest of the survey, all reporting will be anonymous and your responses will be treated confidentially.

About yourself

Are you trans or do you have a trans history?
Yes
No
Prefer not to say

What on earth is a Trans history?

If your dad transitioned said he was your mum and stole your underwear to wear would that be a Trans history?

If you got raped by a TW?

If you detransitioned?

If you thought you were Trans for 5 minutes then figured out you were gay?

Presumably the survey has been either created by a supposed D&I “specialist” like Stonewall or has been put together to tick a box in one of their “can you prove over and over that trans is everything” champions schemes.

It’s amazing how many companies are obsessed with “diversity and inclusion” right now, and instead of concentrating on some of the genuinely underrepresented groups, such as those with disabilities, it’s all about lip service and tick-box activism and “trans” is the top box to tick.

Any survey to do with universities prioritises includes trans/identities now. At least this is the first question do you can decide whether or not to waste your time. Many now put that sort of question towards the end, which is really annoying.

As for the "trans history" part, well this is a new nonsense. Like a pp points out, it's also meaningless because of the multiple possible interpretations.

I'd assume that filling out such a survey would be a waste of time because if the people conducting it don't have a problem with Q1 being vague, how on earth will they manage to interpret data of even the clearly worded questions? That's also my take when there are questions like "Are you/do you identify as: man/woman/trans/non-binary/other?", or any of the multiple variations of that.

Yea to all this.

We used to have an EDI director in our professional organisation and he was a shitshow: obsessed with trans people to the exclusion of everyone else, including people with disabilities.

Most of the students currently completing the PTES where I work are nine months into a one year course and are international students for whom gender identity is just not a thing. It will be interesting to see if this has any effect on completion rates for the survey (which is a perennial issue). I can imagine a lot of students simply closing the survey down when faced with this as the opening question.

They've just shoved it on the start of an existing survey surely? Probably easier when they analyse the responses. They know to shift all the other answers up one row to compare.

Oh hang on. I thought you meant nationwide the building society. Still might be a data analysis thing.

Hmmmmm......

Is there a definition of the word "trans"?

If not, how would I know whether I am or not?