Checklist for sex/gender perspectives
Here is a checklist that you can use to make sure you have considered sex- and/or gender perspectives in the different phases of your research (Korsvik & Rustad, 2018).
Research idea phase
- Have you considered how assessments of sex/gender, including stereo-
types about what is considered “female” or “male”, can affect what you
want to investigate, what questions you ask and how to answer them? - Is sex/gender important for understanding the phenomenon you will
investigate, and if so, how? Are there other dimensions that can be
considered in relation to sex/gender, such as age, ethnicity, educational
level, income, occupation, geographical location or technical competence? - Have you reviewed literature and other sources relating to sex/gender
in the research field?
Proposal phase
- Does the project’s research topics and methods take the sex/gender
dimension into account? Does the proposal explain how the sex/gender
dimension will be handled? - Are researchers trained in gender studies included in the research group?
- Have you considered whether the results of the research can have
different effects on women and men, boys or girls? Can the research
contribute to the advancement of gender equality?
Research phase
- Are research methods, such as questionnaires, focus groups, etc.,
designed in a way that considers possible sex/gender differences
and similarities? - Will sex/gender-differentiated data
be collected? Have you ensured that samples, test groups or others
involved in the project are diverse in terms of sex/gender, age and
other background variables? - Will sex/gender be a variable in the analysis? Will other variables be
included in relation to sex/gender in the analysis? - Are unconscious (stereotypical) assumptions about sex/gender implicit
in the interpretation of data? Are there dimensions other than sex/gender that are important to consider?
Dissemination phase
- Is the sex/gender dimension included in the presentation of findings?
- If the sex/gender dimension is included, is it done in a way that does
not reproduce stereotypical notions about gender, but also looks at
variations within the gender categories? - Have you considered that dissemination of the research findings can
be directed towards networks, institutions, journals and conferences
that address gender issues?