Personal preference

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The Market Research Society (MRS)’s best practice recommendation is that, for research and data collection to be inclusive of the population, all relevant personal characteristics should be included. This ensures all participants are equally valued, and their opinions and attitudes are being gathered and represented.

The Data Protection Act 2018 and the UK GDPR requires a legal basis for processing of personal data. Some personal data is categorised as ‘special category data’ and is subject to additional requirements when being collected. Data on sexual orientation is categorised as special category data. Special category data needs to be treated with greater care, as collecting and using it is more likely to interfere with an individual’s fundamental rights or result in discrimination. This is part of the risk-based approach of the UK GDPR.

Researchers processing sexual orientation data as well as personal data will need to have a legal basis for the data being processed. When processing special category data, practitioners must have a lawful basis under article six of the GDPR in addition to meeting a special condition under article nine of the GDPR, but these grounds do not have to be linked. The MRS GDPR in brief no 10 – Collection of ethnic data and other special category data – provides guidance on what you need to do to meet these requirements and checklists to help identify what must be done to collect sensitive special category data, such as sexual orientation data, in accordance with GDPR.

The Equalities Act 2010 protects people from discrimination in the workplace and in wider society. It replaced previous anti-discrimination laws with a single act, making the law easier to understand and strengthening protection in some situations. It sets out the different ways in which it is unlawful to treat someone.

It is against the law to discriminate against anyone because of the following protected characteristics: age; gender reassignment; being married or in a civil partnership; being pregnant or on maternity leave; disability; race, including colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin; religion or belief; sex; or sexual orientation.

This ensures that individuals are protected from discrimination at work, in education, as a consumer, when using public services, when buying or renting property, and as a member or guest of a private club or association.

Practitioners must take reasonable steps to design projects collecting sexual orientation data to the specification or quality standards agreed with clients. This includes which characteristics and parameters are to be used when identifying participants’ sexual orientation. Collection of sexual orientation questions needs to be appropriately tailored to the data collection tool.
It’s also important to bear in mind the GDPR principle of data minimisation: for special category data it is essential to make sure only the minimum amount of information is collected and retained. Plus, insights professionals must check whether the sexual orientation question is relevant in the context of data collection activity.

Sexual orientation may be very clear-cut for some participants, but others may prefer not to label themselves, and some might prefer not to disclose at all because they don’t feel comfortable answering the questions. In some cases, answering such questions could be potentially harmful for participants because of cultural conflicts, including the admission of illegality in some countries. It is important to allow participants to self-describe and to opt out of answering sensitive, personal questions.
There is no one-size-fits-all question and response approach to collecting data about sexual orientation. There is a wide variety of ways to identify sexual orientation, so it can be a challenge to include enough options without making it too confusing for the participant. 

Practitioners should consider the following when collecting sexual orientation data from participants:

• Provide adequate preamble/context before sexual orientation questions are asked: this is an example of a very sensitive question, so it is important that participants are pre-warned that this type of questioning is to be included.
  
• Be clear as to why sexual orientation data is being collected. One example is the ‘Why do we ask this?’ text alongside the sexual orientation question in the England and Wales Census 2021: Your answer helps your local community by allowing charities, public bodies, and local and central government to understand what services people might need. This information helps monitor equality between groups of people of different sexual orientation. Your answer will help public bodies to identify potential discrimination or social exclusion based on sexual orientation and work to stop it from happening.
  
• Include a write-in field for the ‘Other’ response option. This allows participants to report their sexual orientation rather than being classified as ‘Other’. Encourage clients to consider the level of detail required: this is particularly important if collecting in-depth information about sexual orientation. The level of detail required for a project should be reviewed to ensure that it is appropriate, proportionate and balanced.
  
• Respect privacy of participants: ensure steps are taken to maintain confidentiality of responses and that these are conveyed to participants. People who reveal sexual orientation may be particularly concerned about the privacy and confidentiality of their responses. Finally, add a privacy notice: the inclusion of Special Category of Personal Data should be covered in this notice. Consider whether there should be a link to the privacy notice at the appropriate point in the questionnaire.
  
• Self-completion and online tools should, as a minimum, include an open field for participants to answer in a way that reflects their response if it does not fit in with any of the response options provided. Interviewer-aided techniques for collecting information need to build in a level of discretion and flexibility for interviewers, to ensure the questions are responsive and are handled sensitively.

MRS members and MRS company partners may contact codeline@mrs.org.uk for support and advice on the MRS Code of Conduct, Regulations and Guideline