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Key for understanding equity and inclusion

Successful efforts to assess and support equity depend on understanding data with respect to the different characteristics and cultures of communities served. Survey designers also must understand how to construct demographic questions to maximize inclusion of community members in response options. Whether gathering community feedback for decision making, assessing the equitable and just distribution of funding for parks and recreation, or filtering the characteristics of your desired sample of respondents for your survey, careful, clear and consistent demographic questions that foster the ability for everyone to answer them are essential.

In June 2024 at an NRPA Sandbox, titled “Surveying for Park and Recreation Success,” members asked about best practices for incorporating survey demographic questions. This column highlights some common guidance.

Considering Demographics to Collect

Selecting the demographic data to collect in a survey must be considered carefully. Common possible respondent characteristics may include race/ethnicity, primary language, gender identity, sexual orientation, pronouns, age, disability status, location, education, employment status, marital status, annual household income, family makeup, political alignment, religion and others. The first step to selecting demographic questions for your survey requires a clear understanding of why you are administering the survey.

Clarify the Survey’s Goal

What is the topic of your survey? What demographic data do you need to ensure your respondents are representative of your target community? What demographic data are necessary for filtering or logic within the survey or for grouping data during analysis? After answering these questions, select the minimal set needed. Selecting too few demographic questions may hinder your ability to make certain decisions from the data; selecting too many may cause survey-taker fatigue or uneasiness from perceptions that the survey is asking too many personal questions. Achieving the optimal balance is not easy, but it is an essential early step.

Format Questions for Inclusion

Pay careful attention to the way your demographic questions are formatted to ensure inclusivity and the ability of survey takers to opt out of the questions. Few things are more frustrating to a survey taker than not finding a response that applies to them, thus stopping their ability or desire to continue the survey or, worse, forcing them to select an inaccurate answer. Two actions can virtually ensure this will not happen to your respondents: (1) providing an opt-out option, and (2) providing a write-in option.

The opt-out option is simple. At NRPA, we use the phrase, “I prefer not to answer,” as an option for sensitive questions. Even if the question is mandatory, respondents may select this option to continue with the next question. Respondents should not be required to share personal information they do not prefer to share, and you may lose data from that individual who might otherwise be willing to share.

Although you should attempt to include all possible demographic response options, survey designers are rarely fully aware of trending changes to demographic nomenclature and cultural trends. Because of this, the best practice is to include a write-in option. One preferred way to label this option is using “Not Listed” with a write-in box. Any data collected in this box may provide deeper insights into how people in your community identify themselves. As important, providing both this option and an opt-out alternative should allow all respondents to answer the question and continue with the survey.

Think of the Final Dataset

Every dataset requires some cleaning before analysis, but much better is to design demographic survey questions to preemptively reduce or eliminate unusable data. Consider your question formats carefully. Most demographic questions are best designed as multiple-choice or check-box questions.

Using these formats allows you to define how to break the options into ranges (e.g., age, income) or as stand-alone selection options (e.g., pronouns, zip code, race/ethnicity). Use multiple-choice questions when only one answer is applicable for the category (e.g., number of people in household, marital status). Use check boxes when multiple answers may be true for the category (e.g., race/ethnicity, primary job responsibilities).

Position Demographic Questions Carefully

Unless you need to use demographic information to determine survey eligibility or to use logic within your survey, demographic questions typically are best suited for the end of your survey. Respondents sometimes stop partially through surveys. If they drop out, it is preferable for them to have responded to the questions that are most important. Similarly, this practice is less likely to discourage those who prefer not to answer sensitive questions. If they drop off before the demographic questions, you will have collected the data that is most related to your topic.

Aim for Consistency

Ensure question formats are consistent. Once you have determined a format for each of your potential demographic questions, create a document listing them as standards. Try to use standard format questions for all surveys. If others in your organization collect demographic information, it may be useful to collaborate on a department-wide (or even wider) standard format for all demographic questions, especially if you anticipate needing to compare or aggregate data across departments or longitudinally from multiple sources.

Involve the Community

For some demographic categories, requesting community input about response choices and which demographics to collect may help determine if the questions are relevant to those who may participate in the survey. The more community members can relate to the questions you are asking, the more likely you will achieve your desired survey participation.

Be Aware of Demographic Trends

At NRPA, we attempt to align our demographic question formats to U.S. Census data whenever possible. In March 2024, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) published the 2024 Statistical Policy Directive No. 15, which set a new federal standard on how they collect, present and maintain race/ethnicity data in all federal datasets. Race and ethnicity previously were maintained as two separate categories, but because of the need to improve data accuracy and usefulness, they are now combined into one question. The directive offers three different formats (i.e., long, short with examples, short only) to use for collecting race/ethnicity data, depending on needs. All park and recreation professionals can benefit from being aware of these trends and determining whether to adjust any established demographic survey question or response option standards.

Collecting demographic data through surveys takes thought and consideration to ensure proper data are available to understand and report accurate equity- and inclusion-related findings. Each agency should examine their circumstances and create demographic questions and tools tailored to their project and community needs.

What other questions do you have about collecting demographic information or about surveys in general? Share on NRPA Connect or email us at research@nrpa.org.

Dianne Palladino, Ph.D., is the Interim Director of Research and Evaluation at NRPA.