nonprobability quotasurvey of transgender people, not of the public
Advocates for Trans Equality / NCTE
2015 U.S. Transgender Survey · Aug 2015 – Sep 30, 2015 · US national
Not a public-opinion poll. This surveys transgender people about their own lives, mostly
through nonprobability community samples. It describes a population and is not comparable with polls of the general public.
Methodology
- Pollster
- Advocates for Trans Equality / NCTE advocacy_left
- Sponsor
- National Center for Transgender Equality
- Fielded
- Aug 2015 – Sep 30, 2015
- Population
- transgender adults residing in the United States
- Sample size
- 27,715
- Sample frame
- nonprobability quota
- Mode
- online, self-administered via a dedicated survey website, accessible from any web-enabled device and screen-reader accessible; English and Spanish
- Margin of error
- not applicable - non-probability sample
- Weighting
- weights constructed by the research team to adjust a purposive sample (direct outreach, modified venue-based sampling and snowball sampling) toward believed population characteristics of U.S. transgender adults; the report states plainly that as a non-probability sample generalizability is limited
- Geography
- US national
- Base notes
- respondents from all fifty states, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico and U.S. military bases overseas; 250 respondents were removed as ineligible after a recoding review
Sources
Verification note. Field period (a 34-day period in the summer of 2015, described elsewhere in the report as August to September 2015), sample size, sampling design and weighting statement read directly from the report PDF (302 pages, text-extracted locally). Exact start and end dates are not printed, so the field window is recorded at month precision. The questionnaire itself is not reproduced in the report, so the items below carry the report's finding statements rather than administered wording and are flagged non-verbatim. Included because the December 2016 release of this survey is the reference point cited across the 2016-2017 bathroom-bill debate.
Figures below are transcribed from these documents. Where they disagree with the source, the source governs.
Questions asked (3)
restroom access and avoidance in the past year
[Wording not published - reported as: 'More than half (59%) avoided using a public restroom in the past year because they were afraid of having problems.']
Wording reconstructed from: 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey full report, chapter on Access to Restrooms; the questionnaire is not reproduced in the report
Avoided using a public restroom in the past year because afraid of having problems
59%
Limited the amount they ate or drank to avoid using the restroom in the past year
32%
Someone told them or asked them if they were using the wrong restroom in the past year
24%
Verbally harassed, physically attacked, or sexually assaulted when accessing or using a restroom in the past year
12%
Someone denied them access to a restroom in the past year
9%
Had a urinary tract infection, kidney infection, or another kidney-related problem in the past year as a result of avoiding restrooms
8%
Wording notes: asked of transgender respondents about their own experience, not an opinion item
unclear — administered wording is not published; the items are behavioral self-reports from a self-selected sample and the report itself cautions against generalizing
Surveys of trans peopleparaphrasedother
psychological distress and suicidality
[Wording not published - distress measured with the Kessler 6 Psychological Distress Scale; suicide items reported as lifetime and past-year attempts]
Wording reconstructed from: 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey full report, Executive Summary
Have seriously thought about killing themselves
48%
Have attempted suicide in their lifetime
40%
Experienced serious psychological distress in the month before completing the survey (Kessler 6)
39%
Attempted suicide in the past year
7%
Wording notes: distress measured with a validated instrument (Kessler 6) rather than a bespoke item
unclear — administered wording not published; comparisons to the general population in the report are drawn from different surveys with different modes
Surveys of trans peopleparaphrasedother
identity documents and legal name change
[Wording not published - reported as the share with no ID or record bearing their preferred name, and the share who completed a legal name change]
Wording reconstructed from: 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey full report, chapter on Identity Documents
Did not have an ID or record with the name they preferred
49%
Completed a legal name change
30%
unclear — administered wording not published