Please join us on Monday 11.5. at 14.00 (Soc&Kom) to listen and discuss!
American Visiting Professor D’Lane R. Compton: Future Considerations for LGBT Population Measurement and Analysis
Date: Monday, May 11, 2026
Time:14:00-15:00 (Helsinki Time)
Location: Swedish School of Social Science (Soc&Kom), Room 210 (2nd floor), Snellmaninkatu 12, 00170 Helsinki
Hybrid: No
Abstract: Population-based data on sexual orientation and gender identity have expanded substantially in recent years, however persistent issues remain in how these identities are operationalized, collected, and analyzed across surveys, administrative sources, and researchers. Most methodological discussions focus on sampling, data collection, and measurement, comparatively less attention has been given to how analytic decisions themselves are being made and shape what we conclude about LGBT populations. This talk focuses on key issues and obstacles Professor Compton has encountered in their own research on marriage and families, usually U.S. based. It highlights analytic assumptions, including how researchers group, categorize, and interpret sexual and gender minority populations in ways that are not always fully theorized or transparent. It also raises comparisons and questions among census data, self-identification survey data, and registry-based data, especially as census and survey sources may become less available in the U.S., with implications for research in Nordic and European contexts. Drawing primarily from U.S. based demographic work, Compton shows how these issues arise in practice and consider their broader applicability to other survey and national contexts.
D’Lane R. Compton is a professor of sociology at the University of New Orleans whose areas of interest are social psychology, LGBT demography (i.e., lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender demography), and family and relationship studies. Internationally recognized for their contributions to family sociology and the demography of sexuality and gender, Compton’s work examines how individual characteristics, social networks, and institutional contexts shape personal relationships, family formations, and broader social inequalities. They have been at the forefront of improving how gender identity and sexual orientation are measured in American population surveys, highlighting how flawed or limited measures can obscure important social patterns and reinforce exclusion.