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Defining and Measuring Sexual Orientation for Research

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The Health of Sexual Minorities

Abstract

Conceptually defining populations, such as those defined by race and ethnicity, and developing methods to identify members of those populations operationally have continually challenged researchers (LaVeist, 2002). Today, as scientists begin to treat sexual orientation as a demographic variable like race and ethnicity, it is important to examine critically and clarify our conceptualizations of sexual orientation as well as critically examine measures used for operationally identifying the sexual orientation of research subjects.

This chapter has been adapted from Sell, R.L. Defining and measuring sexual orientation: a review. Archives of Sexual Behavior 1997;26:643–58.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Public Health, Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

    Randall L. Sell

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  1. Randall L. Sell
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociomedical Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, 10032, USA

    Ilan H. Meyer PhD  & Mary E. Northridge PhD, MPH  & 

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Sell, R.L. (2007). Defining and Measuring Sexual Orientation for Research. In: Meyer, I.H., Northridge, M.E. (eds) The Health of Sexual Minorities. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-31334-4_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-31334-4_14

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-387-28871-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-0-387-31334-4

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