CfP: The Relevance of Gender for Measurement in the Social Sciences (Article Collection)

Article Collection Editors: Dorothée Behr (GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences, Germany), Brita Dorer (GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences, Germany), Piotr Koc (GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences, Germany), Cornelia Neuert (GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences, Germany)

In the evolving landscape of social sciences, the relevance of gender has become a critical dimension of study, influencing various aspects of research design, data collection, and analysis. Gender, as a social construct, impacts not only the subjects of research but also the methodologies and instruments used to measure social phenomena. While numerous fields have started to develop gender-sensitive measurement tools, there remains a pressing need to address how these instruments can better capture the complexities of gender in diverse contexts. Additionally, new forms of gender expression and identity challenge existing measures, requiring ongoing refinement and innovation.

Researchers face several challenges when incorporating gender into measurement in the social sciences. These include ensuring that instruments are inclusive and representative of all gender identities, addressing potential challenges in instrument design and biases in data collection and analysis, and ensuring measurement invariance across different gender groups. Furthermore, the intersectionality of gender with other social categories such as race, class, and sexuality necessitates comprehensive approaches to measurement that can capture these multifaceted interactions.

To advance the discussion on the relevance of gender for measurement in the social sciences, we invite researchers to submit their empirical work to this article collection. Submissions may address, but are not limited to, the following topics:

• Development and Validation of Gender-Sensitive Instruments: Creation and assessment of tools that are gender-sensitive in wording or measure diverse gender identities,
• Intersectionality in Measurement: Research exploring how gender intersects with other social categories and the implications for measurement, employing approaches that capture these complex dynamics.
• Methodological Challenges and Innovations: Addressing issues such as gender bias in survey design and implementation, the influence of gender and gender-sensitive wording on response behaviour, and innovative approaches to overcome these challenges.
• Comparability of gender-related measures: Investigations into how comparability of measurements holds up over time or across different cultural and linguistic settings, ensuring that instruments remain valid and reliable in varied contexts.

Submission Instructions

Abstracts of up to 250 words should be submitted through the journal's submission system no later than January 31, 2025, indicating 'Relevance of Gender' as the category on the abstract page. Make sure that the proposed paper conforms to one of the MISS article types. After acceptance (by the end of February), the final manuscript will be due by August 31, 2025. Before submitting your manuscript, please carefully review the submission guidelines for Measurement Instruments for the Social Sciences. Additionally, please indicate in your cover letter and upon submission that you would like your manuscript to be considered as part of the paper collection on the ‘Relevance of Gender for Measurement in the Social Sciences’.

All submissions will undergo rigorous peer review, and accepted articles will be published within the journal as part of the collection. MISS supports open science standards and strongly encourages authors to supplement their submissions with statistical analysis code (e.g., R code, Mplus code, Stata code). To make your test instruments available to the scientific community, you are encouraged to publish all test-related files in the Open Test Archive or ZIS.

Important note: By submitting an abstract, you agree to potentially be invited to review other submissions for this collection.

If you are unsure of the suitability of your topic or have questions regarding a submission, please get in touch with the editor responsible for this collection (piotr.koc@gesis.org).