Nationwide survey of sexuality and experience of discrimination, bullying and harassment. Qualitative data sample interviews - Interviews with LGBs and other key informants An example of focus group interviews - one out of 15 interviews undertaken across 5 organisationsThis study will examine the working experiences of lesbians, gay men and bisexuals (LGB) in terms of discrimination, bullying and harassment. By means of a survey of a random sample of 500 LGBs and a similar number of heterosexual employees, the study will describe and quantify experiences, examine how experiences vary between lesbians, gays and bisexuals, and how they differ from those of heterosexuals. Factors which may contribute to negative experiences, eg gender, age, ethnicity, disability, levels of education, pay, tenure, organisational status and occupation will be explored. The survey will be followed up by six organisational case studies, two each from the public, private and third sectors, respectively representing a high and a low risk organisation in terms of discrimination, bullying and harassment. In addition to investigating various risk-factors, the case studies will explore how LGBs describe and make sense of their working experiences with a particular focus on LGBs’ level of openness about their sexuality in the workplace. Information about how actions by management, trade unions/staff associations and other players might impact on disclosure and experience of discrimination, bullying and harassment will also be sought.
We set initial quotas of 200 lesbian, 200 gay men and 100 bisexual responses within our target population of 500 LGBs, plus a comparator of 500 heterosexuals. A standard omnibus weighting was applied to our screened sample to ensure this was representative of the population (researchers wanting further details should contact the uthors). The fieldwork for our survey took 44 waves over six months and was deployed twice weekly. A total of 73,303 people were screened to obtain a final sample of 1,222 respondents (500 LGB and 722 heterosexuals). This large sampling frame oo over 73,000 was necessary because of the challenges we encountered in attracting lesbian respondents to take part in the survey. The final sample consists of 722 heterosexuals, 147 gay men, 122 lesbians, 151 bisexuals (40 men and 111 women), 24 people who labelled themselves ‘other sexual orientation’ and 56 who labelled themselves ‘unsure’. In our qualitative data collection we We set a target of 6-8 interviews with LGBs in each of 6 organisations. We used intranet sites, poster campaigns and LGB networks to gain access to our interviewees. We deliberately did not canvass for interviewees with direct experiences of bullying or discrimination, but instead promoted participation in our research under the banner ‘Tell us about the ups and downs of being LGB at work’. As a result of this approach we conducted 50 semi-structured interviews (25 men and 25 women) in the six case study organisations. To explore how heterosexual members of staff in our case study organisations view and make sense of non-heterosexuality and the presence of LGBs in the workplace, we carried out 15 focus groups, involving around 75 employees. To facilitate discussion and involvement, we introduced three scenarios describing typical experiences of LGBs, one lesbian, one gay and one bisexual. None of these scenarios were based on the organisations our focus groups came from. The scenarios contained a degree of ambiguity to purposefully stimulate discussion.
