Abstract Research comparing heterosexuals with bisexuals and homosexuals in economics and the social sciences typically relies on two strategies to identify sexual orientation in existing survey data of general populations. Probing respondents to self-report their sexual orientation is generally considered the preferred option. Since self-reports are unavailable in most large multidisciplinary surveys, often researchers infer sexual orientation from the gender-constellation of a respondent’s partnership instead. Based on German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) data, this article reviews both strategies empirically in the context of a household panel survey. The analysis shows that self-reported and partnership-inferred sexual orientation are not mutual substitutes, instead leading to substantively different conclusions about differences between heterosexuals and LGBs (Lesbian, Gays, and Bisexuals). The article discusses problems of non-coverage in partnership-inferred sexual orientation and also investigates measurement error in self-reported sexual orientation, finding notable mode and interviewer effects.

中文翻译：

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在家庭调查中比较自我报告和伴侣推断的性取向

摘要在经济学和社会科学中，将异性恋者与双性恋者和同性恋者进行比较的研究通常依靠两种策略来在现有的一般人群调查数据中识别性取向。通常，让调查对象对自己的性取向进行自我报告是比较可取的选择。由于在大多数大型的多学科调查中都无法提供自我报告，因此研究人员通常会根据受访者的伴侣的性别来推断性取向。基于德国社会经济专家组（SOEP）的数据，本文在家庭专家组调查的背景下从经验上回顾了这两种策略。分析表明，自我报告和伴侣推断的性取向不是相互替代，相反，对于异性恋者和LGB（女同性恋，男同性恋和双性恋者）之间的差异，得出了截然不同的结论。本文讨论了伴侣推断的性取向未覆盖的问题，并调查了自我报告的性取向的测量误差，发现了显着的模式和面试者效应。