‘If you had to write a short diversity statement about yourself, what would you say?’: using diversity statements and introductory stories to develop holistic understandings of participants’ intersectional identities

There is an increasing focus on collecting more diverse demographic data from research participants but standard methodological approaches still hinder such efforts. This paper addresses the need for methodological improvements by advocating for the inclusion of self-written diversity statements in demographic surveys as a form of epistemic justice. Using examples from a large qualitative research study, I demonstrate the depth and richness of data that can be obtained through self-written diversity statements. In particular, I highlight the benefits of combining open-ended demographic questions and self-written diversity statements into holistic introductory stories to help capture the complexity of participants’ intersectional identities. Therefore, I argue that using such an approach gives participants the agency to choose how they are represented in research.