Questions about sexual orientation, gender identity and changes to questions about race and ethnicity are about to be asked in the most comprehensive survey of American life through 2027, U.S. Census Bureau officials said Thursday.

New or revised American Community Survey questions will appear on the questionnaires and be asked by those who took the survey in the earliest three years, with data from those questions available the following year, officials told an advisory committee.

The American Community Survey is the most comprehensive survey of American life, covering commute times, Internet access, family life, income, education levels, disabilities, and military service, among many other topics, with a sample size of more than 3.5 million households.

Some of the revised questions are the result of changes the federal government announced earlier this year to how it classifies people by race and ethnicity. The changes were the first in 27 years and were aimed at better counting people who identify as Hispanic and of Middle Eastern and North African heritage.

Under the revisions, questions about race and ethnicity that were previously asked separately will be combined into one question. This will give respondents the option to choose multiple categories at once, such as “Black,” “American Indian,” and “Hispanic.” A Middle East and North Africa category will be added to the options.

Questions in English and Spanish about sexual orientation and gender identity began testing in August, with sample questionnaires sent to several hundred thousand households. Testing for in-person interviews will begin next spring.

The testing aims to study the impact of question wording, what kind of response options should be provided and how respondents answer questions about other members of their household in what are known as ‘proxy responses’. Questions will only be asked of people who are 15 years of age or older.

On the sexual orientation test question, respondents can provide a written answer if they do not see themselves in the gay or lesbian, heterosexual or bisexual options. The gender identity test question has two steps, the first asking if they were born male or female at birth, and the second asking about their current sex. Possible answers include male, female, transgender, nonbinary, and an opt-in option for those who don’t see themselves in the other answers.

In some test questions, respondents are given the option to choose more than one answer, but in others they can only mark one.

The questionnaire also tests “degendering” questions about relationships in a household by changing options such as “biological son or daughter” to “biological child”.

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