STATISTICS
STATISTICS
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You can find more statistics on Diversity in Academia and Diversity in Research Participation in the UK.
Why does diversity in developmental research matter?
Why does diversity in developmental research matter?
A more diverse participant sample produces data with greater external validity.
A more diverse participant sample produces data with greater external validity.
An analysis of 1,682 developmental science publications encompassing approximately 1 million participants, between 2011 and 2022, revealed that 84% of data is collected from areas occupied by <7% of the global population (Singh et al., 2023).
Between 2006 and 2010, only 6.7% of participants included in high-impact factor developmental science journals were from Asia, Africa, South America, and/or the Middle East (Nielsen et al., 2017).
A more diverse cohort of researchers enhances quality of research.
A more diverse cohort of researchers enhances quality of research.
A 2014 analysis of papers published between 1958 and 2009, revealed that the more varied the ethnicities, age, gender, and academic affiliation of authors of a given article, the greater its citation count. Greater ethnic diversity was found to have the most significant impact on citation, such that articles published by a more ethnically diverse author list had 5%–10% more citations than reports by ethnically homogenous authors (Freeman and Huang, 2014).
Figure 1. The proportion of studies across cognitive, developmental, and social psychology that acknowledge the race of their participants in their research (Roberts et al., 2020).
Strides have been made.
Strides have been made.
The fields of psychology that most frequently acknowledge the race of participants are developmental psychology, followed by social psychology and then cognitive psychology (Roberts et al., 2020; see Figure 1).
The number of articles that identify race as a variable in developmental science research has risen from 5% to 12% over a period of forty years (Roberts et al., 2020).
The field of psychology does not appear to show significant differences in promotion rates between the two sexes (Box-Steffensmeier et al., 2015).
However, there is much work to be done.
However, there is much work to be done.
Out of 1,149 psychology publications released across 11 journals in 2015 and 2016, only 27% acknowledged the race of participants (DeJesus et al., 2019).
Only 5% of editors in chief of psychological journals were people of colour between 1974 and 2018, (Roberts et al., 2020).
89% of publications in developmental psychology were edited by White editors in chief (Roberts et al., 2020).
Over 70% of American professors are at least second-generation university students, and ~22.2% have a parent with a PhD, compared to <10% of all adults in the United States (Morgan et al., 2022).
Although over 70% of psychology graduates are female, women are less likely than men to apply for tenure-track positions in academia (Webber and González Canché, 2018).
Male researchers publish and self-cite approximately 50% more than female researchers (Gruber et al., 2020).
Figure 2. Pie chart of the proportion of studies in developmental psychology that acknowledge the race of their participants in their research (Roberts et al., 2020).
References
- Bornstein, M.H., Jager, J. and Putnick, D.L. (2013). Sampling in developmental science: Situations, shortcomings, solutions, and standards. Developmental Review, [online] 33(4), pp.357–370. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dr.2013.08.003.
- Box-Steffensmeier, J.M., Cunha, R.C., Varbanov, R.A., Hoh, Y.S., Knisley, M.L. and Holmes, M.A. (2015). Survival Analysis of Faculty Retention and Promotion in the Social Sciences by Gender. PLOS ONE, 10(11), p.e0143093. doi:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0143093.
- DeJesus, J.M., Callanan, M.A., Solis, G. and Gelman, S.A. (2019). Generic language in scientific communication. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, [online] 116(37), pp.18370–18377. doi:https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1817706116.
- Freeman, R.B. and Huang, W. (2014). Collaboration: Strength in diversity. Nature, 513(7518), pp.305–305. doi:https://doi.org/10.1038/513305a.
- Garcini, L.M., Arredondo, M.M., Berry, O., Church, J.A., Fryberg, S., Thomason, M.E. and McLaughlin, K.A. (2022). Increasing diversity in developmental cognitive neuroscience: A roadmap for increasing representation in pediatric neuroimaging research. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 58, p.101167. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2022.101167.
- Ghiasi, G., Larivière, V., Sugimoto, C. and Ca, G. (2016). Gender Differences in Synchronous and Diachronous Self-citations. [online] Available at: https://crctcs.openum.ca/files/sites/60/2016/09/Ghiasi-et-al._STI2016.pdf [Accessed 18 Mar. 2024].
- Gruber, J., Mendle, J., Lindquist, K.A., Schmader, T., Clark, L.A., Bliss-Moreau, E., Akinola, M., Atlas, L., Barch, D.M., Barrett, L.F., Borelli, J.L., Brannon, T.N., Bunge, S.A., Campos, B., Cantlon, J., Carter, R., Carter-Sowell, A.R., Chen, S., Craske, M.G. and Cuddy, A.J.C. (2020). The future of women in psychological science. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 16(3), pp.483–516. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691620952789.
- Morgan, A.C., LaBerge, N., Larremore, D.B., Galesic, M., Brand, J.E. and Clauset, A. (2022). Socioeconomic roots of academic faculty. Nature Human Behaviour. doi:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-022-01425-4.
- ncses.nsf.gov. (2018). Doctorate Recipients from U.S. Universities: 2017 | NSF - National Science Foundation. [online] Available at: https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsf19301 [Accessed 19 Mar. 2024].
- Nielsen, M., Haun, D., Kärtner, J. and Legare, C.H. (2017). The persistent sampling bias in developmental psychology: A call to action. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, [online] 162(1), pp.31–38. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2017.04.017.
- Roberts, S.O., Bareket-Shavit, C., Dollins, F.A., Goldie, P.D. and Mortenson, E. (2020). Racial Inequality in Psychological Research: Trends of the Past and Recommendations for the Future. Perspectives on Psychological Science, [online] 15(6), p.174569162092770. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691620927709.
- Singh, L., Cristià, A., Karasik, L.B., Rajendra, S.J. and Oakes, L.M. (2023). Diversity and representation in infant research: Barriers and bridges toward a globalized science of infant development. Infancy, 28(4), pp.708–737. doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/infa.12545.
- Webber, K.L. and González Canché, M. (2018). Is There a Gendered Path to Tenure? A Multi-State Approach to Examine the Academic Trajectories of U.S. Doctoral Recipients in the Sciences. Research in Higher Education, 59(7), pp.897–932. doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-018-9492-4.
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