Shifting Gender Composition of Psychology

Shifting Gender Composition of Psychology

The research problem is clearly stated by the author and in this case, the article set out to investigate the change or the shift in gender composition of psychology and look at the implications or the effects of this shift to the subject of psychology. It sets out to look at the trends that the gender has taken in the field of psychology, the causes and the aftermaths over the periods from the 1970s to the contemporary times (Pion G., et.al, 1996).

At the opening of the article, the authors clearly define the status of women and their participation in psychology as a discipline over the past few decades. The introduction gives the statistical representation of the shifting trends in the gender parity in psychology from the faculty levels, the labor force, the student ration, the doctorate intakes and successful completion of doctorate in psychology. There is sufficient literature that backs and helps explain the thesis that the changes in the psychology discipline in consideration of the female gender becoming increasingly influential in several spheres of psychology.

Methodology

There is evidence that the researchers mainly relied on primary data that was sourced from well informed and reliable libraries and data banks which were fed by the institutions and the government sources. The reliance on primary data is central to any research to increase the reliability and dependability on the data it presents and the same applies to this research. The researchers also went through officially published data that was collected by the federal agencies such as the National Science Foundation, the National Research Council, the U.S. Department of Education, the American Psychological Association among other reliable sources of data. The researchers never sourced for single data or one sided data but sought to have data for both genders over a long period of time and from there, came up with a comparative analysis of the data and conclusive presentation of the data and gathered information on the changing gender composition in psychology. The government websites and websites managed by such reliable organizations are widely accepted as academic since most of the data therein is peer reviewed and verified hence the reliability of the results presented herein.

Results

The researchers found out that there has been a stable trend of more women getting interested in psychology and psychology related disciplines and practices. From this trend, there have been changes in the workforce composition, remuneration trends, labor demand, labor quality and a generally increased demand for women at both the school levels and the work environment after school (Pion G., et.al, 1996: Pp 512). It is evident that their results are reliable especially bearing that they back their assertions with data presented (ditto: Pp513).

Discussion

Having taken a historical perspective that develops to the recent times, the researchers have successfully convinced any critical reader of the thoroughness in the research process and reliability of the date. The use of specific examples like the schools and university intakes of students in the line of psychology, the numerical data presented in the pages 514 and 515

work to clarify the authenticity of the information presented within the article. The indicated increase in the number of women in psychology as presented in the article is a clear indication that the researchers used and evaluated enough data over the years to come up with such conclusion.

List of references

The authors utilized references appropriately and when relevant to qualify their sources of information and in particular the numerical data. The citing of these references used in the body was correctly and consistently done.

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