What impact does it have on psychology research, that the vast majority of subjects are from Western, Educated, Industrialised, Rich and Democratic (WEIRD) countries? Vagina Dentata has posted a really interesting analysis of this, based on some recent research.
Probably the most striking point for me:
A recent analysis of the top journals in six sub-disciplines of Psychology from 2003-2007 revealed that 68% of subjects came from the US, and 96% of subjects were from Western industrialised countries, specifically North America, Europe, Australia, and Israel (Arnett, 2008) reflecting the academics country of residence.
This means that 96% of psychological samples come from countries with only 12% of the world’s population.