Chapter 1. Research in Action Prototype

Introduction

An increasing number of Americans are using online dating websites such as Match.com, or OkCupid.com to find potential dating partners. About 22% of 25-34 year olds, 17% of 35-44 year olds, and 10% of 18-24 year olds have used an online dating site or mobile data app (Smith 2014). Additionally, online dating is losing much of its stigma. Currently, 59% of Americans agree that online dating is a good way to meet people (Smith 2014). Jennifer Gibbs, whose research was featured in Chapter 5, Structure and Interaction, began studying online dating in 2003 as a graduate student at the University of Southern California. She was interested in the way new technologies changed how we communicate and also had a personal interest in the topic. She writes, “I met my husband on Match.com back in 1998, when very few people had ever tried online matchmaking. I’ve heard it said (and fully agree) that research is “me-search,” and the best research topics tend to be ones that are routed in your own personal experience and passions.” Since her initial research into the topic, she has become an expert on online communications. Let’s take a look at one of her first research studies into the world of online dating.

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About the Study

With fellow USC graduate students, Nicole Ellison and Rebecca Heino, Gibbs interviewed 34 individuals active on a large online dating site by telephone. Using these interviews they sought an answer to their research question, “How do online dating participants manage their online presentation of self in order to accomplish the goal of finding a romantic partner?“ Ellison, Gibbs, and Heino used qualitative methods to analyze the content of these interviews and explore the diverse ways in which participants understood and made sense of their interactions online.

Interviewee 1, Male 44

Let’s listen to 3 of the interviews that Gibbs and her colleagues conducted and see what sociological concepts apply.

“I’m such an honest guy, why should I have to lie about my age? On the other hand, if I put X number of years, that is unattractive to certain people. They’re never going to search that group and they’re never going to have an opportunity to meet me, because they have a number in their mind just like I do...Everybody lies about their age or a lot of people do...So I have to cheat too in order to be on the same page as everybody else that cheats. If I don’t cheat that makes me seem twice as old. So if I say I am 44, people think that I am 48. It blows.”

Interviewee 1, continued: Norms of Online Dating

Interviewee 2, Female 32

“I really analyzed the way I was going to present myself. I’m not one of these [people who write] all cutesy type things, but I wanted to be cute enough, smart enough, funny enough, and not sexual at all, because I didn’t want to invite someone who thought I was going to go to bed with them [as soon as] I shook their hand."

Interviewee 3, Male 29

“I became quite aware that I had to be very brief …More often than not when I would write a long response, I wouldn’t get a response…I think it implied that I was too desperate for conversation.”.

Activity Completed!

REFERENCES:

Ellison, N., Heino, R., & Gibbs, J. (2006) Managing Impressions Online: Self-Presentation Processes in the Online Dating Environment. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 11 (2), article 2.

Smith, Aaron. (2014, February 13). 5 facts about online dating. FactTank: News in the Numbers from Pew Research Center.