Research Help Wanted

OPW -- May 25 -- Hypothesis - 'Those who meet their partners via online personal sites are more closely matched than those who meet their partners offline. This closer match may result in longer, more satisfactory, relationships."  No one has empirically tested this theory,apparently. James Wolf is an academic researcher, an Assistant Professor at Illinois State University school of IT, who is looking to partner with an online personal site to test this hypothesis. His goal is to survey men and women from several countries who have found their partners online. 

I'm keeping a list of dating companies interested in working with academia, so please contact me if you're open to working with academics on such studies. And/or contact James directly at [email protected].

Comments

[Fernando Ardenghi]

"Those who meet their partners via online personal sites are more closely matched than those who meet their partners offline. This closer match may result in longer, more satisfactory, relationships. No one has empirically tested this theory, apparently"; because there are other main factors which influence relationships with commitment (perhaps personality similarity), and not meeting prospective partners via online dating or social networking sites per se.

If you contrast that hypothesis using eHarmony you will find it true (Gonzaga, Lee, Buckwalter / personality similarity using Dyadic Adjustment Scale), also it could be true using other site offering some kind of compatibility matching method, although compatibility matching sites are only fueled by big marketing budgets and not by serious scientific evidence.

If you contrast that hypothesis using a site offering only a searching engine, like Match.com, you will find it false due to the "less is more effect" Dr. Ariely wrote the 'Less Is More: The Lure of Ambiguity, or Why Familiarity Breeds Contempt' paper
"………………….
ambiguity (lacking information about another) leads to liking, whereas familiarity (acquiring more information) can breed contempt. This less is more effect is due to the cascading nature of dissimilarity: Once evidence of dissimilarity is encountered, subsequent information is more likely to be interpreted as further evidence of dissimilarity, leading to decreased liking.
…………"

Online Dating sites a USD900 million business in the U.S.
Top_5_sites_by_revenue offer some kind of a proprietary compatibility matching method and have a revenue of USD816.1 million (90% by subscriptions, 10% by ads)

If you contrast that hypothesis using an offline proposal like a Quality OffLine Chain you will find it false. Offline proposals in the U.S. is a USD900million industry!
Online Dating sites could not kill Offline Proposals not even hurt them.

If you contrast that hypothesis using an offline proposal like Hurrydate you will find it true. Drs. Kurzban and Weeden had shown that at 'HurryDate: Mate preferences in action' and
'Stated Versus Revealed Mate Preferences' papers (2005) "participants no longer behave consistently with their long_term mate psychology but instead shift to a short_term mate psychology, where physical attractiveness dominates".

Regards,

Fernando Ardenghi.
Buenos Aires.
Argentina.
[email protected]