Impact of multiple dating options on the dating experience of women

This research proposal explores the impact of modern dating options on women in Sydney, Australia. It examines the benefits and disadvantages of multiple dating options and their effects on relationships and personal lives.

Running head: RESEARCH PROPOSAL
Impact of multiple dating options on the dating experience of women
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author note:

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1. Introduction
A. Background
In the modern world, there are many options for dating. As the advanced technology has
brought revolution in every aspect of life, the scenario for dating has also changed significantly
in the past few years. There are multiple dating sites and mobile apps that are used by millions of
people across the world. Thus, technology works efficiently to bridge the gap between single
individuals all over the world through the dating apps and sites (Román-Palacios, Tavera and del
Rosario Castañeda 2018). The online dating sites have opened up many options for single
individuals for male, female and the people from the LGBT community. However, these modern
options have both benefits and disadvantages and have positive as well as negative impact on the
people using those options. This research proposal will explore the impact of modern dating
options on the women in Sydney, Australia.
B. Justification of the research and background to the problem
According to experts, the advanced technology has changed the traditional way of dating.
With the availability of multiple dating options, the art of dating has become quite easier and
convenient. However, it also brought about the paradox of choice. The modern dating is at times
exasperating as people have so many choices that they often become extremely selective and as
there are more choices, choosing becomes more difficult. However, as people have many choices
to choose someone who fits their demands and wants but on the other hand, it often creates
problem when someone wants to get into serious relationship and settle down but the other
person does not want the same (Zytko, Grandhi and Jones 2018). This can have a severe
psychological impact on the individual who faces rejection from the potential partner. The option

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for cheating on the partner has also become convenient with the availability of multiple dating
channels and that creates very severe impact on the relationships of people. As stated by Brescoll
(2016), women are considered to have more emotions than the men, thus, it is possible that
women get more affected by the emotional impact than the men. Thus, through this study, an
attempt will be taken to get an overview of what women think about these dating options and
how those are affecting their relationships and their personal lives.
C. Hypothesis or research question
H0: Availability of multiple online dating apps does not have any impact on the dating
experience of women
H1: Availability of multiple online dating apps has significant impact on the dating experience of
women
2. Literature review
Advancement of technology has brought about many conveniences in life and it has also
brought about revolutions in the dating options for people across the world. Tinder is the most
popular dating app in recent times and currently it almost 57 million users across the world. The
average age group of Tinder users is 18-24, followed by 25-34 and few falls in 35-44 bracket
(Iqbal 2019). Ranzini and Lutz (2017) highlighted some benefits as well as some disadvantages
of Tinder. On one hand, the option for location based real time dating and new and convenient
user interface have contributed in the popularity of the app, while on the other hand, there are
differences in how the users present themselves on the app and their purpose, which not only
reflects the psychology of the users but also often leads to misunderstanding. For example, the
women mostly use Tinder for self-validation and friendship, while majority of men use it for

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hooking up, travelling and for relationship. There are high chances of deceptive self-presentation
which affect the dating experiences of others significantly.
Van Ouytsel et al. (2016) explored the roles of the social networking sites in the dating
experiences and adolescent romantic relationships, and the authors found that the young
generation uses the social networking sites, such as, Facebook to seek information about the
potential romantic partners found through online dating apps. The generation often likes to
display their romantic relationship status through the social networking sites and it acts as a
psychological influence on the partners as self-validation. Hence, multiple dating options often
create the fear of insecurity among the users and the social networking sites are used to build
confidence in the partners about the relationship.
Hance, Blackhart and Dew (2018) stated that there is a relationship between rejection
sensitivity of the individuals and usage of the online dating sites. It has been found that rejection
sensitive individuals feel more confident to represent their true selves in the online environment
and hence they prefer online dating. However, there is a contradictory view to this. These sites
often create opportunities for deception. Sharabi and Caughlin (2019) found that deception is
used as a common strategy for securing the first date with a person found through online dating
sites. With further studies, the authors found that people mostly took the deception by the
partners in a negative manner, but they did not consider their own deceptive behavior to be
wrong.
Thus, it can be said that there are both positive and negative aspects to online dating
options, however, no specific study was conducted to address the impact of these options on the

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dating experience of women specifically. This paper will conduct the study in this particular
direction.
3. Method
A. Participants
Women from the University of Sydney will be chosen through simple random sampling
for this study. The female students will be chosen as they belong to the age group of 18-30 years,
who are the most common users of the online dating apps. 100 female students will be chosen
randomly to collecting data on the research topic.
B. Research design
Explanatory research design and deductive research approach will be followed in this
study. University of Sydney will be considered as the case study organization and qualitative
research method will be applied to get the findings from the collected data. Descriptive method
of analysis will be applied to assess the perception of the participants regarding the research
topic.
C. Data collection plans
Primary data will be collected through a survey on the female students of the University
of Sydney and a questionnaire will be prepared on the research topic containing 10-15 close
ended questions. The students will be sent the questionnaire through emails. After the data
collection, quantitative methods will be applied on the data to get the findings.

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4. Implications and limitations
The implication of this study lies in getting an effective overview of what women
perceive about too many choices through the multiple dating apps. The psychological aspect and
the emotional impact on the personal lives of women originating from the availability of many
dating options will be evaluated to understand the benefits and disadvantages of the dating
options in a more specific manner.
The study will collect only primary data for the study, and due to time and budget
constraint, secondary data will not be collected. Moreover, only qualitative analysis method will
be applied for data analysis while applying quantitative method along with it would have resulted
in more in-depth outcome.

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References
Brescoll, V.L., 2016. Leading with their hearts? How gender stereotypes of emotion lead to
biased evaluations of female leaders. The Leadership Quarterly, 27(3), pp.415-428.
Hance, M.A., Blackhart, G. and Dew, M., 2018. Free to be me: The relationship between the true
self, rejection sensitivity, and use of online dating sites. The Journal of social
psychology, 158(4), pp.421-429.
Iqbal, M., 2019. Tinder Revenue and Usage Statistics (2018). [online] Business of Apps.
Available at: http://www.businessofapps.com/data/tinder-statistics/ [Accessed 15 Apr. 2019].
Ranzini, G. and Lutz, C., 2017. Love at first swipe? Explaining Tinder self-presentation and
motives. Mobile Media & Communication, 5(1), pp.80-101.
Román-Palacios, C., Tavera, J. and del Rosario Castañeda, M., 2018. When did anoles diverge?
An analysis of multiple dating strategies. Molecular phylogenetics and evolution, 127, pp.655-
668.
Sharabi, L.L. and Caughlin, J.P., 2019. Deception in online dating: Significance and implications
for the first offline date. New Media & Society, 21(1), pp.229-247.
Van Ouytsel, J., Van Gool, E., Walrave, M., Ponnet, K. and Peeters, E., 2016. Exploring the role
of social networking sites within adolescent romantic relationships and dating
experiences. Computers in Human Behavior, 55, pp.76-86.
Zytko, D., Grandhi, S. and Jones, Q., 2018. The (Un) Enjoyable User Experience of Online
Dating Systems. In Funology 2 (pp. 61-75). Springer, Cham.

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Appendix
Reference: Ranzini, G. and Lutz, C., 2017. Love at first swipe? Explaining Tinder self-presentation
and motives. Mobile Media & Communication, 5(1), pp.80-101.
Discipline(s): Social science
Key Question: What are the self-presentation and motives are used in Tinder, the online dating
app?
Theoretical /Applied : Applied Experimental/non-experimental : Experimental
Empirical/non-empirical : Non-Empirical Primary/Secondary Data : Primary data
Deductive/inductive : Deductive Self-reported/Observed : Self-reported
Descriptive/explanatory: Explanatory Qualitative/Quantitative : Qualitative
Concise annotation
(80 – 120 words)
The motives of the Tinder users were evaluated in this study. Primary data was collected through
survey and it was studied empirically to find out the intentions of the male and female participants
while they use Tinder to find out potential romantic partner. Through qualitative study, the authors
highlighted the personality and demographics aspects of the participants and it has been found that
men and women have mostly different intentions for using the online dating apps.

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Reference: Van Ouytsel, J., Van Gool, E., Walrave, M., Ponnet, K. and Peeters, E., 2016. Exploring the
role of social networking sites within adolescent romantic relationships and dating
experiences. Computers in Human Behavior, 55, pp.76-86.
Discipline(s): Social science
Key Question: How the social networking sites impact the relationships occurred through online
dating apps?
Theoretical /Applied : Applied Experimental/non-experimental : Experimental
Empirical/non-empirical : Non-Empirical Primary/Secondary Data : Primary data
Deductive/inductive : Deductive Self-reported/Observed : Self-reported
Descriptive/explanatory: Explanatory Qualitative/Quantitative : Qualitative
Concise annotation
(80 – 120 words)
The authors conducted the study to find out the impact of social networking sites in developing the
perceptions of young generation about their potential romantic partners found through online
dating apps. It has been found that the information in the social networking sites, such as,
Facebook, works as a validation about the true personalities of the individuals. These information
help the participants in further connecting through private messages. These sites often help them to
display their relationship status and emotions about their partners whom they had found in the
online dating apps. This also helps in detecting any deceptive behaviour of the individuals.

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Reference: Hance, M.A., Blackhart, G. and Dew, M., 2018. Free to be me: The relationship between
the true self, rejection sensitivity, and use of online dating sites. The Journal of social
psychology, 158(4), pp.421-429.
Discipline(s): Social science
Key Question: What is relationship between the rejection sensitivity and usage of online dating
apps by individuals?
Theoretical /Applied : Applied Experimental/non-experimental : Experimental
Empirical/non-empirical : Non-Empirical Primary/Secondary Data : Primary data
Deductive/inductive : Deductive Self-reported/Observed : Self-reported
Descriptive/explanatory: Explanatory Qualitative/Quantitative : Qualitative
Concise annotation
(80 – 120 words)
The authors conducted their study to find out the behaviour of individuals who are rejection
sensitive while using online dating apps. The study focused on divulgence of true self on the online
dating apps. It has been found that the individuals, who are rejection sensitive, are more
comfortable in divulging their true self on the online dating apps. This implies that they are more
apprehensive about meeting the potential partners face-to-face as they are sensitive to rejection on
the first date. Thus, they feel more confident using the dating apps before meeting the person
personally and in the sites, they do not prefer to display deceptive personalities.

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Reference: Sharabi, L.L. and Caughlin, J.P., 2019. Deception in online dating: Significance and
implications for the first offline date. New Media & Society, 21(1), pp.229-247.
Discipline(s): Social science
Key Question: What is the impact of deception in case of online dating?
Theoretical /Applied : Applied Experimental/non-experimental : Experimental
Empirical/non-empirical : Non-Empirical Primary/Secondary Data : Primary data
Deductive/inductive : Deductive Self-reported/Observed : Self-reported
Descriptive/explanatory: Explanatory Qualitative/Quantitative : Qualitative
Concise annotation
(80 – 120 words)
The authors conducted their study to evaluate the impact of deception on the potential romantic
relationships that occurred through online dating apps. It has been found that majority of the users
of online dating apps use deception for securing the first date. However, it does have impact on the
subsequent offline interactions in the future. However, due to the fear of rejection, many online
dating app users opt for deceptions at least for the first date. Although, it is considered by the
individuals as a negative aspect which would hamper their relationships.