Independent Study:

The End:

dsmiley — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 12:52:11 +0000

Well…this is it, the end has finally come! Over the last few weeks i have reread and redrafted my research project, looking for missing references and making final adjustments. Overall i am pleased with the results and think i have done a good job! I have printed it off today and am going to get it bound on Monday. I just need to work out a way to print off the diary in the correct order!

Bye!!!

Discussion

dsmiley — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 14:32:26 +0000

I have jsut finished writing most of my discussion and conclusion. I have decided to put the two together as they don’t really need to be seperated.

My results show that:

The findings suggest that internet dating sites are addictive because:

Participants felt that they can be more open with people online.
The messages Participants received made them feel excited and gave them a rush or thrill.
Using the sites made some participants feel confident and powerful.
The sites gave them access to a wide variety of people.
Participants received a lot of messages in a short space of time
The sites were an easy and convenient way to meet people.
The male participants found them an easy way for getting sex.

The dating sites contribute to the addiction by:Constantly sending emails:

Telling participants who had been looking at their profile
Who they had received messages from
Giving a list of potential partners, which the site thought were suitable for them.

Enticing them to come back by:

· Emailing them who had looked at their profile

· Who had recently joined the site

The typical characteristics of internet dating addicts are:

A loss of time, whilst online
Sleep deprivation due to late night log ins
Experiencing intense emotions, such as excitement, frustration
Experiencing a rush or thrill when receiving messages and a rush,
A preoccupation with the sites
An urge and compulsion to check messages
Feeling anxious if unable to check the messages

I feel that these answer my original aims.

10th March References and Discussion

dsmiley — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 14:30:09 +0000

Today i read through my literature review and found missing refrences. I needed to do this as i am going to start my discussion today. I am als going to read through my interviews, thematic anakysis and depictions so that i have a feel for my study and findings before i start writing my discussion.

9th March Individual depictions:

dsmiley — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 14:27:51 +0000

Today i wrote the rest of th eindividual depictions which i really enjoyed. I am glad i have decided to do this as i feel it will give my reader an insight into the personalities and experiences of each interviewee.

8th March Meeting with Paul

dsmiley — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 14:26:10 +0000

Today i met with Paulwe disuussed my Thematic Analysis. I need to reword some of the themes and give them subheading to make them more organized. He agreed that it woud be a good idea to use individual depictions and said that i acn put them with the analysis or if i ahve too many words use one and put the rest in the appendix. He suWe disucssed doing a composite depiction, which is the usual process after individual depictions. I fekllt that my participants were too different to be ablt to do this. Paul said that this was ok as long as i stated my reasons for not doing one!

He also said that i should make up name for the depictions to make them seem more personalised.

We also discussed my introduction Paul said i should introduce myself, say whether or not i have used IDS. We talked about a programme called Silver Surfacers, which was on in the week. The programme showed OAPs who dated online. Paul said it would be useful to cooment on the programme in my intro or discussionas the programme showed that internet dating is not only confined to young people.

7th March Questions for Paul:

dsmiley — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 14:22:24 +0000

I am meeting with Paul tomorrow (8th March) and want to discuss the following issues:

Do i use i or ‘the researcher’ when writing up my repoet
Do i need to use individual depictins, i ahev completred 1 as aan exampke
Discuss themes

Methodology and Method:

dsmiley — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 13:08:12 +0000

Over the last 2 days i have been writing up my methodology which i am findng quite difficult and am not sure if i am doing it right!!!

Meeting With Paul:

dsmiley — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 13:06:46 +0000

I had a meeting on Thursday to discuss the themes i had found for the Thematic Analysis. I also wanted to discess my aims as i am not sure they are worded right! My aims are currently

What makes Internet Dating sites so addictive-An exploratory study.

What makes internet dating sites addictive
What are the characteristics of internet dating addicts
Do they share similar signs of addiction
How to the dating sites contribute to the addiction

Paul said that it was ok to end up with about 8 themes. I have aabout that so this is ok. I found out during my analysis that the males participants used the sites for casual sex and i thought that this would be worth talking about even though it is only mentioned in 2 scripts, Paul agreed and said that i could talk about it in my discussion. I have also decided that i want to do a short individual depiction on each participant to give an people an overall idead of them and their addicition, Paul said that this is ok.

Thematic Analysis:

dsmiley — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 17:51:19 +0000

Today i have done my Thematic Analysis, well most of it anyway. I have found 13 reocurring themes and have categorized them under 2 main themes:

Signs of addiction:

Loss of sleep
Preoccupation with IDS
Loss of time Messages control social life.
Urge to check constantly check messages/checking mesages before doing anything else.

Reasons why people become addicted:

Easier to talk and be open with people online,
Exciting,
convenient,
quick and vast response from potential partners
Buzz upon receiving messages

I also found out that people were saying that one of the signs they were addicted was because the actual sites were constantly sending them reminders to say who had been looking at them, showing them poential partners, saying how many people had been looking at there profile plus many more. This is very useful as one my aims was to see if there was anything about the actual site which was addictive.

I have narrowed the themes down to 9, i realise that this is still too many i think i have 6 themes which are very important, i want to discuss these with Paul before going any further, i am trying to email him, buthotmail i sdown!!!

Writing up the diary:

dsmiley — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 15:15:49 +0000

Well two weeks have passed and i haven’t done anymore work for my diss, whoops. I have been doing other work and i went home in reading work!!! Anyway i thought it was time to write up my diary. I have been writing the entries on random pieces of paper, which seems to defeat the object of doing the online blog…Umm from now on i will put my entries straight onto the comp….well see. I am starting my Thematic analysis noew, i have got lots of coloured pens, lets hope it goes ok!!!