My
name is Rachel Eddowes, an undergraduate studying Interpersonal Communication
and Interpersonal Conflict Analysis and Resolution. When I took COMM 400:
Research Methods in Communication I was part of a research project that focused
on the mobile dating application Tinder. Components of the study sought to
understand why individuals use Tinder, the gratifications users gain from using
Tinder, what happens when a user meets another user face-to-face after matching
on the app, and why individuals do not use Tinder at all. At the end of the
course my professor asked that I continue the research through OSCAR.
The
opportunity to work on this research project with the support of OSCAR has been
pretty neat. My mentor and I have revisited the study from COMM 400 and have
been working to make improvements and adjustments, as well as adding scales and
variables to gain a more holistic understanding of the Tinder phenomenon. Most
of my work so far has been looking up the original articles of different
communication theories, reviewing other studies on Tinder to see what they
measured, and learning how to adapt existing scales in order to use them in
this study in order to collect a larger data set.
This
has certainly been a valuable and educational experience. About a year ago I
could not tell you much about how to formally conduct research, but this
opportunity to work on this project has increased my understanding and
appreciation for academic research. The process no longer seems daunting, and
instead has become somewhat exciting (at times I feel like a detective!). The
skills gained have been numerous; each that I am sure will come in handy when I
enter graduate school.
