Award Date

5-2011

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Journalism and Media Studies

Department

Journalism and Media Studies

First Committee Member

Julian Kilker, Chair

Second Committee Member

Paul Traudt

Third Committee Member

Stephen Bates

Graduate Faculty Representative

Erin Sahlstein

Number of Pages

97

Abstract

The present study used the Diffusion of Innovations Model to explore the circumstances that lead graduate and professional students enrolled at the a university in southern Nevada to adopt online dating services with the intent of initiating a serious commitment with a potential partner. The diffusion model was used to frame online dating as a process that people go through in acquiring knowledge about the service, forming an opinion about it, testing the service, and finally adopting the service into their daily life. Factors such as time afforded to relationships, apprehension in social situations, safety, and opinions of online dating were tested to determine adoption. Using an online quantitative survey, 68 graduate and professional students volunteered to participate in the study, 31 having used online dating, and 37 not having used online dating. There were 14 males, and 54 females from ages 21 to 57 (m = 31.57, sd = 7.076). Analysis was run using t-tests and correlations to determine whether or not the hypotheses were supported.

Keywords

Computer mediated communication; Dating services; Dating (Social customs); Diffusion of innovations -- online dating; Diffusion of innovations -- online dating sites; Online dating – Computer network resources

Disciplines

Communication | Communication Technology and New Media | Interpersonal and Small Group Communication | Journalism Studies | Mass Communication

File Format

pdf

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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