A World Wide Web-Based Research Project

Abstract

The World Wide Web (Web) is a good source of data for class projects. In this article, I review a Web-based experimental psychology research project examining human mate preferences. Designed as a conceptual replication of Hayes's (1995) study of newspaper personal advertisements, students collected information from Internet personal advertisements to provide support for or against evolutionary (Buss, 1985) and social learning theories (Hayes) of mate selection. Students collected information from 4 personal advertisement categories: men seeking women, women seeking men, women seeking women, and men seeking men. I summarized and returned the data to students who wrote an American Psychological Association style paper on mate selection. I also review the advantages and disadvantages of using the Internet.The World Wide Web (Web) provides access to a wealth of information. One potential use of the Web is as a research tool. For example, Stern and Faber (1997) used the Internet to conduct a replication of the lost-letter technique using e-mail. They also described how they conducted survey research on marital satisfaction via the Internet. Although Stern and Faber's article is a notable exception, few studies have described how to conduct simple research projects using the Internet. Using the Web to conduct research, however, can expand the pool of available research participants and provide students with avenues of research previously not available. An Experimental Psychology ProjectIn an effort to enhance students' research experiences, students in Experimental Psychology used the Internet to conduct a Web-based research project on mate selection. This project was a conceptual replication of Hayes's (1995) study on mate preferences. Hayes examined newspaper advertisements to determine if men and women displayed any consistent preferences for age, beauty, or wealth. Several researchers (e.g., Buss, 1985;Feingold, 1992) concluded that men and women show gender-specific differences in mate selection. For example, men tend to select women who are young, attractive, and healthy. By contrast, women tend to prefer men who are older, wealthy, and ambitious (Buss, 1985). Hayes found that these same trends were also present in the newspaper advertisements of people seeking mates.In this project, students attempted to determine if men's and women's personal advertisements placed on the Web displayed the consistent age preferences found in previous studies. Students searched preselected Web sites for data on ages of advertisers and mates sought. They turned their data in to the instructor for analysis. Following statistical analysis of the data, students used the results to compile an American Psychological Association style paper.A number of advantages resulted from using the Internet to conduct this project. Numerous personal advertisement services from various geographic areas are located on the Internet. Because the newspaper holdings of libraries are not as numerous as Internet sources and can often focus on specific re...

Evaluation of The Psychology Place: A Web-Based Instructional Tool for Psychology Courses

“…Other faculty using Web-based assignments have reported a similar problem (Matthews, 1999). Both the students and the instructor had a difficult time logging onto the site at the beginning of the semester when students were signing onto the site and during peak times of the day.…”

Using the internet to conduct research

“…Less expensive than paper-and-pencil surveys (Barry 2001, Eaton et al 2002, Duffy 2000b, Frankel et al 1999, Granello et al 2003, Lakeman 1997, Lenert et al 2002, Matz 1999, Rhodes et al 2003, Roos 2003, Stewart 2003 Increased pool of study participants (improved external reliability, generalisability) Matthews 1999, Meyerson 2003, Pittenger 2003, Rhodes et al 2003 Increased access for sensitive issues, cultural groups and 'hidden' populations (Adler and Zarchin 2002, Barry 2001, Birnbaum 2004, Bowker et al 2004, Duncan et al 2003, Duffy 2000b, Eaton et al 2002, Fyfe et al 2001, Im et al 2003…”

“…Although the internet can increase access to a larger population group, it may not represent the national population profile, consequently threatening validity and generalisability of study findings (Duffy 2002, Eaton et al 2002, Im et al 2001, 2004a, 2004b, LaCoursiere 2003, Strickland et al 2003 Decreased accessibility to internet during peak high volume times (Matthews 1999) Literacy and disability issues (Rhodes et al 2003) variety of other behavioural research applications (Barry 2001, Birnbaum 2004, Gosling et al 2004, Lallas et al 2004, Schwarzer et al 1999.…”

Homosexual Mating Preferences from an Evolutionary Perspective: Sexual Selection Theory Revisited

“…For example, when compared to heterosexual women, heterosexual men tend to prefer significantly younger partners (Buss & Schmitt, 1993;Hayes, 1995;Kenrick & Keefe, 1992;Matthews, 1999;Schmitt, 2005). This type of mate selection is advantageous, from an evolutionary perspective, as men should preferentially procreate with young, healthy, fertile women to ensure that their genes are carried forward into future generations (Buss & Schmitt, 1993;Kenrick & Keefe, 1992).…”

“…To our knowledge, no study to date has compared partner age preferences between homosexual and heterosexual men across different relationship types (Hayes, 1995;Kenrick, Keefe, Bryan, Barr, & Brown, 1995;Matthews, 1999;Silverthorne & Quinsey, 2000;Vanderlaan & Vasey, 2007) in a natural mating environment. Studies that have examined these groups tend to compare them to women rather than to each other.…”