To address the second research question which focused on e-daters’ initiating contact with other e-daters, we examined e-daters ’ “active behaviors” such as the number of winks sent, e-mails sent, instant messages sent, rejection messages sent, and barring of other e-daters from communicating with the e-dater.
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Using a t-test for independent samples analysis, we compared the active behaviors of males and females across all twelve weeks ofthe study period.
The results of this analysis are presented in Table 2. As indicated in the table, the differences between male and female e-daters were significant for all active behaviors. Thus, females were sending significantly fewer winks, e-mails, instant messages, and rejection messages. However, females barred more people from accessing their profile than did males. Paradoxically (but in line with the e-dating theory), the last “active” behavior shown in Table 2, the number of dates held over the twelve week study period, was significantly higher for females than males. This is a paradoxical finding because females were less active on every one of the behaviors in this category.