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Internet-based personal relationships, often called "online romance", are becoming more common in recent years. How computer-mediated communication (CMC) influences personal relationships has great potential as a topic for academic research. CMC is multi-disciplinary, concerning psychology, sociology, anthropology and communication studies. It also offers cross-cultural research opportunities as it occurs on an international level.
In this project, two issues were investigated:
* How Internet-based personal relationships are
evaluated, established and maintained.
* The differences between Caucasian Australian or
Hong Kong Chinese individuals in such relationships.
There are 2 phrases involved in this research:
* Phase 1 -- participants are asked to answer some
general questions about Internet contacts and to complete a set of
questionnaire via email. It takes about 15-30 minutes to complete.
* Phase 2 (four weeks later) -- an "online interview"
is conducted personally by the investigator, using the participant's
preferred chat program (e.g. ICQ, IM, MSN). The interview takes approximately
15-30 minutes.
A thesis has been completed by C. Leung (supervised by B. Rohrmann), and main findings were presented on a Psychology congress. A journal article is currently under preparation.
Prof. Bernd ROHRMANN, via
Roman Research Road venture, Melbourne, Victoria 3054, AUSTRALIA
E-Mail: mail {at} rohrmannspace.net
WebSite:
http://www.rohrmannresearch.net
Christa LEUNG
Dept. of Psychology, University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010, AUSTRALIA
Phone +61 3 8344 4302 Fax 93476618 E-Mail
christaleung@hotmail.com
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