An exploratory study on how COVID-19 transformed dating culture in the U.S., examining both the immediate impacts during lockdowns and the changes that persisted afterward.
Distributed across social media, Reddit, and personal connections over 4 weeks. 77% of respondents said they were meeting in-person during the study period.
Talked with people across different phases of dating, from newly committed and single to broken up during the pandemic and long-term relationships, including a 5-minute "feeling board" activity to surface visual, emotional responses.
Each entry covered a different theme (communication, tools, interaction, reflection) with text, audio, photo, or video, plus a 5-point pulse-check scale.
Transcribed and coded interviews descriptively, then used affinity diagramming to identify recurring themes across all three methods.
Running three methods concurrently across 9 weeks meant staggering start dates: survey launched first to build a recruitment pool, interviews followed once responses came in, and the 3-week diary study needed its own dedicated tail so analysis wasn't rushed at the end.
Split interview moderation and diary-study check-ins across a team of 3 so no single person owned all 8 interviews plus daily monitoring of 5 diary participants over 3 weeks, with a shared tracker to keep entry compliance and follow-ups consistent across whoever was covering that week.