SURVEY on Long-distance Relationships (Have received permission).

[Cairnmillar]

Are you in a long-distance relationship or have been in one? If so, we are interested in who you are and your experience in long-distance relationship.

We would like to learn more about how people maintain commitment in a long-distance relationship. This is important because long-distance relationship is becoming more prevalent within this day and age.

We need the participation of people currently in a long-distance relationship or have experienced a long-distance relationship, and who are aged 18 years and over. The questionnaire is a multiple-choice measure, asking questions regarding aspects of your personality, attachment style, locus of control, coping styles, satisfaction, perceptions of quality of alternatives, investment size and relationship commitment in LDRs. The online questionnaire is expected to take no longer than 20 minutes.

Link: https://surveymonkey.com/r/Q8L7HNH


We would greatly appreciate your help in furthering the research in this area!

[Redheart14]

Sounds interesting

[erwin1973]

I'm going to take a look - after I chatted with my lady.

[Moon]

Before I take this, what is your purpose in collecting this info? Is it a school project, or for an article, social science. etc? Who is "we"?

[kittyo9]

Before I take this, what is your purpose in collecting this info? Is it a school project, or for an article, social science. etc? Who is "we"?

I'd like to have seen this in the post, too, but from their cover page on the survey:

Who is involved in this research project? Why is it being conducted?
There are two researchers involved in the project. Mr Vinh Nguyen is the student researcher and is undertaking this project as part of their Master of Counselling and Psychotherapy. Dr Alastair Anderson is the qualified Principal Researcher. The project has been approved by the Cairnmillar Human Research Ethics Committee.

Why have you been recruited?
As the participant, you have been approached to assist us in our investigation in examining how people maintain long distance relationships. You have been selected because you are a representative of the majority population of people that are currently in a long-distance relationship or have experienced a long-distance relationship.

What is the project about? What are the questions being addressed?
This project involves an examination of the personal attributes, satisfaction, quality of an alternative and investment size of people that are in a long-distance relationship or have been in one. The general research questions being addressed in this project are:
What is the relationship between personality, attachment style, locus of control and coping styles on relationship commitment in long distance relationships.
What is the relationship between satisfaction, quality of an alternative and investment size on relationship commitment in long distance relationships.
Does the satisfaction, quality of an alternative and investment size help explain the relationship between personality, attachment style, locus of control and coping styles on relationship commitment.

If I agree to participate, what will I be required to do?
As a participant, you will be asked to complete an anonymous online questionnaire consisting of 83 questions. The questionnaire begins with 5 questions relating to general non-identifiable demographic information. The rest of the questionnaire is made of up questions relating to aspects of personality style, attachment style, locus of control, coping styles, satisfaction, quality of an alternative, investment size and relationship commitment in LDRs. The online questionnaire is expected to take no longer than 20 minutes.

[Moon]

Thanks, kitty! I guess I should click next time

[erwin1973]

Thanks, kitty! I guess I should click next time

I've done so, but I find the questions too general, nothing specific. Also there is no room for additional words to give. See for yourself.

[C.C.]

I find the questions too general, nothing specific. Also there is no room for additional words to give. See for yourself.

I think that's how it should be. Otherwise it'd be way harder to collect and analyse the answers.

I am not a fan of "agree"-"disagree" range questions in general, though. They can never be accurate

[erwin1973]

I think that's how it should be. Otherwise it'd be way harder to collect and analyse the answers.

I am not a fan of "agree"-"disagree" range questions in general, though. They can never be accurate

I agree with the last statement. And I have no clue what they want to receive with the results, actually.
What I mean with too general, is that I think the questions should be more specific to an LDR. How can you ask for an LDR that you love the physical attention? What physical attention? :P

[C.C.]

How can you ask for an LDR that you love the physical attention? What physical attention? :P

I think it meant whether you feel satisfied physically. Like if the physical attention someone receives during visits is satisfactory enough in general, for example.

[Lio]

Done. But I would have appreciated if we could explain the way we feel to this or that question. Not only agree/disagree.

[erwin1973]

I think it meant whether you feel satisfied physically. Like if the physical attention someone receives during visits is satisfactory enough in general, for example.

They didn't really ask it that way. And I don't know, I haven't visited my lady yet.
I still think it's not the best survey I have ever seen... Worse is closer. Sorry to the makers of this survey.

[erwin1973]

Done. But I would have appreciated if we could explain the way we feel to this or that question. Not only agree/disagree.

That's what I said...

[rache82]

I filled it out yesterday; thought some of it was a little repetitive, but, I wish you the best of luck anyway.

[Cairnmillar]

Hi everyone,

My deepest apologies for the long delayed response but I’ve finally finalized the data and results from the survey and in summary this is what we found:
We found that an individual’s attachment style, personality traits, locus of control (whether you perceive that you have control over an outcome) and way of coping had no significant impact on relationship commitment in long-distance relationships. These results "could" mean that having a specific set of personal attributes or disposition does not necessarily put you at an advantage or disadvantage in long-distance relationship survival. Rather this "could" mean that it’s more about who you are paired with and is all about finding that perfect match.
We also found that satisfaction was the biggest influencer on relationship commitment. This "could" mean that satisfaction may be the primary indicator of whether a long-distance relationship would be more likely to survive or not. This "suggests" that people in a long-distance relationship or people who plan to engage in one should focus on what satisfies each other, and work towards on achieving that rather emphasizing on other things.

It is worth noting though that this study did have some limitations (e.g. questionable wordings of some of the questions) and that further studies are required to generalize these findings.

Overall, I’d like to thank everyone that participated in this research and hope that these findings contribute in better understanding long-distance relationships. I'd also like to thank everyone here for raising the limitations about the survey or research as it has allowed me to become aware of them.

Finally as someone who is also in a long-distance relationship, I hope that this area of research continues to grow to help give us the happily ever after we deserve.

Thanks again.