What can be measured in dating data: comment on Vaillant (2006).
Vaillant's 2006 paper presents data from a marriage bureau to give evidence on partner-seeking behavior. Three questions may be asked about the nature and usefulness of such work, whether it can (i) measure the efficiency of such bureaux, (ii) indicate the volume of resources devoted to partner search from commercially sourced dating data, and (iii) be used to test hypotheses about preference formation.
Cameron
Samuel
S
University of Bradford, Pemberton Building, Richmond Road, Bradford BD7 1DP, West Yorkshire, UK. samcameron@lineone.net
D000329:Advertising / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015982:Bias; D002755:Choice Behavior; D003380:Courtship / Q000523:psychology*; D003625:Data Collection / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D005602:France; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008393:Marriage / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012737:Sex Factors