GEU 0411 Senior Seminar 2003/04

ICQ Couples

Group 66

HUI, Yuen Ki, Kelly (PAC/3)LAU, Suet Yee, Samantha (ENG/3)LI, Kai Shing, Frankie (BBA/4)LI, Yin Fun, Frances (JLM/3)

What is ICQ?

ICQ is: 'I Seek You' A global community that puts you in touch

with friends you already know and friends you have not met yet

A searching engine that helps you find people

A community that connects you to people with similar interests, beliefs and passions

Recognitions of ICQ

160 million users in more than 245 countries since November 1996

90,000 new users join every day

2 million peak simultaneous users

Available in 18 languages

About 800 million ICQ messages per day

ICQ Random Chat

Arbitrarily find the one that you “feel like” talking to

Chat on any topics you are interested in ICQ database will match the best chatting p

artner

Popularity of ICQ Random Chat

Breakthrough (1999) 75% youngsters has made friends through I

CQ random chat Education and Manpower Bureau & Hong

Kong Police Force (2002) 59% F.4-F.7 students has made friends wh

o are strangers by ICQ

Trend of ICQ couples

American Online’s Service (1999) 1200 married couples first met through

Internet Family Planning Association (2002)

A poll of 6,006 people 24 per cent of ICQ random chat users had

dated those they had met online

Relationship build up through Random Chat

Chat freely by ICQ Become more acquainted to each other Start communicating by phone Meet with one another Build up a closer relationship

Social Perception

Fragile relationship of ICQ couples Internet is a world filled up with lies Dishonest and unfaithful people are

dominating ICQ Without face-to-face communication, people

would easily mix up facts and imagination Tragedies happened on teenagers who met

their ICQ friends

Research Objectives

To investigate: The teenagers’ trend of approaching their

partners by ICQ How ICQ affects the attitude of teenage

couples taken in their relationship If they would change the way of

communication with each other

Significance

Increasing trend of using ICQ as a means to find the beloved one Change of communication pattern between couples Negative social perception towards ICQ couples

Hypothesis

The relationship of ICQ couples is not as intimate as non-ICQ couples

Definition – ICQ couples

First get to know each other through ICQ Build up their friendship Fall in love

Definition – Non-ICQ couples

First get to know each other by any means other then ICQ

Definition – Intimate relation

Faith Commitment In-depth understanding Stable relationship

Research Methodology

Secondary Data Research Survey Questionnaire Focus Group Case Studies

Survey Questionnaire

80 questionnaires distributed through Personnel interview (60%) Online survey (30%) Mail-in survey (10%)

Sampling Method

Quota sampling 50% - ICQ couples 50% - Non-ICQ couples

Stratification sampling Follow the ratio of persons attending full-time

schools in Hong Kong by place of study Hong Kong Island (19%) Kowloon (33.2%) The New Territories (47.8%)

Type of Questions

Multiple choice questions with randomized choices

5-point likert scale questions Matrix questions Open-ended questions

Part I & IIIndividual questions

Demographic questions Subjective concepts Attitude towards love

Demographic Questions

Age Distribution Education Level

Age Distribution

ICQ couples

Under 15

18%

16 - 18

38%

18 - 21

27%

21 - 24

14%

Over 25

3%

Non-ICQ couples

Under 156%

16 - 1834%

18 - 2135%

21 - 2421%

Over 254%

Education Level

ICQ Couples

F.1 - F.5

30%

F.6 - F.7

36%

College

15%

Under graduate

16%

Post graduate

3%

Non-ICQ Couples

F.1 - F.5

35%

F.6 - F.7

30%

College

14%

Under

graduate

20%

Post graduate

1%

Questions about subjective conception

Stability Enjoyableness Level of love

Q2. Do you think that it's a stable relation?

ICQ couples

Stable 51%

Unstable11% Very stable

38%

Non-ICQ couples

Unstable 9% Very stable45%

Stable 46%

Q3. Do you enjoy being together with him/her?

ICQ couples

Enjoy48%

Not enjoy8%Neutral

30%

Very enjoy14%

Non-ICQ couples

Enjoy44%

Not enjoy5%

Very enjoy23%Neutral

28%

Q4. Do you like your present boy/girlfriend?

ICQ couplesI like

him/her40%

I'm kind ofconfusing

14%

I likehim/her

very much15%

I don't likehim/her31%

Non-ICQ couples

I likehim/her49%

I don't likehim/her25%

I'm kind ofconfusing

3%

I likehim/her

very much23%

Questions about attitude towards love

Q7. How do you rate the importance of each of the following attributes in maintaining an intimate relation?

0

10

20

30Love one another

Trust & understand one another

Similar hobbiesMatched appearance

Similar Valuation

ICQ couples Non-ICQ couples

　Love　one　

anotherTrust　&　understand　

one　anotherSimilar　

hobbiesMatched　

appearanceSimilar　

Valuation

ICQ 28.44 22.25 19.88 13.88 15.56

NON-ICQ 27.88 19.88 20.63 16.25 15.38

Part IIIQuestions for couples

Relationship of couples Communication channel Activities Future Planning

Questions about the couples’ relationship

Duration of falling in love The way they met

Q1. How long have you two got together?

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

Less than half

year

Half to one year 1 - 2 years 2 - 3 years More than 3

years

Per

cent

age

ICQ couples Non-ICQ couples

Q2. How did you two know each other?

50%28%

15%

3%5%

50%

ICQ random chat

School

Social activities

Table for six ( )相親

Others

Questions about communication channels

Phone ICQ Face-to-face

Q3. Which channels do you usually use to communicate with him/her?

0

20

40

60Phone chatting

Letters

EmailsICQ

SMS

ICQ couples Non-ICQ couples

　Phone　chatting Letters Emails ICQ SMS

ICQ　couples 47.5 13.13 15.88 21.5 2

Non-ICQ　couples 57.25 14.25 13.5 11 4

Q4&5. How many hours do you two spend on ICQ/ phone chatting each week?

02468

101214161820

Fre

quen

cy

ICQ couples - Phone chatting ICQ couples - ICQ chattingNon-ICQ couples - Phone chatting Non-ICQ couples - ICQ chatting

Q6. How many times do you two see one another each week?

02468

10121416

0

1 - 2

tim

es

2 - 3

tim

es

3 - 5

tim

es

5 - 8

tim

es

Mor

e than

8 ti

mes

Fre

quen

cy

ICQ couples Non-ICQ couples

Questions about couples’ activities

Q7. When you two meet each other, how often have you done the following things?

Shopping Dinning Having a long chat Movie watching Karaoke Kissing Intimacy Sleeping together

Q7. Having a chat (T-Test, p<0.05)

ICQ Couples Non-ICQ Couples

Answer Quantity % of Total Quantity % of Total

Never 2 5% 6 15%

Seldom 3 8% 2 5%

Sometimes 7 18% 13 33%

Often 11 28% 9 23%

Always 17 43% 10 25%

Av. Score 3.95 　 3.375 　

　 N = 40 　 N = 40 　

Q8. Do you have quarrels?

13

13

10

40

15

17

8

00

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%80%

90%

100%

ICQ NON-ICQ

Never Seldom Sometimes Often Always

Questions about couples’ future planning

Q9. Have you two planned the following things?

21

11

8

14

23

3

16

8

16

15

12

13

23

413

0%

50%

100%

Livetogether

Savemoney

Getmarried

Buy anapartment

Have ababy

Not yet consider No Yes

26

95

16

19

5

18

8

14

14

10

16

23

314

0%

50%

100%

Livetogether

Savemoney

Getmarried

Buy anapartment

Have ababy

ICQ Couples

Non-ICQ Couples

Focus Group

Aims of the Focus group

Find out how teenagers nowadays view ICQ relationship

Explore their attitude towards ICQ random chat

Group A

5 students, aged between 17 and 23 ICQ random chat users

Trustworthiness of Random Chat

“Yes” they themselves were already trustworthy

person “No”

break the rules of the game create fake identity to cheat the other party

Talking Topics in Random Chat

Everything, from family to international news personal details e.g. age, hobbies and

favorites, etc. private things e.g. family issues and love

affairs, etc.

Whether they will meet the other party

“Yes” better communication curiosity

“No” violate the original meaning of random chat:

just to chat randomly and freely

Whether they will keep a long-term relationship with the other party

“Yes” no reason to stop it difficult to find someone with common

interests a waste since a lot of time has already been

spent to communicate with each other

Group B

5 students, aged between 17 and 23 Non-ICQ random chat users

The reason for not playing random chat in ICQ

Unnecessary to know new friends

ICQ is used to contact their friends only

ICQ is a deceitful activity of entertainment

The other party may have multiple or fake identities

Opinion about the relationship being built up through ICQ

Not long-lasting Dangerous Unreliable Fragile

Case Study

Case 1 – Heidi and Charles

Background: Heidi – an undergraduate at the University

of Hong Kong Charles – a doctor who works in Queen

Mary Hospital

Case 1 – Heidi and Charles

Knew each other through ICQ random chat in Jan 2003

Chatted for about 5 months before the first meeting

Gradu ally built up their relationship Has become couples for 4 months “Sweet” relationship now

Case 2 – Angel

Background Angel – a 22-year-old Hong Kong girl who is

now a financial planner Ronan – a 27-year-old Irish who is a

computer engineer

Case 2 – Angel

She knew Ronan through the random chat in ICQ in 2000

After chatting for 6 months, they have become virtual lovers

First met in May 2002 in Hong Kong Angel has lived with Ronan in Ireland for

about 9 months and engaged during that period

“Stable” relationship now

Conclusion

The Hypothesis –

“The relationship of ICQ couples is not as intimate as non-ICQ couples”

should be rejected

Limitations

Optimistic responses in survey Difficulties in finding interviewees Undeterminable interviewees Inconsistent attitude when answering

questions

Direction of Further Studies

Increase the sample size of survey to ensure more accurate and better coverage results

Conduct experiment to compare ICQ and non-ICQ couples

monitor them for a few years observe their relationship separately analyze the difference between them

Thank You

Question & Answer Session