Product Analysis Senior Dissertation

Introduction

The paper begins analyzing the global online dating app market and its growth opportunities.

This study aims to test the hypothesis that users of gay dating apps express lower levels of satisfaction than users of non-gay dating apps and whether gay dating app users perceive these apps as less safe and supportive of long-term relationships than general dating app users.

We analyzed App Store user reviews of the top 3 dating apps in each product category: gay dating apps (Grindr, Scruff, Hornet) and general dating apps (Tinder, Badoo, Bumble). Data was collected using the Python Library App_store_scraper, and 2,000 reviews from each app were retrieved for analysis. Variables retrieved are listed in Appendix E.

Contrary to our hypothesis, gay dating app users expressed higher satisfaction levels (mean rating score of 3.08) than non-gay specific dating app users (mean rating score of 2.48). A T-statistic of 19.469 and a P-value of 3.82e-83 indicate a statistically significant difference in satisfaction scores between the two groups.

We interviewed 3 gay dating app users. We used the interview to find six common themes: Preferences for Detailed Profiles, Concerns Around Anonymity and Privacy, Communication and Matching, Casual vs. Serious Relationships, Features and Functionality, and Safety’s Impact on User Experience.

Our study has limitations, including the inability to differentiate users' sexual orientation and potential overlap between user groups. Future research should collect more specific demographic data, utilize alternative research methods such as in-depth interviews, focus groups, or user-generated content analysis, and explore more robust statistical tests like mixed-effects models or repeated measures ANOVA to address these limitations.