A tutorial on analyzing data from speed-dating studies with heterosexual dyads

Speed-dating studies provide a useful venue for studying attraction and other relationship initiation processes. They provide researchers with a unique opportunity to assess how much a dyadic behavior (e.g., attraction) is due to some relationship-specific adjustment or the dispositional tendencies of the two people interacting. Researchers can also investigate the impact of individual difference variables on relationship initiation outcomes. This article shows researchers how to address such interesting questions by providing an extended treatment of how to apply the social relations model (D. A. Kenny & L. La Voie, 1984) to data from a typical speed-dating study with heterosexual dyads. The statistical program SPSS is used given its widespread use and accessibility.