ABSTRACT
The advent of online dating has gifted researchers with arrestingly granular data regarding what we believe we want: qualities we search for, whom we "click" or swipe, those we write to, even what we confide. In other words, a cornucopia of highly varied information on every stage of relationship formation. Decision researchers—psychologists, statisticians, economists, sociologists—have fashioned a comprehensive, if patchwork, theory of how people make choices. Decisions about spouses, jobs, education, and large-scale purchases are among the most critical in life. One answer is through Activity Data: digital bread crumbs we leave behind when we google, click, roam, and interact with others in ways that leave a trail. Consider what one's most important choice is arguably: a long-term relationship partner. The framework performs well, statistically, when a lot of information can be placed into a model meant to replicate how people "weight" it all.
