Qualitative analysis of flirting behaviors in College Students

1. Effective Flirting Behaviors in
College Students
Alyssa Cole
Maggie McPherson
Mariano De los Ríos

2. Index
- Prior Literature
- Research Question
- Data Collection Methods
- Codebook & Themes
- Findings
- Validity Issues
- Conclusion

3. Prior Literature
- 5 love languages
- Words of Affirmation
- Quality Time
- Gifts
- Acts of Service
- Physical Touch

4. Prior Literature cont.
- 5 Flirting Styles
- Physical
- Traditional
- Sincere
- Polite
- Playful

5. Research Question
How do college students' experience with flirting influence how
they flirt with others and their reactions to being flirted with?

6. Data Collection Methods
● Narrative study
● Demographics
○ Equal numbers male & female
○ All four years; variety of majors
● Convenience/snowball sampling plan
● Timeframe
● Thematic Analysis

7. Codebook & Themes
● Intentional time
● Atmosphere
● Familiarity
● Body cues
● Acts of service
● Expressing admiration

8. Intentional Time
Individuals value spending time with a person or having a prolonged
relationship with a person to display the intentionality behind the flirting.
● Found in 6 participants
○ Intention of something long-term (4 participants)
○ Building relationship through quality time

9. Atmosphere
Individuals mentioned that location, time, and social factors influence their
willingness to flirt.
● Found in 6 participants
○ Specific location--ex. Fraternity houses
○ Alcohol as a social factor
○ Parties vs. other contexts

10. Familiarity
Individuals found it easier to flirt with people when they had a common
interest or mutual friend.
● Found in all participants
○ Mutual friends
○ Using a wing-person (2 participants)
○ Collecting information to initiate

11. Body Cues
Individuals use eye contact, laughter, or physical touch to initiate flirting
and/or to indicate their interest.
● Found in 4 participants
○ Body language/physical touch
○ Eye contact
○ Laughter

12. Acts of Service
Individuals use or appreciate kind or helpful actions from someone they are
interested in.
● Found in 3 participants
○ Meal swipe
○ Offering a drink (2 participants)

13. Expressing Admiration
Individuals express appreciation for compliments or interest in their passions.
● Found in 4 participants
○ Complimenting looks
○ Complimenting personality/aspirations
○ Showing interest in meaningful aspects of participant’s life

14. Findings
Effectiveness
Context
Gender’s
Behaviors changing according to objective

15. Validity Issues
o Triangulate data
o Attend to the negative case
o Prior Experience
o Primary Criteria
▪ Credibility
▪ Authenticity
▪ Criticality
▪ Integrity

16. Conclusions
A) Benefit from
1. Working in small groups
2. Listen again to interviews while transcripting
3. Knowing the subject
4. Follow up questions
B) For the future
1. Expand # subjects
2. Use other interviewing methods
3. Preliminary presentations

17. References
- Hall, J., Carter, S., Cody, M., & Albright, J. (2010). Individual Differences in the Communication of Romantic Interest:
Development of the FlirtingStyles Inventory. Communication Quarterly, 58(4), 365–393.
https://doi.org/10.1080/01463373.2010.524874
- Nichole Egbert & Denise Polk (2006) Speaking the Language of Relational Maintenance: A Validity Test of
Chapman's () Five Love Languages, Communication Research Reports, 23:1, 19-26, DOI:
10.1080/17464090500535822.