Pornography consumption and extramarital affairs in men

Participants

Five thousand male participants will be recruited, using advertisements placed strategically on social media networks. None of the social media networks on which the advertisements are placed will be pornographic in nature, to ensure that random selection takes place. Advertisements will announce that male participants between the ages of 18 and 40 are needed for an educational study, but the nature of the research will be withheld. Anonymity will be preserved, because the participants will be routed to a web portal that encrypts any and all data sent; as well as the IP addresses of the participants. The participants will therefore be randomly selected from around the world, to offer the greatest variety of data and making the study highly generalizable and externally as well as internally valid. Incentives for participation will include a discount at an online retailer.

b. Design

Because it will be impossible to evaluate the many intervening variables that lead men to engage in extra-marital affairs, a causal relationship cannot be explicitly inferred from the data gathered. Therefore, this study will be correlational in design, measuring the dependent variable (extra-marital affair) with the independent variable (pornography consumption). Operational definitions of these variables will be provided, as it is necessary to define what constitutes an extra marital affair and what constitutes pornographic consumption. The definition of extra-marital affair will be limited only to physical affairs as opposed to emotional affairs, which are more difficult to quantify. The definition of pornographic consumption will be measured in number of hours per week spent watching material from an age-restricted website.

d. Measures

Measures of the independent variable (pornography consumption) will entail the researchers placing a tracking device on the participants' computers, with their informed consent. This device will send anonymous bits of information related to the sites visited, and amount of time spent watching the pornographic material. Measures of the dependent variable (extramarital affair participation) will be gathered using a self-report survey. Participants will be reminded that their anonymity will be preserved due to the encryption methods used. The participants will respond to survey questions related to their participation in physical affairs, ranging from did they kiss someone to did they have sex with someone. Questions such as how long they have been engaged in the affair and whether the person was a one night stand or a coworker will also be asked, to evaluate the different types of affairs being reported. There will be approximately ten questions on the survey.