The Effect Of Short-term Modality Switching On Dyadic Relational Communication

The media convergence trend not only enhances the information flow among different media platforms,but also brings about the migration of audience behavior(Jenkins,2006),which in turns furthers the migration of varied relationships across different channels.In 2007,Ramirez proposed the concept of "modality switching",which is specifically featured in the relationship transition among communication channels.Until recently,this kind of research started to rise as a new field in communications studies.It is derived from relational construction study in computer-mediated communication and relational communication in interpersonal communication,and it is also the combination of the two.Among all the others,the transfer of relationship between online and offline is the one that received most attentions.Under the perspective of modality switching,the present study targets online romantic relationship,a typical socially oriented dyadic relationship,in order to explore the effect of short-term online-to-offline transition on relationship development.Taking use of the existing online dating platform,this research supplements the quasi-experiment design with qualitative interview.It tries to simulate the relationship construction process in natural environment as much as possible,and at the same time,to build relationships from zero history,so that it could trace their developments,and collect the full data of both dyads before and after the transition at important time points.The experiment separates participants into two groups,i.e.freewill dating group and assigned dating group.Predict outcome value is taken as the only variable to measure relationship outcome.On the basis of previous research data,this study puts forward the"difference model of predicted outcome value",in order to directly show the enhancement or disillusionment effect after modality switching.According to the model,there exists a U-shaped relationship between the amount of online communication/communication time and the difference of predicted outcome value.On account of this model,the study concludes that to meet offline in an earlier time would be more favorable to continuous relationship development.The final results also show that the amount of online communication time would be a suitable indicator for freely formed relationships;however,for relationships that formed by outside force,the amount of online communication would be a more sensitive and significant predictor.Moreover,positive correlations of relationship assessments were consistently found between dyads,no matter online or offline.