Welcome To Our Study

Thank you for showing interest in our research and dedicating your time. We're excited to get to know you, and we can't wait to hear about your experiences!

The purpose of this survey is to gain an understanding of your adult friendships and how they evolve when transitioning from in-person to long-distance relationships. This survey will ask you to reflect on your friendships and what you value in them, as well as what tools you use to communicate with your friends. In combination with a follow up interview, your insights help us understand how technology helps, or sometimes complicates, maintaining authentic connections.

Let's start simple. Fill out the fields below with your name and email address:

Name

Email

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Activity 1: Friendship Tools

The purpose of this activity is to introduce you to our topic and to give us an idea of what technology you use to communicate with your friends.

First, please think of all the ways you use your devices to communicate directly with your long-distance friends (phone call, FaceTime, text message, email, Discord, etc). Don't include broadcast-style communication, like social media; we're looking for direct, one-on-one communication. Some platforms offer direct communication features like Instagram's "dm", if you use these specific features of a social media app you may include them in your list.

List Them Here:

Of the methods you listed above, choose the 5 you use most frequently:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

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Activity 2: Friendship Circles

This activity will help us to understand a sample of your friendship network.

To begin this activity, think of 5 long-distance friends whom you don't see in person very often. This can be anyone you moved away from in your adult life. Try to include a range of people, from casual acquaintances to closest pals. Please do not include romantic partners or family members in your list.

List your 5 friends using their first names, initials, or nicknames:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

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Instructions

Above are stickers for each of the five friends you listed. Drag and drop your friends' stickers onto the circle to show how close you feel to each of them. The closer they are to the center, the stronger your friendship with them.

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Activity 3: Sorting Your Communication Methods

This activity will give us an idea of which tools you use with each of your friends.

Instructions

Below are stickers for your five most-used communication methods, as well as categories to sort them into for each of your friends. Drag and drop your stickers to sort them for each of your friends.

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Friend 1

Please drag and drop to

sort each of the stickers

method 1

method 2

method 3

method 4

method 5

We Use This All The Time:

We Use This Sometimes:

We Don't Use This Much:

Friend 2

Please drag and drop to

sort each of the stickers

method 1

method 2

method 3

method 4

method 5

We Use This All The Time:

We Use This Sometimes:

We Don't Use This Much:

Friend 3

Please drag and drop to

sort each of the stickers

method 1

method 2

method 3

method 4

method 5

We Use This All The Time:

We Use This Sometimes:

We Don't Use This Much:

Friend 4

Please drag and drop to

sort each of the stickers

method 1

method 2

method 3

method 4

method 5

We Use This All The Time:

We Use This Sometimes:

We Don't Use This Much:

Friend 5

Please drag and drop to

sort each of the stickers

method 1

method 2

method 3

method 4

method 5

We Use This All The Time:

We Use This Sometimes:

We Don't Use This Much:

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Activity 4: Friendship Values

Think of what you value the most across all of your friendships. What works? What doesn't? Below, values are split into categories. In each category, click to select which value best represents your personal priorities.

❤️ Emotional Values:

⚖️ Integrity & Principles:

💬 Communication & Social Style:

🌱 Growth & Independence:

🧘 Stability & Perspective:

🌟 Spice:

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Activity 5: Letter To A Friend

The purpose of this activity is to give us a sense of your communication style, and for you to consider how distance has impacted your relationships.

For this activity, we would like you to reflect on a relationship from your past. Think of a friend whom you've fallen out of touch with, someone you haven't spoken to in a while, but have fond memories of. We would like you to write them a message; it could be a text, an email, or any form of written message.

In the message, write anything you wish you could tell them. Your message can be as short or as long as you would like; we simply ask that it should reflect the way you would genuinely reach out if you were to send this message today.

Write Your Letter Below (we will not be sending this message, though we encourage you to send it yourself if you feel comfortable!) :

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Send Us Your Results!

You're almost done! Press download results to save your survey answers. Please email the downloaded file to uwdesign481results@gmail.com

(look for the file on you computer named "survey-results.png")

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