Romancing the Pandemic: Do Our Reading Habits Change During Times of Stress? |
Part I: Introduction
This survey is to assess the reading habits of romance readers prior to the pandemic (before March 2020), during the pandemic, and as we return to normalcy (the present). It is the hope of this researcher to answer the following questions:
1.) Did non-romance readers, or readers who read very little of the genre, read more romance during the pandemic?
2.) Did these readers continue to read as much romance as we return to normalcy? Or are they reverting to reading habits prior to the pandemic?
3.) Did reading romance make readers feel better during the pandemic?
4.) Reading romance is usually deemed a “guilty pleasure.” Did that change during the pandemic? Now that we return to normalcy, has that guilt returned?
2.) Did these readers continue to read as much romance as we return to normalcy? Or are they reverting to reading habits prior to the pandemic?
3.) Did reading romance make readers feel better during the pandemic?
4.) Reading romance is usually deemed a “guilty pleasure.” Did that change during the pandemic? Now that we return to normalcy, has that guilt returned?
This researcher hopes the results of the survey may show that what we read and how much we read changes during times of great stress. It may also change the way we read when we are unable to access certain content (i.e., printed materials). Romance is often a genre that is not treated with as much credibility as other genres. If this survey reveals the broad range of readers seeking out the romance genre during times of uncertainty, would this perhaps elevate the genre?
We are making every effort to ensure that no one knows what your responses were on the survey. Survey Monkey is a well known company that collects data for online survey research. The researchers have purchased an encrypted version of their product to reduce the risk to subjects that their responses will be viewed by unauthorized persons. However, the study is not being run from a secure http server such as those used to handle credit card transactions, so there is a small possibility that responses could be viewed by unauthorized third parties, such as computer hackers.
Please contact this researcher, Professor M. Anne O'Reilly, at moreilly@lagcc.cuny.edu with any questions.