Nicky Lewis
Fantasy football participation
Trait & motivational differences
Fantasy sports are no joke. Recent stats show that over 30 million people play them and they generate around $3 billion per year across all sports. This massive interest, in part, prompted IU Telecom’s Nicky Lewis to ask what are users’ motivations for participating and what personality traits drive the intensity of participation.
Surveying a mix of Telecom students and fantasy sports users, she found that sensation seeking, competitiveness, and Machiavellianism personality traits predicted time invested in fantasy sports. Additionally, one’s desire to win and social identification motivations mediated this relationship.
Demographics & usage trends of the typical MMA blog user
A case study
IU HYPR’s Evan Frederick presented research investigating the demographics and usage and gratification patterns of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) blog users. He explained that, despite the popularity of MMA and corresponding blogs, little if any research illuminates who uses them and how.
After surveying blog users, Evan found that most users are 20-something white males that sought blogs to gain information quickly, find in-depth coverage, and follow their favorite fighters. The primary gratifications users experienced were evaluation, community, information gathering, knowledge demonstration, and argumentation.
