What you are looking for in your ideal partner, what attracts you to your date and how you expect your date to act are all questions that are regularly put to both men and women in various polls in magazines and on the Internet. The percentage of answers given to each part of the question are interesting and by reading these you can see how your dating criteria matches up with that of other single people, but are they a true reflection of what's happening in the real life dating scene?

For example, the results of an online poll revealed that the majority (44%) of people who answered the questionnaire dated with a view to finding someone to marry, and 0% said they loved being single. This suggests that despite the fact that there are professional daters out there who have no intention of ever been walked down the aisle, most single people are looking for at least a permanent relationship, some form of commitment from their partner.

But what about the 0% who love being single? Doesn't that mean that professional daters don’t love their status? Nope, that's the problem with statistical polls, especially the one that these statistics came from. Without reviewing all of the data, you have no idea whether or not any professional daters were ever polled! It could be that if the poll had asked 20 individuals each from a different kind of environment and in different stages of their lives the same questions, the percentages may be very different.

When reading polls about dating statistics always keep in mind that there is bias introduced because it's almost impossible to ensure that every "type" of dater is represented in an equal percentage to the other types. It could be that most of the people who answered the question were women, and it's generally accepted that a woman is more likely to want marriage and not want to be a life-long member of a singles club. This means that in the case of the 44% of people looking for marriage, that if these numbers included only women, or a majority of women, rather than a 50:50 mix of male/female, the statistics are stacked in favor of a "Yes" response.

The same could apply for the question regarded loving the single life – if a majority of men were asked, then the positive responses could be expected to be higher. Use polls as interesting food for thought about what other people think about issues, and see how the majority opinions match up with your own – for example the same poll as contained the questions above claims that 78% of people assume that their date is not being 100% honest with them on the date, would you agree with them, or with the 22% who do believe everything their date tells them?

Don't however accept the statistics as being a true reflection of the dating scene. Instead take a look around you and see what’s happening in the dating scene you're part of – this will give you a much rounder and current view of the dating life in your part of the world.