Like dog, like owner? What our pooches reveal about us

February 5, 2010

Like dog, like owner? What our pooches reveal about us

February 5, 2010

Kelly Ford

Content lead, Hunch Inc.

Abstract

• This report examines the broad differences between dog owners and people who don’t own a dog, among a wide range of demograhic, personality-based and other attributes.

• The report also provides a snapshot of unique personality traits and characteristics of individuals who have a particular affinity for one of 44 popular dog breeds.

• The report draws on aggregated and anonymized data from Hunch, an online recommendation site launched in June 2009.

Key findings

• Compared to Hunch users who don’t own a dog, Hunch dog owners have distinct personality traits, life experiences, and demographic characteristics among dozens of dimensions:

• In general, they are more conservative, somewhat older, more likely to enjoy “mainstream” media, more likely to be female, live in the suburbs and have children, but less likely to have completed 4 years of college.

• Other differences include their greater affinity for sports and the outdoors, an aesthetic preference for rustic and “homey” furniture, and a greater likelihood of having both a security system and a firearm in their home.

• Among groups of Hunch users expressing an affinity for a particular breed of dog, distinct traits again surface:

• Females tend to favor terriers, dogs with long hair, and some of the smaller breeds

• Males tend to favor the hound family and retrievers

• Other correlations are less obvious and are best explored in the main report, for example:

• Chihuahua fans tend to be frequent doodlers

• German Shepherd fans tend to rely more on intuition than common sense

• Pug fans particularly enjoyed the movie The Shawshank Redemption

• West Highland Terrier (Westie) fans think the world needs more “Family Values”, while BullMastiff fans would volunteer to be Tasered “just to see what it feels like”

Introduction

Hunch is a website which uses multiple-choice questions to provide customized recommendations, whether it's what type of dog breed to choose, what kind of camera to buy, where to go on vacation, or more than 6,000 other topics.

To arrive at a customized recommendation for each user, Hunch asks both "topic-specific" questions (Do you need a hypo-allergenic dog?, How much grooming are you willing to do?) and also more general/personality-based questions (What’s your gender?,  Have you ever changed a spark plug?, What types of books do you like to read?) which are called “Teach Hunch About You” (THAY) questions.  There are more than 1,500 THAY questions in Hunch's question pool, and more than 39 million of them have been answered since Hunch's launch. THAYs help Hunch get to know each user so that decision outcomes are customized to each individual.

When Hunch proposes a recommendation, the site also allows users to provide feedback about whether they like the recommendation or not. This ‘trains’ Hunch to associate the feedback with all other questions the user answered. As a by-product of all the questions being answered on Hunch to make decisions, the response data is available for analysis in an aggregated and anonymous form. Hunch frequently creates blog entries and reports about interesting correlations using this data.

Methodology

The data in this report relies on both "THAY to THAY" correlations (which might entail exploring how dog ownership tends to vary by gender, for example, and also "THAY to RESULT" correlations (which might entail examining the correlation between someone’s age and their positive affinity for the French Bulldog breed.

Note that except for the findings in section 1, this report does not solely focus on the preferences of dog owners. It draws upon data collected about dog breed preferences from any Hunch user, regardless of whether the user also reported owning a dog or not. Thus, the study incorporates the opinions of users who perhaps used to (but no longer) have a dog, or who perhaps are considering getting a dog, or who simply know enough about dogs to express a preference for some breeds over others.

Hunch’s dog breeds topic has been ‘played’ more than 730,000 times. (A ‘play’ is defined as answering at least one qualifying question within the topic, such as: “What size of dog do you prefer?”) Hunch users have also provided more than 1 million ‘feedbacks’ for individual breeds, indicating whether they like the particular breed or not. This aggregate data is the basis of the findings in this report.

Although Hunch’s dog breeds topic includes 212 pure breeds and cross breeds, this report will focus only on 44 popular pure breds in the main analysis section. If your favorite breed isn’t included, please don’t take it personally. It’s not that we dislike your breed (or you)...it’s just that we had to stop somewhere. However, you can find interesting correlations on the Hunch site for every one of the 212 breeds. A full list of breeds (including cross breeds) is also included in the appendix.

Part 1: Differences in dog owners vs. people who don’t own a dog

More than 64,000 Hunch users have answered the following question, which yielded the response below:

So, with 32% of respondents reporting at least one dog in their household, there are plenty of dog owners in Hunch’s global audience. (As one point of general reference, the incidence of dog ownership in the United States is about 39%.)

Compared to Hunch users who don’t own a dog, Hunch dog owners are:

Core demographics

• More likely to be female

• Significantly more likely to live in a house vs. an apartment

• More likely to have a child in the household

• Less likely to have graduated from a 4 year college

• Significantly more likely to live in the suburbs

• Skew older

• Significantly more likely to have a private swimming pool in their residence

Aesthetics

• More likely to shop at Ethan Allen or Crate & Barrel

• More likley to have a kitchen with a mixture of modern and rustic attributes

• More likely to think that men should not wear speedos

• Significantly more likely to have bedroom walls that are a color other than white

• Significantly more likely to have a home styled as depicted in Southern Living magazine

Media preferences

• Tend to watch more TV everyday

• Significantly more likely to read USA today

• More likely to receive 3-4 magazines by subscription

• More likely to consider American Idol (or another country’s equivalent) a must-watch

Work, play, way of life

• Significantly more likely to drive a truck or SUV

• Significantly more likely to have had a car during high school

• Significantly less likely to use public transportation to get to work

• More likely to live near their extended family

• More likely to have a home/apartment security system

Beliefs & Values

• More likely to own a flag of their country of citizenship

• More likely to support the death penalty

• More likely to think that rap music is sending the wrong message to today’s youth

• More likely to think that Bill Clinton should have been impeached

• More likey to favor having a newborn baby formally recognized by a religious institution

Food and drink tastes

• More likely to typically cook burgers on the grill at home

• Significantly more likely to grow food to eat themselves

• More likely to drink diet/light soda

• More likely to use extra salt at restaurants

Personality

• Significantly more likely to regularly change the air filters on heating units or air conditioners

• Significantly more likely to know several of their nearest neighborhoods by name

• More likely to prefer taking a cab vs. riding a subway in a foreign country

• More likely to have a legal will

• More likely to think “those were the days” when shown a picture of ‘Cheeze Whiz’

• More likely to order room service at a hotel when there are no other dinner plans

Way of thinking

• More likely to only be able to make a restaurant reservation in one language

• Less likely to have taken calculus in high school

• Less likely to know how to say ‘truth’ in Latin

• More likely to write down step by step directions of a driving route vs. sketching a map

Interests & hobbies

• More likely to enjoy fishing

• More likely to have been a girl or boy scout

• More likely to exercise to control or lose weight

• More likely to consider themselves good swimmers

• More likely to enjoy watching sports on TV

Habits & routines

• Significantly more likely to own a firearm

• More likely to use air conditioning when it’s hot outside

• More likely to keep their shoes on most of the time while inside

• Significantly more likely to have someone else pay household bills

• Less likely to use cotton swabs for their ears

Skills & life experiences

• More likely to have had their mouths washed out with soap when a kid

• More likely to have owned an 8-track tape player

• More likely to have sued someone

• More likely to have used a fake ID to do something they weren’t legally allowed to do yet

• More likely to have been under general anaesthesia more than once

• More likely to have changed a baby’s diaper

• More likely to have fired/laid off someone else

Part 2: What our breed preferences say about us

Does our affinity for particular breeds of dogs translate into distinctive personality or other characteristics amongst ourselves? Here’s what the Hunch data says:

Breed	Demographic characteristics of people who like this breed	Personality traits & beliefs of people who like this breed	Media & other preferences among people who like this breed	“Wildcard” correlations among people who like this breed
Akita	Early career (or haven’t started career) 18-34 years old Skew female	Tend to ‘Cling to friends’ when going to a party Find McDonald’s most evil of 7 companies listed	Prefer crime dramas on TV	How many funerals or memorial services have you attended? -> 1 <explore more correlations>
Alaskan Malamute	Students Slight female skew	Common dream: being able to breathe underwater or fly	Play video games daily Like The Simpsons movie Enjoy Science Fiction/fantasty books	Have you donated to a political party in last 2 years? -> No Love “All-you-can-eat” buffets <explore more correlations>
American Pit Bull Terrier	Live in the city 18-34 years old	Find Mario Lopez attractive	More trendy than classical Get their music on MP3 players	Prefer to work with “quiet diligence” rather than public recognition <explore more correlations>
Australian Shepherd	Live in a rual area Skew older	Have blown a dandelion within the past year	Like the game show Jeopardy, but tend to get the answers wrong	Are you close to nature? -> Yes Before reaching the age of 20, they had an immediate member of their family pass away <explore more correlations>
Basset Hound	Grew up in an area that was not particularly “diverse in the types of people accepted”	Tend to be perfectionists Thrive on the energy of big cities	Favor modern living rooms with dark wood	Not very musically inclined Find gourmet dining “too fancy for my tastes” <explore more correlations>
Breed	Demographic characteristics of people who like this breed	Personality traits & beliefs of people who like this breed	Media & other preferences among people who like this breed	“Wildcard” correlations among people who like this breed
Beagle	Still a student Live in the suburbs	Like being a leader, but “not the very top” Less likely to recycle Greater tendency to be “sympathetic” vs. “fair-minded”	Enjoy reality TV shows Like Peanuts comic strip (duh!)	Favor iceberg lettuce <explore more correlations>
Bernese Mountain Dog	Greater likelihood of being female	Prefer games of strategy vs games of skill/knowledge	Like National Geographic Magazine Prefer to wear jeans	Love to hike <explore more correlations>
Bichon Frise	Strongly skew female Skew older	Thinks the world needs more “family values” Stronger aptitude for verbal concepts vs. math	Prefer Impressionist art	Admit they don’t have a good sense of direction <explore more correlations>
Bloodhound	Neither of their parents went to college Directional male skew Meeting expenses but “could always use more money”	Think that life after death is “a sure thing” Believe that the “steroid problem” in professional sports is “improving”	Would prefer a restored/vintage sports car to a new one	Don’t regularly floss Great at catching fly balls <explore more correlations>
Bulldog	20% more likely to be male Concerned about their skin care	Much more likely to be a “team contributor” than entrepreneurial When traffic light turns yellow, likely to “speed through it”	Much more likely to choose a Harley over a Vespa	Like Jerry Seinfeld <explore more correlations>
Breed	Demographic characteristics of people who like this breed	Personality traits & beliefs of people who like this breed	Media & other preferences among people who like this breed	“Wildcard” correlations among people who like this breed
Bullmastiff	Slight/directional male skew Much less likely to have completed 4 years of college	Would be willing to be Tasered something “just to see how it feels” Enjoy building things	Much more likely to prefer Jeanie to Samantha/Bewitched	Find this shirt funny <explore more correlations>
Cavalier King Charles Spaniel	Strongly skew female Skew older Tend to live in the suburbs	If they were a car, they’d be a Mini Cooper	Prefer multi-grained bread to white bread	More likely than other people to own a snow globe <explore more correlations>
Chihuahua	Strong female skew Live in the suburbs	Frequent doodlers Prefer to “hurt a significant other with the truth” than to “protect them with a lie”	Prefer USA today to The New York Times	Failed one class in either high school or college <explore more correlations>
Cocker Spaniel	Skew older and female Experienced/senior in their career Live with their spouse/partner	Don’t really like to haggle over prices Most closely identify with a BMW as a “car they would be”	Prefer the NYT to USA Today Value “artful presentation” in food they eat	Have watched the sun rise within the last year <explore more correlations>
Collie	Moderate female skew Less likely to have a full-time job	Tend to do a flossing “cram session” 2 weeks before a dental cleaning	Like Eddie Murphy Never wear jeans to work	Favor the Panda Bears at the Zoo <explore more correlations>
Breed	Demographic characteristics of people who like this breed	Personality traits & beliefs of people who like this breed	Media & other preferences among people who like this breed	“Wildcard” correlations among people who like this breed
Dachshund	Skew towards living in the city (directionally)	More inclined to be “sympathetic” than “fair-minded” More accident-prone than other people	Liked the movie “Little Miss Sunshine”	Collectors of something “smaller than a breadbox” <explore more correlations>
Dalmatian	Skew younger Breed appeals to both males and females	When time-pressed, prefer to read one article in the paper thoroughly rather than skim multiple articles Tend to be “Pro life”	Like modern art Favor the Lion exhibit at the Zoo	They know how to play chess well <explore more correlations>
Doberman Pinscher	Skew male Rent their home	Have probably sworn today, either verbally or in writing Think it’s “wimpy” to call tech support Tend to be more conservative	Enjoy “Soldier of Fortune” and NatGeo magazines Dislike “award” shows like the Oscars or Grammys Prefer Harleys to Vespas	Neither have nor want an iPhone <explore more correlations>
French Bulldog	Female skew 18-34 years old Nobody under 18 in their household	Consider themselves “generous” tippers Disagree with the phrase: “More money, more problems.” Support gay marriage	Like David Sedaris Like Andy Warhol’s art	Like the idea of living in a modern loft with cement floors and exposed steel girders <explore more correlations>
German Shepherd	Skew younger Live in the suburbs	Tendency to rely on intuition more than common sense More factual than conceptual	Strongly prefer a Harley to a Vespa	Don’t really think about matching their belt color with shoe color <explore more correlations>
Breed	Demographic characteristics of people who like this breed	Personality traits & beliefs of people who like this breed	Media & other preferences among people who like this breed	“Wildcard” correlations among people who like this breed
Golden Retriever	Liked by both males and females Somewhat more likely to live in a rural area	Like to blend in with those around them Skew conservative Believe success comes more from “steady, hard work” than taking risks Have “building family” as a life goal	Like Time Magazine Like The Onion satire site	More likely than other people to have a few magic tricks up their sleeve <explore more correlations>
Great Dane	Liked by both males and females More likely to have a job involving work outdoors (directionally)	Skew conservative Like listening to people talk about their feelings Frequently use the word “Yo”	Willing to wait for price to come down before trying new technology Enjoy opera	Failed “several” classes in high school or college <explore more correlations>
Havanese	Strongly skew female Much more likely to be 50+ years old More likely to be a “large minority” in the country where they live	Against cloning Identify with feminists Have “giving back” as a life goal	Like cilantro Like John Travolta	Dislike Sudoku <explore more correlations>
Irish Setter	Liked by both males and females 18-34 years old	Concerned about homelessness Tends to feel that the journey matters as much as the destination	Read more than 3 books each month Prefer yellow for the color of their kitchen	Say they have never cheated on a test Have attended a political protest at some time in their life <explore more correlations>
Jack Russell Terrier	Male skew 18-34 years old More likely to live in the city	Believe it’s more important to “live for today” than “plan for tomorrow” Don’t consider themselves a “morning person” Actions more likely to be guided by rational thought rather than emotion	Particularly prone to like the Beatles Play computer games at least a few times per week	Twice as likely to order still water in a bottle at a nice restaurant (instead of fizzy water or tap) <explore more correlations>
Breed	Demographic characteristics of people who like this breed	Personality traits & beliefs of people who like this breed	Media & other preferences among people who like this breed	“Wildcard” correlations among people who like this breed
Labrador Retriever	Male skew Live in the suburbs 4 year college degree	Like to be a leader, but “not the very top” Don’t consider themselves a “playa” Would like to learn to play the acoustic guitar some day	Tend to get clothes at “mid-range national chains” Enjoy live music concerts	More prone than most to like hot dogs <explore more correlations>
Maltese	Strongly skew female Rent their home Less likely to have a full-time job	Tend to want to blend in with those around them Concerned about their health	Prefer sandals as comfortable footwear Enjoy People magazine	Between 5’-0” and 5’-4” tall Tuna casserole or meatloaf would be a typical meal at home <explore more correlations>
Miniature Schnauzer	Appeal to both males and females	Tend to be religious Consider themselves “foodies” Skew towards “striking up a chat with an unknown seatmate on a plane”	Liked the movie “Best in Show”	Tend to find clowns “scary” <explore more correlations>
New-foundland	Liked by both males and females 18-34 years old	Enjoy public speaking Believe it’s more important to “live for today” than “plan for tomorrow”	Favor a wooden, country-style kitchen Enjoy award shows like the Oscars “once in a while”	Have changed many of the light bulbs in their home to CFLs <explore more correlations>
Papillon	Extremely strong female skew A favorite among high school students	Tendency to “push back” on authority when things could be done a better way Actions are guided more by “emotions” than “rational thought”	Enjoy opera Like Ellen DeGeneres	Tend to read books faster than other people do Somewhat musically inclined <explore more correlations>
Breed	Demographic characteristics of people who like this breed	Personality traits & beliefs of people who like this breed	Media & other preferences among people who like this breed	“Wildcard” correlations among people who like this breed
Pomeranian	Female skew Less likely to have a full-time job	Doodle often Like to be a leader, but “not the very top”	Like National Geographic Magazine Enjoy Talk Shows	Before reaching the age of 20, they had an immediate member of their family pass away <explore more correlations>
Poodles	Female skew Skew towards living in a major city	Identify most closely with a Mini Cooper as a “car they would be” Skew liberal	Prefer the NYT to USA Today Like sushi	Have written poetry (other than for a school assignment) Generally feel well-rested in the morning <explore more correlations>
Portuguese Water Dog	Skew female Well educated	Against the death penalty Particularly value jobs which are intellectual challenging Believe that art can change the world	Like to wear boots More likely than others to use RSS feeds to get their news	Their parents spent significant time reading to them when they were young <explore more correlations>
Pug	Liked by both males and females Live in the suburbs	Somewhat skew conservative Believe that “childhood is to be enjoyed” and life lessons can come later Would prefer to live a natural life span than to live forever	Liked The Shawshank Redemption Prefer USA Today to The New York Times	Value a restaurant with a good wine list Would consider a sub-orbital space trip if the price fell to $10K/ticket <explore more correlations>
Rottweiler	Moderate male skew Have moved many times in their life	Prefer jobs where they can move around a lot Don’t consider themselves “persnickety” Don’t believe in feng shui	Prefer to wear tennis shoes Like National Geographic magazine	Less likely than others to have ever been under general anaesthesia <explore more correlations>
Breed	Demographic characteristics of people who like this breed	Personality traits & beliefs of people who like this breed	Media & other preferences among people who like this breed	“Wildcard” correlations among people who like this breed
Saint Bernard	Appeal to both males and females Live in the suburbs	More a “PC Person” than a “Mac Person” Concerned about the environment “Witty” sense of humor	Prefer a Harley to a Vespa Liked the movie “Something About Mary”	Can read music <explore more correlations>
Scottish Terrier	Slight female skew Money is a bit tight Less likely to have a full-time job	When the traffic light turns yellow, more likely to “brake quickly” Prefer to work alone rather than in a group	Prefer to read contemporary fiction books Watch more TV than others	Enjoy crossword puzzles <explore more correlations>
Shetland Sheepdog	Female skew Live in the suburbs	Tend to “push back” on authority when things could be done a better way Tendency to be afraid of heights	Favor impressionist art Dislike “raunchy” humor	Neither want nor have an iPhone Tend to perform well on standardized tests <explore more correlations>
Shiba Inu	Liked by both males and females Live with adults in the household (but not spouse/partner)	Concerned about the environment Not an early adopter of technology	Prefer the NYT to USA Today Occasionally wear “form-hugging”clothing	Knows a few magic tricks <explore more correlations>
Siberian Husky	18-34 years old Rent their home	Don’t yet consider themselves a success “Goofy” sense of humor Tendency to feel others misunderstand them	Like science fiction books Watch a lot of TV Find this poster “Inspirational”	Tend not to feel well-rested in the morning <explore more correlations>
Breed	Demographic characteristics of people who like this breed	Personality traits & beliefs of people who like this breed	Media & other preferences among people who like this breed	“Wildcard” correlations among people who like this breed
Welsh Springer Spaniel	Strong female skew Early in their career	Skew liberal Prefer jobs and tasks which are “well-defined and structured” More inclined to be fair-minded than sympathetic	Elle Decor reflects the style of their home Prefer milk chocolate to dark chocolate	Identify with Bill Maher <explore more correlations>
West Highland Terrier	Strong female skew Less likely to have a full-time job	Tend to prefer to follow rather than lead Think the world needs more Family Values	Likely to have a pair of shoes by Steve Madden, Aldo, or Nine West	They tend to overpack on trips <explore more correlations>
Wheaten Terrier	Moderate female skew Skew somewhat older	Don’t like to haggle over prices Skew liberal More likely to be “fair to others” than “nice to others”	Liked the movie “Little Miss Sunshine”	Have toured a winery Like the Toyota Prius <explore more correlations>
Yorkshire Terrier	Female skew More likely to live in a major city	More likely to be risk-averse Have “giving back” as a life goal	Like Andy Warhol’s art	Frequently buy fresh, cut flowers for their home <explore more correlations>

Summary, conclusions, and some food for further thought

• Compared to Hunch users who don’t own a dog, Hunch dog owners have distinct personality traits, life experiences, and demographic characteristics among dozens of dimensions:

• In general, they are more conservative, somewhat older, more likely to enjoy “mainstream” media, more likely to be female, live in the suburbs and have children, but less likely to have completed 4 years of college.

• Other differences include their greater affinity for sports and the outdoors, an aesthetic preference for rustic and “homey” furniture, and a greater likelihood of having both a security system and a firearm in their home.

• Among groups of Hunch users expressing an affinity for a particular breed of dog, distinct traits again surface among hundreds of different dimensions.

• Is the primary underlying reason for this clustering based on people consciously favoring breeds having perceived behavioral or other similarities to themselves? Or perhaps people tend to favor breeds that are already popular among other people they closely relate to, thus reinforcing both the human cluster’s common characteristics and its affinity for a particular breed. We’ll leave these questions open for further discussion and debate.

Appendix

Full list of dog breeds on Hunch (links lead to a correlations page for each breed)

Affenpinscher	Afghan Hound	Airedale Terrier
AiredaleTerrier x Labrador Retriever = Lab'Aire	Akita Inu	Alaskan Malamute
American Bulldog	American Eskimo Dog	American Foxhound
American Pit Bull Terrier	American Staffordshire Terrier	American Water Spaniel
Anatolian Shepherd Dog	Askal	Australian Cattle Dog
Australian Shepherd	Australian Shepherd x Golden Retriever = Australian Retriever	Australian Terrier
Basenji	Basset Hound	Beagle
Beagle + Husky = Heagle	Beagle x French Bulldog = Frengle	Beagle x Pug = Puggle
Bearded Collie	Bedlington Terrier	Belgian Malinois
Belgian Sheepdog	Belgian Tervuren	Bernese Mountain Dog
Bernese Mountain Dog x Mastiff = Mountain Mastiff	Bichon Frise	Bichon Frise x Brussels Griffon = Griffichon
Bichon Frise x Dachshund = Doxie-Chon	Black And Tan Coonhound	Black Mouth Cur
Black Russian Terrier	Bloodhound	Border Collie
Border Collie x Labrador Retriever = Borador	Border Terrier	Borzoi
Boston Terrier	Boston Terrier x Cocker Spaniel = Boston Spaniel	Bouvier Des Flandres
Boxer	Boxer x kangal	Boxer x Weimaraner = Boweimar
Briard	Brittany	Brussels Griffon
Bull Terrier	Bulldog	Bullmastiff
Cairn Terrier	Canaan Dog	Cardigan Welsh Corgi
Cavachon	Cavalier King Charles Spaniel	Cavalier King Charles Spaniel x Havanese = Cavanese
Cavalier King Charles x Maltese = Cav-A-Malt	Chesapeake Bay Retriever	Chihuahua
Chinese Crested	Chinese Shar-Pei	Chiweenie
Chow Chow	Chug	Clumber Spaniel
Cockapoo	Cocker Spaniel
Collie	Coton de Tulear	Curly-Coated Retriever
Dachshund	Dalmatian	Dandie Dinmont Terrier
Doberman Pinscher	Dogue de Bordeaux	English Cocker Spaniel
English Foxhound	English Pointer	English Setter
English Springer Spaniel	English Toy Spaniel	Field Spaniel
Finnish Spitz	Flat-Coated Retriever	French Bulldog
German Pinscher	German Shepherd	German Shorthaired Pointer
German Wirehaired Pointer	Giant Schnauzer	Glen Of Imaal Terrier
Golden Mountain Dog	Golden Retriever	Golden Retriever x Great Pyrenees = Golden Pyrenees
Golden Retriever x Labrador Retriever = Golden Labrador	Golden Retriever x Soft Coated Wheaten = Soft Coated Golden	Goldendoodle
Gordon Setter	Great Dane	Great Pyrenees
Greater Swiss Mountain Dog	Greyhound	Harrier
Havanese	Havanese x Miniature Schnauzer = Schnese	Havanese x Pomeranian = Ewokian
Husky	Ibizan Hound	Irish Setter
Irish Terrier	Irish Water Spaniel	Irish Wolfhound
Italian Greyhound	Jack Russell Terrier	Jamthund
Japanese Chin	Japanese Chin x Yorkshire Terrier = Jarkie	Jindo
Keeshond	Kerry Blue Terrier	Komondor
Kuvasz	Labradoodle	Labrador Retriever
Labrador Retriever x Poodle = Labradoodle	Lakeland Terrier	Lhasa Apso
Louisiana Catahoula Leopard Dog (Catahoula Cur)	Lowchen	Maltese
Manchester Terrier	Mastiff	Mastiff x Rottweiler = English Mastweiler
Mexican Hairless Dog	Miniature Australian Shepherd	Miniature Bull Terrier
Miniature Pinscher	Miniature Schnauzer	Morkie
Neapolitan Mastiff	Newfoundland	Norfolk Terrier
Norwegian Elkhound	Norwegian Lundehund	Norwich Terrier
Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever	Old English Sheepdog	Olde Bulldog x Pug = Miniature Bulldog
Otterhound	Papillon	Parson Russell
Pekingese	Pembroke Welsh Corgi	Petit Basset Griffon Vendeen
Pharaoh Hound	Plott	Pointer
Polish Lowland Sheepdog	Pomeranian	Poodle
Portuguese Water Dog	Pug	Puli
Rat Terrier	Rhodesian Ridgeback	Rottweiler
Saint Bernard	Saluki	Samoyed
Schipperke	Schnoodle	Scottish Deerhound
Scottish Terrier	Sealyham Terrier	Shetland Sheepdog
Shiba Inu	Shih Tzu	Siberian Husky
Silky Terrier	Skye Terrier	Smooth Fox Terrier
Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier	Spanish Mastiff	Spanish Water Dog
Spinone Italiano	Staffordshire Bull Terrier	Standard Schnauzer
Sussex Spaniel	Tibetan Mastiff	Tibetan Spaniel
Tibetan Terrier	Toy Fox Terrier	Treeing Walker Coonhound
Victorian Bulldog	Vizsla	Weimaraner
Welsh Springer Spaniel	Welsh Terrier	West Highland White Terrier
Whippet	White English Bulldog	Wire Fox Terrier
Wirehaired Pointing Griffon	Wolfhound	Yorkshire Terrier
Your local, lovable mutt

How Hunch Works

Using Hunch, Mary gets a recommendation (in this example, about cookbooks) and also answers some THAY questions.

Hunch learns:

• Whether Mary likes each proposed recommendation

• How Mary’s THAY answers correlate with her recommendation feedback

Understanding the supporting graphs in this report

Most observations in the primary data table provide a link to a supporting graph in one of two formats. The following explains how to interpret each respective graph’s information.

A “THAY to THAY” cross-tabulation graph:

A “THAY to Result” cross-tabulation graph:

When Hunch users ‘play’ a specific topic to arrive at a decision, they can also rate the result which is proposed to them. This aggregate feedback can then be compared to other results or THAY questions on Hunch to explore correlations.

Methodology and disclaimers

Hunch was publicly launched in June 2009 and since then millions of people have used the site.  More than 38 million THAY ("Teach Hunch About You") questions have been answered since that time. The motivation for people to answer Hunch questions is simply to receive better and more customized recommendations. For example, for the decision "Which magazine would I like?", Hunch would suggest a different answer to a "suburban working mom" than to a "college student in an urban area."

Hunch's THAY questions are designed to be engaging, innocuous and fun, and they are interspersed throughout the site so that they can be answered at a user's leisure.  Questions are not grouped by any sort of theme; a common sequence of 3 might include: "How old are you?", "Can you juggle?", and "What's your opinion of stem cell research?"  As a result, the Hunch team has found that users enjoy answering the questions and do so honestly and consistently.  There is little reason to answer dishonestly or attempt to "game" the system, since answers are solely designed to help the user get better recommendations. This research data is a by-product of Hunch's core business and mission, which is to provide smart recommendations to users.  (a similar analogy might be the way search engines release data on popular searches.  That data is a by-product of their core mission to help people find what they are looking for online).

Summary findings in this report are generally noted only when there is a statistically significant difference in the answers of the two subsets being compared.  Links are always provided to graph data, which also includes the sample size used for the question and error ranges based on a 95% statistical confidence level.  Ocasionally, observations include qualifiers like "directionally", which indicate that an outcome is trending towards a direction, but that the absolute number remains within the margin of error range.

Hunch strives to uncover insights which are interesting, provocative, and which will stimulate discussion and debate. Hunch does not endorse or favor particular ideological points of view, and the contents of Hunch reports do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Hunch as an entity or its staff or directors.

It should be noted that Hunch is not a professional research organization and this data was not collected in a perfectly controlled way. For example, Hunch data is based on 1) a group of individuals who are by definition all users of the Hunch website; these users are likely more internet-savvy than the general population, more open to new technologies, and more interested in social media.  The group, while large at millions of users, has not been weighted to reflect actual demographic segmentation, and is not necessarily representative of general populations.  2) Questions on Hunch are voluntarily answered by users who choose to answer them, and any question can be selectively skipped.  Therefore it's possible that those users who skipped a question might have different views than those who chose to answer a question. 

This and other Hunch reports are available in HTML and pdf formats at www.hunch.com/info/reports.