Dear Mona
In the blog post “Dear Mona, Does living together before marriage increase the risk of divorce” by Mona Chalabi, is a very conversational research article. Although it’s a blog post where she answers a question from a curious viewer named Dave, it sounds more like an advice column. The tone is conversational because she talks in the language of the reader and its also very informational. She gives us a lot of research about the topic while answering the question.
This post is structured in a conversational tone to keep the reader involved in the information that she’s giving. She addresses the questioner a couple of times throughout the article. The sentences are somewhat short but for the most part is a lot of information. To breakup this information she uses a picture to view for the reader and keep their attention and help clarity. The picture is a graph on the comparison between men and women the probability of a marriage staying together. The other picture is use in the beginning of the article of an elderly presumed married couple.
To me it’s written like an advise column from the beginning to the end. She begins is with the question from the view which is the remain topic of discussion.
Dear Mona,
I wonder if you would consider doing some research on marriage success rates for those who did and did not live together before tying the knot. There has been lots of work over the years, but some of it is certainly tainted with a desired outcome.
Dave, 53, New York
Then she answers by starting off with “Dear Dave” and at the end of the article Mona finishing the question to Dave with,
Hope the numbers help,
Mona
Have a question you would like answered here? Send it to dearmona@fivethirtyeight.com or @DataLab538.
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