Matching users based on a series of questions
- by SeanWM
I'm trying to figure out a way to match users based on specific personality traits. Each trait will have its own category.
I figure in my user table I'll add a column for each category:
id name cat1 cat2 cat3
1 Sean ? ? ?
2 Other ? ? ?
Let's say I ask each user 3 questions in each category. For each question, you can answer one of the following: No, Maybe, Yes How would I calculate one number based off the answers in those 3 questions that would hold a value I can compare other users to?
I was thinking having some sort of weight. Like:
No -> 0
Maybe -> 1
Yes -> 2
Then doing some sort of meaningful calculation. I want to end up with something like this so I can query the users and find who matches close:
id name cat1 cat2 cat3
1 Sean 4 5 1
2 Other 1 2 5
In the situation above, the users don't really match. I'd want to match with someone with a +1 or -1 of my score in each category.
I'm not a math guy so I'm just looking for some ideas to get me started.
