Some time ago I answered a survey about Second Life ( I got my first L$300 because of that) and now Prof. Marc Fetscherin, from Rollins College, and Prof. Lattemann, from Potsdam University, published the study.
Although I do not agree with the first figure that shows the evolution of Web like:
1995 - 2000 - Web 1.0 - Website, Text, Flash
2000 - 2005 - Web 2.0 - Weblog, Wikis, Podcast, RSS Feeds
2005 - 2010 (…) - Web 3.0 - Virtual Worlds, 3D Portals, Avatars, MUVE’s, Integrated Games, Social Computing
because if we think a little we will see that virtual worlds already existed many years before 2005, I found the empyrical study very interesting.
90% of respondents have less than a year experience on Second Life. 70% access Second Life from home, 54% with a desktop. 67% of respondents are not afraid of giving personal information. Almost 60% are very likely to buy virtual goods from Second Life, and 42% are willing to use their credit card. 70% perceive Second Life to improve collaboration, 69% it improves communication, and 61% it improves cooperation between people. 56% of respondents perceive Second Life as easy to use. [1]
But the conclusion that got my eye was:
“People are using Second Life not to change their identity, but rather to explore and visit new places and meet people” [2]
Of course we have to see this report with caution (almost 250 respondents from witch 29% with a PhD degree), but it is very interesting to find out that people are using Second Life not to change their identity. Some time ago, I read a story about a couple in Second Life that have there a house exactly as they have in Real Life and for some time I was thinking that the main interest on Second Life will be to know about places and to cooperate and collaborate with other people, rather than create a whole new life. After all, one is enough, right? 
[1] page 12 of the study
[2] page 18 of the study
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