Editing Lurker (section)

==Methods used to study lurkers==
Because of the nature of the lurker, they can be hard to study.<ref name=golder04>{{cite journal |author1=Golder, S. A. |author2=Donath, J. | year =2004 | title = Social roles in electronic communities | journal = Internet Research | volume=5 | pages = 19–22}}</ref> They do not leave visible traces and it is often difficult to address them directly. To study lurkers, often Internet communities such as email-based discussion lists, public forums, and community building tools will be targeted so communication can be tracked more easily.<ref name=tan11 />
Methods of studying lurkers include logging, questionnaires, interviews, observation, ethnography, and content and discourse analysis.<ref name=nonnecke00a /> Logging is a good tool for studying the number of lurkers in a community. It is easy to compare the number of lurkers between communities. Researchers can also collect information on the number of messages, the size of messages, the message content, and message threading. Questionnaires in contrast are better for asking the why and how of lurkers. There is less likely to be a response though because of the nature of lurkers and those that do respond may be a biased sample. Interviews are a good way to gain an understanding of the problem space. Interviews can also be used to answer the question of why and how lurkers lurk. The sampling must be done carefully or there could be a response bias. Observation is a good way to understand the context within the community. This method can be very intrusive though. If the observation is just on the community in general than no information may be gained about the lurkers because they are not visible. By observing a lurker, the tools and methods by which they lurk can be understood. Ethnography is better for understanding a single community but not multiple communities. It again is good for understanding the reasons and activities of lurking. Content and discourse analysis is a good tool to understand the interactions within a community. Since many lurkers do not publicly interact, this tool is better to use when understanding de-lurking.