Toward Ethical Cyberspace Audience Research: Strategies for Using the Internet for Television Audience Studies

This article examines the possibilities for qualitative audience study afforded by the Internet, carefully detailing both the benefits and dangers o f such research. In answer to methodological issues resulting from online communication with subjects, the essay calls for the application o f various feminist and anthropological methodological practices, and considers methodological dilemmas related to perceived privacy, natural data and lurking, informed consent procedures, balancing anonymity, and data accessibility. In the course o f outlining methodological considerations especially salient when finding audiences through Internet spaces, we reflect on our own dilemmas in designing studies that meet the ethical standards of feminist methodology.