"[According to Berger and Bradac, 1982, there are three] basic types of strategies by which people acquire information about a stranger-target: (1) passive strategies, in which the person unobtrusively observes the target; (2) active strategies, characterized by intervention into the target-stranger’s environment in some way, including asking third parties about the target person or structuring the target’s environment in order to conduct an “experiment” in which to observe the target’s behavior; and (3) interactive strategies, in which the person directly interacts with the target-stranger, including interrogation of the target through use of questions, intentional deviation from social rules of interaction in order to observe the target’s reactions, and self-disclosure intended to evoke reciprocal disclosure from the target."

Baxter & Wilmot, 1984