The Murchinson reading showed the value of a more specific research question as incredibly general topics make it hard to generate meaningful research. A more specific research question can also help guide methodology, as being more specific can make it easier to know the information one is looking for in interviews and field studies.
For that reason, I am trying to make my research idea relatively specific, so I began thinking of online groups that were more narrow than conservative, liberal, or leftist but still have a decent number of followers. I have not decided on one for certain but one idea I had was studying online “Breadtuber” fanbases(Breadtubers are left-leaning internet content creators that have received both praises for deradicalization and criticism for a lack of diversity and in some cases platforming ) which would focus on trying to see if communities were inclusive and/or how much the communities focus is on the personalities of “Bread tube” compared to actual ideology. Most personalities appear to have subreddits and/or other fan forums where their community could be found, but potential struggles will be deciding which people/communities best represent bread tube and a potential sampling bias of people in forums as opposed to regular viewers that interact less.
The other two ideas are the online anti-work/work reform movement that recently had its image stained by a moderator of the subreddit that was the main platform had a poor interview on Fox News. A potential research question here would concern getting a more overall picture of the motivations and makeup of the movement. One movement I am still considering but will most likely not go with is antinatalism, which advocates strongly against childbirth as they believe it is unethical to bring someone into a world with the potential of that person suffering. I consider this group to be interesting and have thought of some research questions, but the largest antinatalist group I could find was the subreddit which is known to ban users who don’t explicitly agree with antinatalism, which makes it risky to try to interact with the community while being value-neutral.
I am still working on narrowing down potential questions and am not committed to the three options I mentioned