Chapter 3: Researching the Relational: Methods and Frameworks

The previous chapters situated the book within existing research on QAnon, showing how scholarship has primarily examined belief formation, digital media ecologies, and political mobilisation while giving limited attention to the relational and emotional consequences of conspiratorial belief. Building on that foundation, this chapter turns from what QAnon is to what it does by laying out the methodological, epistemological, and theoretical ground through which we analyse its impact on families and intimate relationships.

The chapter unfolds in three main parts. First, it establishes our methodological and epistemological orientation, explaining how a qualitative, abductive, and interpretive approach allows us to trace the narrated experiences of SNCs. We outline why we treat Reddit posts not as transparent accounts of ‘reality’ but as cultural artefacts that reveal how meaning, emotion, and moral order are negotiated within digital spaces.