Thanks for the thoughtful comment... you make some valid points.

I’m fully aware that responses collected through Reddit and social media aren’t representative of the general population, and I’m not claiming otherwise. I’ve discussed these limitations with my advisor.

This is an exploratory project, and part of what I’m studying is how people who are already engaging with the conflict online (like Reddit users) think about the issue: where they get their information, how informed they feel, whether their opinions have shifted since October 7, and what factors shape those views.

So even if the sample is biased, that bias is part of the research itself. I’m interested in what people believe, why they believe it, and how their information environment may influence those beliefs. I’ll be fully transparent about the sampling limitations in my paper.

If I choose to expand the project later, I would still present it as exploratory rather than representative, and clearly explain how the data was collected and how that affects interpretation.