Raw methods are sometimes required when there is not an eloquent relationship available.
? Binding
Used a lot in the Laravel Raw methods e.g.
User::whereRaw('name = ?', ['Stuart'] )->get()
Here the ? the SQL query gets replace with the String 'Stuart'
Named bindings
User::whereRaw('name = :name', [':name' => 'Stuart'] )->get()
Here the :name the SQL query gets replaced with the String 'Stuart'. Any name can be used