This paper analyses the way in which a particular newspaper report constructs ‘public opinion’ based on data from small-scale qualitative research. Using as a case study a report of a focus group discussion of Clinton's grand jury testimony, we show how these data are ‘worked up’ as representative, generalisable, and valid. By capitalising on the advantages of focus group data, while attending to and countering their disadvantages, the newspaper report is able to suggest that the views of ten people in San Francisco offer an authoritative indication of public opinion about Clinton across the USA. Finally, we sketch out some of the implications of this case study in relation to the construction of facticity more generally.
本文根据小规模定性研究的数据,分析了某篇报纸报道构建 "公众舆论 "的方式。我们以一篇关于克林顿在大陪审团作证的焦点小组讨论报告为案例,展示了这些数据是如何被 "加工 "成具有代表性、普遍性和有效性的。通过利用焦点小组数据的优势,同时关注并反驳其劣势,报纸报道能够表明旧金山十个人的观点权威地反映了全美公众对克林顿的看法。最后,我们概括了本案例研究对更广泛的事实性构建的一些影响。