Publicly mediated opinion.

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Public opinion has been defined along a continuum from an individual attitude or feeling to a monolithic entity encompassing an entire nation. The present research proposes a definition of public opinion that places it between the micro (individual) world and the macro (public) world. This definition identifies public opinion as that aspect of an individual's opinion that she is willing to state and defend in a public setting. This research proposes the Publicly Mediated Opinion (PMO) model for breaking apart the public and private aspects of individual opinion for the purpose of improving the predictive ability of public opinion research.
This model proposes that public and private opinion differ along a number of dimensions, and that public discussion of opinion shapes and crystallizes those opinions, as well as distinguishes them from private opinions.
To test this model, the researcher combines qualitative and quantitative measures of opinion in a quasi-experiment. This experiment uses before and after surveys of focus groups participants, participant observations of public forum discussants, and a general public survey to explore the dimensions of public opinion and test hypotheses about the role and function of public discussion on opinion formation and expression. Results showed that public opinion differs in important and meaningful ways from private opinion. Mixed results were found concerning the role and importance of the public discussion of opinions in the formation of those opinions. Implications of these results include refinements to public opinion polling measures to increase the value of polling for predicting political behavior. Results underscore the importance of looking beyond simple confidential telephone interviews for determining the political consequences and potential for political action inherent in publicly mediated and expressed opinions.