The Yin and Yang of U.S. Image: Using Focus Groups to Understand Anti-U.S. Attitudes in Italy

Quantitative surveys conducted over the past decades have shown that west Europeans, and Italians in particular, tend to hold generally favorable attitudes toward the United States. Even casual observation of the domestic media, however, reveals equally consistent critical attitudes toward the U.S....

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Janice Bell
Format: Article
Language:deu
Published: FQS 2004-05-01
Series:Forum: Qualitative Social Research
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/article/view/590
_version_ 1818141686180610048
author Janice Bell
author_facet Janice Bell
author_sort Janice Bell
collection DOAJ
description Quantitative surveys conducted over the past decades have shown that west Europeans, and Italians in particular, tend to hold generally favorable attitudes toward the United States. Even casual observation of the domestic media, however, reveals equally consistent critical attitudes toward the U.S. Especially now that public debate over the future of the transatlantic alliance has become more pronounced, it has become necessary to look under the surface and investigate Europeans' attitudes toward the U.S. This paper presents one piece of a larger project: in April 2002, focus groups were conducted among Italian adults selected for their negative opinions of the U.S. This paper discusses the design of these focus groups, how they were carried out, and some key findings. It argues for the usefulness of this less-common use of focus groups, to give depth and perspective to long-established quantitative trends. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0402249
first_indexed 2024-12-11T11:03:49Z
format Article
id doaj.art-954df84d316f4514b1d8763d682f7eda
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 1438-5627
language deu
last_indexed 2024-12-11T11:03:49Z
publishDate 2004-05-01
publisher FQS
record_format Article
series Forum: Qualitative Social Research
spelling doaj.art-954df84d316f4514b1d8763d682f7eda2022-12-22T01:09:47ZdeuFQSForum: Qualitative Social Research1438-56272004-05-0152577The Yin and Yang of U.S. Image: Using Focus Groups to Understand Anti-U.S. Attitudes in ItalyJanice Bell0Ipsos-Public AffairQuantitative surveys conducted over the past decades have shown that west Europeans, and Italians in particular, tend to hold generally favorable attitudes toward the United States. Even casual observation of the domestic media, however, reveals equally consistent critical attitudes toward the U.S. Especially now that public debate over the future of the transatlantic alliance has become more pronounced, it has become necessary to look under the surface and investigate Europeans' attitudes toward the U.S. This paper presents one piece of a larger project: in April 2002, focus groups were conducted among Italian adults selected for their negative opinions of the U.S. This paper discusses the design of these focus groups, how they were carried out, and some key findings. It argues for the usefulness of this less-common use of focus groups, to give depth and perspective to long-established quantitative trends. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0402249http://www.qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/article/view/590focus groupsItalyU.S. Image
spellingShingle Janice Bell
The Yin and Yang of U.S. Image: Using Focus Groups to Understand Anti-U.S. Attitudes in Italy
Forum: Qualitative Social Research
focus groups
Italy
U.S. Image
title The Yin and Yang of U.S. Image: Using Focus Groups to Understand Anti-U.S. Attitudes in Italy
title_full The Yin and Yang of U.S. Image: Using Focus Groups to Understand Anti-U.S. Attitudes in Italy
title_fullStr The Yin and Yang of U.S. Image: Using Focus Groups to Understand Anti-U.S. Attitudes in Italy
title_full_unstemmed The Yin and Yang of U.S. Image: Using Focus Groups to Understand Anti-U.S. Attitudes in Italy
title_short The Yin and Yang of U.S. Image: Using Focus Groups to Understand Anti-U.S. Attitudes in Italy
title_sort yin and yang of u s image using focus groups to understand anti u s attitudes in italy
topic focus groups
Italy
U.S. Image
url http://www.qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/article/view/590
work_keys_str_mv AT janicebell theyinandyangofusimageusingfocusgroupstounderstandantiusattitudesinitaly
AT janicebell yinandyangofusimageusingfocusgroupstounderstandantiusattitudesinitaly