Researcher–participant positioning in classroom research

Now that the discursive practices of students and teachers consume the attention of many classroom researchers, it is timely to consider the interrelationships between researchers and their participants or "subjects." Positioning theory gives prominence to the position/speech-act/storyline triad in conversations. While positioning theory has informed several poststucturalist scholars in a variety of settings, the authors are unaware of other studies where the positions/positioning of researcher and participants have become the focus of investigation. In this article the authors demonstrate how the application of positioning theory can be helpful in understanding conversations between researchers and their research participants, particularly in interviews. Also, they discuss the issues of power relations, subjectivities, validity, and ethics as they relate to the research relationships identified in the study.