It's Not What You Say, It's the Way You Say It! Conversation Analysis: A Discursive Methodology for Sport, Exercise, and Physical Education

This paper seeks to extend McGannon and Mauws' (2000) discussion of discursive psychology by examining the application of conversation analysis within the field of sport, exercise, and physical education. Discursive psychology focuses on discourse and what is accomplished through people's talk. Conversation analysis can be viewed as the most micro-analytic variety of discourse analysis and is a methodology that can consider how interaction is achieved in and through talk. The tenets of conversation analysis are outlined before providing illustrative examples of how conversation analysis can be done. Specifically, the paper explores the ways in which people disagree in interactional situations. Finally, the implications of this methodology, and discursive psychology in general, will be discussed.