Seating locations of sociometrically measured student types: methodological and substantive issues

Five student types—leaders, teachers' pets, academically best students, flatterers, and rejected students—were identified through sociometric consensus of their peers in 70 fifth‐grade classrooms, and their seating locations were investigated. Separate, conventional analyses for each discrete type yielded almost no systematic seating locations. Analyses of pure types — controlling for inter‐type overlap — yielded significant effects, showing that pure teachers' pets and flatterers were seated closer to the teacher; that high and moderate consensus academically best students and moderate consensus leaders were seated in the back; and that rejected students were seated on the sides of the classroom. Analyses of mixed types indicated that leadership position and academic excellence prevailed over the teachers' pet dimension in influencing seating location. An independent sample of teachers showed accuracy in projecting the seating locations of the five types. This study highlighted a situation where different methods of legitimate data analysis yielded different results. The discussion focused also on the uses of typologies and cognitive sociometry in educational research. 1993 The British Psychological Society