Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Walking Interviews

  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:
Handbook of Research Methods in Health Social Sciences

Abstract

Walking interviews or “go-alongs” are an innovative qualitative research method which has recently gained popularity among cross-disciplinary researchers. Walking interviews entail researchers and participants talking while walking together. Informed by “the new mobilities paradigm” and “the spatial turn” within the social sciences, this method has been employed in various settings and with participants of all ages. Walking interviews are a valuable means of deepening understandings of lived experiences in particular places. The rich, detailed, and multisensory data generated by walking interviews demonstrates that they are a valuable, valid, feasible, and empowering means of conducting qualitative inquiry. They can also be employed concurrently with other qualitative methods such as in-depth interviews and ethnographic observation. The use of walking interviews in health research, with its potential to capture the lived experiences of health and illness, has so far been relatively limited. This chapter introduces the reader to the walking interview method, provides practical guidance for its use, outlines epistemological, ethical, and practical considerations for researchers, and canvasses its varied applications for qualitative health research.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 649.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 849.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Anderson J, Jones K. The difference that place makes to methodology: uncovering the ‘lived space’ of young people’s spatial practices. Child Geogr. 2009;7(3):291–303.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bergeron J, Paquette S, Poullaouec-Gonidec P. Uncovering landscape values and micro-geographies of meanings with the go-along method. Landsc Urban Plan. 2014;122:108–21.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown L, Durrheim K. Different kinds of knowing: generating qualitative data through mobile interviewing. Qual Inq. 2009;15(5):911–30.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Büscher M, Urry J. Mobile methods and the empirical. Eur J Soc Theory. 2009;12(1):99–116.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carpiano RM. Come take a walk with me: the “go-along” interview as a novel method for studying the implications of place for health and well-being. Health Place. 2009;15(1):263–72.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Casey ES. How to get from space to place in a fairly short stretch of time: phenomenological prolegomena. In: Basso KH, Feld S, editors. Senses of place. Sante Fe: School of American Research Press; 1996. p. 13–52.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark A, Emmel N. Realities toolkit #13: using walking interviews. Manchester: ESRC National Centre for Research Methods, University of Manchester; 2010.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cresswell T. Mobilities II: still. Prog Hum Geogr. 2012;36(5):645–53.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • De Leon JP, Cohen JH. Object and walking probes in ethnographic interviewing. Field Methods. 2005;17(2):200–4.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Edensor T. Walking in rhythms: place, regulation, style and the flow of experience. Vis Stud. 2010;25(1):69–79.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ehrlich G. Islands, the universe, home. New York: Penguin Books; 1992.

    Google Scholar 

  • Evans J, Jones P. The walking interview: methodology, mobility and place. Appl Geogr. 2011;31(2):849–58.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Garcia CM, Eisenberg ME, Frerich EA, Lechner KE, Lust K. Conducting go-along interviews to understand context and promote health. Qual Health Res. 2012;22(10):1395–403.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grbich C. Qualitative research in health: an introduction. St Leonards: Allen & Unwin; 1999.

    Google Scholar 

  • Green J, Thorogood N. Qualitative methods for health research. 3rd ed. London: SAGE; 2014.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hall T, Coffey A, Lashua B. Steps and stages: rethinking transitions in youth and place. J Youth Stud. 2009;12(5):547–61.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hitchings R, Jones V. Living with plants and the exploration of botanical encounter within human geographic research practice. Ethics Place Environ. 2004;7(1–2):3–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holton M, Riley M. Talking on the move: place-based interviewing with undergraduate students. Area. 2014;46(1):59–65.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Horton J, Christensen P, Kraftl P, Hadfield-Hill S. ‘Walking … just walking’: how children and young people’s everyday pedestrian practices matter. Soc Cult Geogr. 2013;15(1):94–115.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ingold T, Vergunst JL. Introduction. In: Ingold T, Vergunst JL, editors. Ways of walking: ethnography and practice on foot. Aldershot: Ashgate; 2008. p. 1–19.

    Google Scholar 

  • Irving A. Dangerous substances and visible evidence: tears, blood, alcohol, pills. Vis Stud. 2010;25(1):24–35.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jackson M, editor. Things as they are: new directions in phenomenological anthropology. Bloomington: Indiana University Press; 1996.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jirón P. On becoming ‘la sombra/the shadow’. In: Buscher M, Urry J, Witchger K, editors. Mobile methods. Hoboken: Taylor & Francis; 2010. p. 36–53.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jones P, Evans J. Rescue geography: place making, affect and regeneration. Urban Stud. 2011;49(11):2315–30.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jones P, Bunce G, Evans J, Gibbs H, Ricketts Hein J. Research design: exploring space and place with walking interviews. J Res Pract. 2008;4(2):1–9.

    Google Scholar 

  • King AC. Food security and insecurity in older adults: a phenomenological ethnographic study. Unpublished Doctor of Philosophy thesis (Rural Health), University of Tasmania, Hobart. 2014.

    Google Scholar 

  • King AC, Orpin P, Woodroffe J, Boyer K. Eating and ageing in rural Australia: applying temporal perspectives from phenomenology to uncover meanings in older adults’ experiences. Ageing Soc FirstView. 2015;1–24. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0144686X15001440.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kusenbach M. Street phenomenology: the go-along as ethnographic research tool. Ethnography. 2003;4(3):455–85.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kusenbach M. Mobile methods. In: Delamont S, editor. Handbook of qualitative research in education. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing; 2012. p. 252–64.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee J, Ingold T. Fieldwork on foot: perceiving, routing, socialising. In: Coleman SM, Collins P, editors. Locating the field: space, place and context in anthropology. Oxford: Berg; 2006. p. 67–85.

    Google Scholar 

  • Liamputtong P. Researching the vulnerable: a guide to sensitive research methods. London: SAGE; 2007.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Liamputtong P. Qualitative research methods. 4th ed. Melbourne: Oxford University Press; 2013.

    Google Scholar 

  • Liamputtong P. Qualitative research and evidence-based practice in public health. In: Liamputtong P, editor. Public health: local and global perspectives. South Melbourne: Cambridge University Press; 2016. p. 171–87.

    Google Scholar 

  • Liamputtong P, editor. Research methods in health: foundations for evidence based practice. 3rd ed. Melbourne: Oxford University Press; 2017.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lorimer H. Walking: new forms and space for studies of pedestrianism. In: Cresswell T, Merriman P, editors. Geographies of mobilities: practices, space, subjects. Farnham: Ashgate Publishing Ltd.; 2011. p. 19–33.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mason J. Qualitative researching. 2nd ed. London: SAGE; 2002.

    Google Scholar 

  • Merriman P. Rethinking mobile methods. Mobilities. 2014;9(2):167–87.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moles K. A walk in thirdspace: place, methods and walking. Sociol Res Online. 2008;13(4):2. Retrieved from http://www.socresonline.org.uk/13/4/2.html.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Murray SA, Kendall M, Carduff E, Worth A, Harris FM, Lloyd A, … Sheikh A. Use of serial qualitative interviews to understand patients’ evolving experiences and needs. Br Med J. 2009;339:b3702. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.b3702.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nettleton S. The sociology of health and illness. 3rd ed. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press; 2013.

    Google Scholar 

  • Peyrefitte M. Ways of seeing, ways of being and ways of knowing in the inner-city: exploring sense of place through visual tours. Sociol Res Online. 2012;17(4):11. Retrieved from http://www.socresonline.org.uk/17/4/11.html.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pink S. Walking with video. Vis Stud. 2007;22(3):240–52.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Poole R. Kierkegaard: the indirect communication. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press; 1993.

    Google Scholar 

  • Renard J. The journal of Jules Renard. Edited and translated by Louise Bogan and Elizabeth Roget. Portland: Tin House Books; 2008.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ricketts Hein J, Evans J, Jones P. Mobile methodologies: theory, technology and practice. Geogr Compass. 2008;2(5):1266–85.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Riley M. Emplacing the research encounter: exploring farm life histories. Qual Inq. 2010;16(8): 651–62.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rose G, Degen M, Basdas B. More on ‘big things’: building events and feelings. Trans Inst Br Geogr. 2010;35(3):334–49.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ross NJ, Renold E, Holland S, Hillman A. Moving stories: using mobile methods to explore the everyday lives of young people in public care. Qual Res. 2009;9(5):605–23.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sheller M. The new mobilities paradigm for a live sociology. Curr Sociol. 2014;62(6):789–811.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Solnit R. Wanderlust: a history of walking. New York: Penguin; 2001.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spinney J. Close encounters? Mobile methods, (post) phenomenology and affect. Cult Geogr. 2014;22(2):231–46.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stroud C, Jegels D. Semiotic landscapes and mobile narrations of place: performing the local. Int J Sociol Lang. 2014;2014(228):179–99.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thoreau HD. Thoreau: a writer’s journal. Selected and edited by Laurence Stapleton. Mineola: Dover Publications; 1960.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thrift N. Non-representational theory: space, politics, affect. Abingdon: Routledge; 2008.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vergunst J. Rhythms of walking: history and presence in a city street. Space Cult. 2010;13(4): 376–88.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Rural Clinical School, Faculty of Health, University of Tasmania, Burnie, Tasmania, Australia

    Alexandra C. King

  2. School of Pharmacy, Faculty of Health, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

    Alexandra C. King

  3. Access, Participation, and Partnerships, Academic Division, University of Tasmania, Launceston, Australia

    Jessica Woodroffe

Authors
  1. Alexandra C. King
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jessica Woodroffe
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alexandra C. King .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Science and Health, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW, Australia

    Pranee Liamputtong

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

King, A.C., Woodroffe, J. (2019). Walking Interviews. In: Liamputtong, P. (eds) Handbook of Research Methods in Health Social Sciences. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-5251-4_28

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation