Word list

Go-along walks

Are walks with a researcher, where you talk about what happens to your senses and how this affects you when you are on the walk.

You could also say where you think changes should be made, for instance to reduce noise or to make finding your way round easier. 

The walk could be your route to work. It could be a shopping trip or to somewhere else you would like to go. 

While you walk with the researcher, you talk to them about what you like or do not like on the route.

Researchers say this is a better way of understanding what people experience as people can tell them what is happening as it happens. Researchers say that in an interview people may forget things or feel unable to talk freely. Seeing things on the walk reminds people of things that are important to them. You can get this article through interlibrary loans for more information:

Kusenbach, M. (2003) Street Phenomenology: The Go-Along as Ethnographic Research Tool. Ethnography, 4: (3): 455-485.