The Walking Interview: An Ethnographic Approach to Understanding Disability

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to describe a method of interviewing where walking is explicitly the focus. The interviews were one element of a qualitative study, which was part of a multi-method prospective outcomes of injury study. Four participants were purposively chosen for follow up because they had an injury following a pre-existing disability. The results of this study indicate walking as a method of interviewing has the capacity to add depth and richness to the kind of information obtained. The process of walking lends itself a range of affordances, including shifting the power balance implicit in the research relationship; situated cognition describing being in place and time; performativity; and the way that the disabled body is rendered visible through this embodied process. In conclusion, the potential for engaging in activity as a method has not been explored outside of ethnography. It is suggested that this form of interviewing has particular resonance in understanding the world view of people with disability. It is a particularly appropriate method to apply in occupational therapy, which has activity as a prime focus of therapeutic engagement.