Centre for International Research on Care, Labour and Equalities (CIRCLE), Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK.
Department of Sociological Studies, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK.
Gerontologist. 2022 Jul 15;62(6):832-841. doi: 10.1093/geront/gnab152.
Walking interviews have become prevalent in social sciences; however, their use in research with older people is limited. This article offers a reflexive account of our ethical and methodological choices and practices while conducting walking interviews with older migrants, and considers the potential of this method in researching migrants' aging in place.
The study had a longitudinal, multisited (London and Yorkshire), qualitatively driven multimethod research design. In 2018-2019, in-depth interviews were conducted with 45 older migrants originally from the Caribbean, Ireland, and Poland, followed by walking interviews with a subsample of 9 participants 6-12 months later. The majority of participants were older than 80 years.
Our study demonstrated that walking interviews are a promising method to explore in depth a variety of relevant issues including older migrants' mobility, and health and well-being; navigating places through everyday activities; interactions with local neighborhoods over time; and the meanings associated with such experiences. Through direct exposure to the physicality of places, walking interviews can elicit rich and complex data that would be difficult to collect through other methods.
Conducting walking interviews with older migrants has unique thematic potential. However, a range of ethical and practical challenges need to be considered, including a risk to revealing participants' identities and adopting an ethics-in-practice approach. The method has some limitations, especially with less-mobile participants. Implications for researchers, policymakers, and practitioners are suggested.
行走访谈已在社会科学领域中广泛应用，但在研究老年人方面的应用却有限。本文详细介绍了我们在对老年移民进行行走访谈时的伦理和方法选择与实践，并考虑了这种方法在研究移民就地老龄化方面的潜力。
本研究采用了纵向、多地点（伦敦和约克郡）、以定性为驱动的多方法研究设计。2018 年至 2019 年，我们对 45 名来自加勒比、爱尔兰和波兰的老年移民进行了深入访谈，随后在 6-12 个月后对 9 名参与者进行了行走访谈。大多数参与者的年龄都在 80 岁以上。
我们的研究表明，行走访谈是一种很有前途的方法，可以深入探讨各种相关问题，包括老年移民的流动性、健康和幸福感；通过日常活动在不同地点之间的移动；随着时间的推移与当地社区的互动；以及与这些经历相关的意义。通过直接接触场所的物理性，行走访谈可以引出丰富而复杂的数据，而这些数据很难通过其他方法收集。
对老年移民进行行走访谈具有独特的主题潜力。但是，需要考虑一系列伦理和实际挑战，包括参与者身份暴露的风险和采用实践伦理方法。该方法存在一些局限性，特别是对于行动不便的参与者。本文还提出了对研究人员、政策制定者和实践者的启示。
