The go-along research method

Thinking Allowed

BBC

Society & Culture, Science

4.4 • 997 Ratings

🗓️ 3 February 2026

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

How does the environment we move through shape the way we see and experience the world?

Laurie Taylor talks to Alex Prior (London South Bank University) about his research inside Westminster, where he walked alongside MPs and staff to uncover how the corridors of power feel different depending on who you are and what your job is. James Fletcher from the University of Bath worked on a project exploring what it’s like to navigate the bus and tram routes of central Manchester while living with dementia. He looked at how familiar streets and transport systems change when memory and mobility are shifting and the implications of this.

What is the value of research conducted in this way and what are the downsides?

Producer: Natalia Fernandez

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts.
0:07.6	Resolutions, ideas of being different.
0:10.3	Can we create long-lasting change?
0:12.2	Doctors Chris and Zand Van Tullochin are on a mission to help us take better care of ourselves.
0:17.1	You tried, it didn't work, what could you put in place?
0:20.2	And chartered psychologist Kimberly Wilson is on hand to help make sense of mental health.
0:25.2	We are constantly being told what's wrong with us, but there's so much that's right with us.
0:30.7	Reset and recharge with what's up docs and complex with Kimberly Wilson.
0:35.2	Listen on BBC Sounds.
0:37.9	This is a Thinking Aloud podcast from the BBC,
0:41.3	and for more details and much, much more about thinking aloud,
0:45.0	go to our website at BBC.co.uk.
0:49.3	Hello. Frankly, I'm a bit of a Liverpool bore.
1:07.7	I mean, if any of my London friends so much as mentioned the cavern or peerhead or Anfield, I'm liable to launch into lengthy accounts of my magical teenage years in the city.
1:13.0	So I was dead chuffed when a recent coincidence found me in the city with a fellow sociologist who had never before sampled its delights. Show me around, he pleaded. Show me around.
1:21.0	Well, it was an enticing invitation. But too many years had passed. Well, it used to be there, became my common refrain
1:31.0	"'as I could no longer see Lewis's department store.
1:34.6	"'The news theatre in Clayton Square,
1:36.8	"'the ferry to New Brighton, the overhead railway, the futurist cinema.
1:41.9	"'Even some of the streets had become alien.
1:45.0	At one new intersection, I made the shocking admission.
1:48.4	Look, I'm sorry, mate, but I'm a bit lost.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.