Long-Distance Research Methods: Virtual Walking Interviews in Google Street View

This research method was developed by Maruška Svašek during the pandemic, and was used to conduct online interviews with migrants women based in (Northern) Ireland. Research participants were asked to open Google Maps, search for their home address, drag Pegman into Street View and drop it in front of their house. They were then asked to share their screen and follow the route of their daily lockdown walks, stopping and moving as they were commenting on the journey and responding to the researcher’s questions.

Fast movement in Google Streetview Photograph by Maruška Svašek, 2021

Standing Still in Google Streetview Photograph by Maruška Svašek, 20

The method can also be combined with graphic anthropology, as in the following example:

 

A virtual walk in Google Street View in Brazil, Linhares. Pencil drawing and photograph by Maruška Svašek, 2021

For further analysis of the method, see:

Svašek, Maruška 2023 Ethnography as creative improvisation: Exploring methods in (post) pandemic times. HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory 13(1).