Interviewing in situ: employing the guided walk as a dynamic form of qualitative inquiry

The purpose of this paper is to provide a critical analysis of a mobile research method, the guided walk, and its potential suitability in medical education research.

The Northern Ontario School of Medicine's (NOSM) longitudinal integrated clerkship served as the research context in which the guided walk method was used to explore the lived experiences of 12 Year 3 medical students undertaking their clerkship in one of eight different communities across Northern Ontario, Canada. Informed by the social constructivist research paradigm, the guided walk method was employed to answer the research question: how do Year 3 medical students at NOSM describe their clerkship experiences as encountered in their placement and living contexts? Through an inductive thematic analysis of the data, the findings provided a rich description of the guided walk from the participants' and the researcher's perspectives.

There were significant advantages to using the guided walk rather than other types of qualitative research approaches. The guided walk made it easier for participants to take part in the study, provided context-rich research interactions, and led to serendipitous encounters for both participants and the first author. There were also challenges and limitations associated with the guided walk method. For example, this method carries inherent challenges with reference to the safeguarding of confidentiality and anonymity for both participants and those encountered during the walk.

The guided walk method is promising within medical education, particularly for researchers seeking to gain participants' stories in the contexts to which they refer. This method may be appropriate for use in medical education research in areas such as the evaluation and assessment of a student's clinical decision-making skills and competency development, as well as the consolidation of strategies to manage ethical and professional dilemmas.