The go-along method with older adults: A transformative approach to participatory research on aging

This article examines the go-along method as a transformative, participatory approach for exploring how older adults experience aging through movement and interaction within their everyday environments. Drawing on a UK-based study, Enabling Person-Centered Integrated Care Networks (EPICS), it demonstrates how walking alongside participants allows researchers to access embodied, sensory, and relational dimensions of daily life that conventional interviews often overlook. The go-along fosters inclusivity by enabling participants to guide routes, pace, and topics, co-creating data that illuminate how mobility, memory, and emotion shape the experience of aging. Positioned within broader qualitative and socio-material traditions, the paper highlights the methodological value of the go-along for generating reflexive, context-rich insights into the relationships between people, place, and everyday practice.