Research on the run: a carnal sociological approach to running interviews

Abstract

ABSTRACT In recent years, there has been increased interest to the ways people move about in their everyday lives. This interest has given rise to the use of novel forms of mobile interview methods. While increased attention to walking interviews has supported the emergence of different methodologies, there is comparatively little methodological discussion on running interviews. This article stems from 22 running interviews, conducted in the context of a carnal sociological study that sought to gain insight into the embodied processes of 11 individuals who had integrated running into their processes of recovery from substance use. While carnal sociology is usually applied to ethnographic research, this study retained the embodied and embedded qualities that Wacquant (2015) considered vital to his theory through the engagement of the researcher’s own body as a methodological tool. This article aims to illustrate how carnal sociology may be applied to mobile methods, with theory and method converging to shape the structure of the interviews, the establishment of rapport with participants, the technological choices, and the safeguarding of the runner-researcher habitus. Finally, the strengths and limitations of running interviews as a means of data collection are discussed.