Accompanied Shopping

Qualitative interviews that partly or wholly take place while the participant is engaging in an activity of interest to the client. These often involve a degree of passive observation as well as more directed interviewing. The activity in question is often shopping, and such a trip may include a range of related contexts within one interview, so the researcher would visit the respondent at home, go shopping with her or him, then go back to the respondent's home for further discussion and observation. The approach may also be applied to other retail or leisure activities, involving accompanied visits to places such as pubs, clubs or sports centres. This method allows relevant aspects of the respondent's experience and the processes by which choices are made to be explored. It is particularly useful in bringing to light aspects of behaviour that the respondent may not be aware of, or may not be able to verbalise.