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Rethinking Mobile Methods

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  • Peter Merriman

Abstract

Over the past, few years a broad range of scholars have been emphasising the vital importance of methodological innovation and diversification to mobilities research. Whilst welcoming this pluralisation of research methods, this paper encourages a note of caution amongst researchers who wholly embrace the call for mobile methods, which are frequently justified by an assumption that 'conventional' or 'traditional' methods have failed. I outline some of the explanations that are given for the development of 'mobile methods' - including their inevitable emergence from a 'new mobilities paradigm', the importance of innovation and political relevance for social science methods, and their importance for apprehending elusive practices - before identifying a number of problems with this work: namely the assumption that mobilities research is necessarily a branch of social science research, the production of over-animated mobile subjects and objects, the prioritising of certain kinds of research methods and practices, and the overreliance on certain kinds of technology. Particular attention is paid to the use of 'non-representational theories' and theories of practice in mobilities research, wherein academics frequently suggest that we must adopt certain performative, participative, or ethnographic techniques to enable researchers to be, see or move with research subjects, and to more effectively or accurately understand those practices and subjects. In the final section, I draw upon historical research on early driving practices to highlight the diverse methods and sources that can be useful for mobilities scholars seeking to apprehend particular practices, events, subjects and spaces .

Suggested Citation

  • Peter Merriman, 2014. "Rethinking Mobile Methods," Mobilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(2), pages 167-187, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:rmobxx:v:9:y:2014:i:2:p:167-187
    DOI: 10.1080/17450101.2013.784540
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    Cited by:

    1. Teresa Franco, 2023. "A transport of one’s own: Women in contemporary Mexico City’s public transport through the lens of photojournalism," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 60(15), pages 3143-3157, November.
    2. Horn, Julian, 2024. "Walking as an approach to the socially-ecological transformation of inclusive urban mobility systems: An explorative case study involving disabled people in Berlin," Discussion Papers, Research Group Digital Mobility and Social Differentiation SP III 2024-602, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    3. Kou, Lirong & Xu, Honggang & Hannam, Kevin, 2017. "Understanding seasonal mobilities, health and wellbeing to Sanya, China," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 177(C), pages 87-99.
    4. Max Kramer, 2022. "Beyond the Identitarian Deadlock: Why Mobile Methods Are Useful for Studying Media in Zones of Conflict," Studies in Indian Politics, , vol. 10(2), pages 289-297, December.
    5. Rabbiosi, Chiara, 2016. "Place branding performances in tourist local food shops," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 154-168.
    6. Bazuń, Dorota & Kwiatkowski, Mariusz, 2020. "Exploratory Walk As A Method Of Studying Urban Tourism Space: A Case Of Charles Bridge In Prague," Journal of Tourism, Sustainability and Well-being, Cinturs - Research Centre for Tourism, Sustainability and Well-being, University of Algarve, vol. 8(2), pages 92-106.
    7. Max Kramer, 2017. "Mobilizing Conflict Testimony: A Lens of Mobility for the Study of Documentary Practices in the Kashmir Conflict," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 6(3), pages 1-21, August.
    8. Luis Camarero & Renato Miguel Carmo & Sofía Santos, 2020. "Condiciones ambientales y diferenciación social en los patrones de movilidad: el caso de las desigualdades de género en el Área Metropolitana de Lisboa," Revista de Estudios Regionales, Universidades Públicas de Andalucía, vol. 0(y), pages 145-172.
    9. Martina Bovo & Paola Briata & Massimo Bricocoli, 2023. "A bus as a compressed public space: Everyday multiculturalism in Milan," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 60(15), pages 2979-2993, November.
    10. Silvia Marcu, 2019. "The limits to mobility: Precarious work experiences among young Eastern Europeans in Spain," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 51(4), pages 913-930, June.
    11. Katja Kaufmann & Christoph Straganz & Tabea Bork-Hüffer, 2020. "City-Life No More? Young Adults’ Disrupted Urban Experiences and Their Digital Mediation under Covid-19," Urban Planning, Cogitatio Press, vol. 5(4), pages 324-334.
    12. Ingrid Boas & Joris Schapendonk & Suzy Blondin & Annemiek Pas, 2020. "Methods as Moving Ground: Reflections on the ‘Doings’ of Mobile Methodologies," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(4), pages 163-146.
    13. Jensen, Martin Trandberg & Scarles, Caroline & Cohen, Scott A., 2015. "A multisensory phenomenology of interrail mobilities," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 61-76.
    14. Battista, Geoffrey A. & Manaugh, Kevin, 2018. "Stores and mores: Toward socializing walkability," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 53-60.
    15. Katja Kaufmann & Christoph Straganz & Tabea Bork-Hüffer, 2020. "City-Life No More? Young Adults’ Disrupted Urban Experiences and Their Digital Mediation under Covid-19," Urban Planning, Cogitatio Press, vol. 5(4), pages 324-334.
    16. Sabina Lawreniuk & Laurie Parsons, 2017. "Mother, grandmother, migrant: Elder translocality and the renegotiation of household roles in Cambodia," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 49(7), pages 1664-1683, July.
    17. Wikstrøm, Ragnhild Dahl, 2023. "The potential of combining qualitative GIS and map elicitation in daily mobility studies," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    18. Doody, Brendan J., 2020. "Becoming ‘a Londoner’: Migrants’ experiences and habits of everyday (im)mobilities over the life course," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    19. Paul Simpson, 2017. "A sense of the cycling environment: Felt experiences of infrastructure and atmospheres," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 49(2), pages 426-447, February.

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