Transect Walk for Research: What is It and How Did We Use It
Do you have a design research project on hand and would like to explore new methods? In this article, I will share our process of applying the transect walk in our research. I hope the method and learnings could inspire you!
The background story
In 2022–2023, I was assigned to a 2-year long research project commissioned by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Digital Finance for All (DiFi for All). It was the longest research that I’ve ever conducted so far! The research aimed to deeply understand the on-ground situation of the digital financial service onboarding experience in the unbanked and underbanked segments for better financial inclusion. There were A LOT of learnings from the journey. One of them was how my team and I applied a new research method, transect walk, for the field research.
In the beginning, one of our research partners from Bangladesh, BIGD — BRAC Institute of Governance and Development, shared about Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) as one of their research methods. We were inspired and looked further into it. That was when we discovered transect walk as one of the techniques used in Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA).
What kind of animal is this?
“Transect Walk is a tool used by a group undertaking observation-based community improvement, which should include informed community members and people with the technical skills to identify and propose solutions to issues that are visibly manifested on a walk through the community.” — catcomm.org
It is good to take stock by mapping and recording environmental conditions to supplement formal maps and data. A transect walk potentially serves different purposes, such as facilitating conversation within a community, having experts learn about issues the community faces, or evaluating how the issues are addressed. The research group should discuss the aim and identify members of the community knowledgeable for a shared understanding of the current situation. Then, make a list of the information that should be gathered to meet the goal.
The research group will set stop intervals or zones to create the mapping based on the pass-through areas and talk with the residents in the area who would like to contribute their opinions. After the walk, the collected data is analyzed, which in the process, can involve the community member or expert too.
How did we do it?
After finding out more about the transect walk, we decided to adopt it for our market recce as a preliminary survey or research in our targeted locations.
“What if we use a transect walk to do market recce? We can use it for mapping the local existing service provider and its on-ground strategy. Let’s try it!”
We conducted the transect walk at the beginning of every new location in each round of our field research to get an initial understanding and overview of the existing local (digital financial service) ecosystem conditions that could influence or shape people’s (the unbanked and underbanked) awareness, perception, or behavior.
However, we adjusted the transect walk based on our project’s needs and circumstances. One distinction in our case was that we mainly did the walks independently as we have a broad range of areas to cover from urban and peri-urban to rural areas and we don’t always have local connections or experts that could help us with our research topic in our targeted locations. However, whenever possible, we were guided by our local fixer for the planning and some of the walks.
We also adjusted the data that we needed to map based on our research topic and objective. Following are the step-by-step how we planned and did our transect walk.
- Initial mapping
To connect with relevant stakeholders and plan the schedule during the walk, we did desk research to identify the key stakeholders, programs, and touchpoints involved. Below are the initial mapping examples in our research.
- Key stakeholders, e.g. available service providers, government agencies or officials, branchless banking agents, etc.
- Relevant programs or events, e.g. Pasar Siap Qris, Bulan Inklusi Keuangan event, etc.
- Onboarding or usage hot spots and touchpoints of the segments, e.g. banks, traditional markets, food court or street vendors spots, city center or Alun-alun, etc.
2. Plan the walk
We checked the best route of the places that needed to be visited from the mapping and scheduled it into a daily itinerary according to the list. We also created a list of the key questions to be asked and even a shoot list of what to capture through different activities during the walk. This planning is important to measure and adjust the time you need and align it with the team so everyone is on the same page about what needs to be done.
3. Walk the walk
We followed the itinerary created closely so as not to mess up the schedule. We usually split teams into pairs or solo then divided the roles and areas to be more effective as we had 3–4 team members. You might not need to split if you are doing it in solo or pairs. Our considerations for splitting the team were not to walk in big groups as it might be difficult to walk around in our targeted location and intimidating when doing intercepts. We hope to do this without attracting too much attention so we can observe more naturally.
What transect walk is good for
Here are the benefits of using the method for our design research.
1. Understand the existing ecosystem
This method is useful to get an overview of the existing local ecosystem. Especially when researching new topics or locations that we have never been to before hence less knowledge of the context. A transect walk could be a good way to quickly scan what has persisted or changed in the ecosystem. In our research context, it allowed us to:
Capture and identify existing conditions
- Local landscape mapping: e.g. available services, who are the top players, regional players
- Usage overview: e.g. example of use cases, identify dormancy or activeness
Connect with local stakeholders
- Holistic and different points of view from different stakeholders: e.g. local government agencies and local leaders to advise and share about local programs or initiatives
- Getting recommendations on what needs to be explored and where to go
2. Capture local nuance
As you do the walk, you will experience and get a sense of its geographical, social, and cultural norms. For example, in the second round, we identified different top players or how vibrant and packed the crowd was in traditional markets in rural areas.
3. Immerse in the natural context
As we go around, try the services, or ask people by immersing in its natural context without intervention or incentives as much as possible, we can see more of the reality and its natural behavior in place. Doing intercept is a good way to gain findings beyond our observation. However, approaching people to start the conversation might be challenging as people aren’t always willing to do it.
The Tips & Trick!
After three rounds of field research and some iteration during the process, here are our learnings in doing a transect walk!
1. Plan for contingencies. You never know what are the conditions until you arrive. The place could be closed, very quiet, or don’t exist anymore. Hence, you need to be ready for changes and have a backup plan when that happens.
2. Seek guidance from locals. It is crucial to get local information when planning or during the walk especially when you can’t find the information online. For example, in Indonesia, the opening hours of the traditional market are different in every location. So, asking for the right time to visit is one of our FAQs.
3. Be aware and curious about your surroundings. Being observant is important to enable you to notice not only the existing condition but also the differences or new findings during the walk. We like to observe even during our road trips when moving from one place to another. One time, we found street publications about one of the government programs related to our research. Luckily, it is organized within our field research timeline so we can plan a visit as part of our transect walk.
4. Be flexible and embrace impromptu findings. You never know where the recommendation or findings from the transect walk could lead you and I think this is one of the perks of this method. Try to have a quick check on it to find out whether it’s needed to explore further. For example, during one of the walks, we noticed a lot of banners of digital lending in a peri-urban area so we decided to do intercepts to the stores to find out more about how it’s happening and we found interesting insights.
5. Spend time debriefing with the team. At the end of each walk, we always do a debrief session with the team that joined the walk to extract the findings while it’s fresh and discuss any adjustments that need to be made for the next walk. Different eyes, different points of view. Appreciate differences as they could capture what is missing and enrich the insights.
6. Do routine documentation management. You will take tons of pictures or videos in different locations so it’s better to do routine file transfer from your camera or phone to manage memory, back up, and avoid confusion or overwhelming with piled-up documentation. Curating and transferring files to our hard disk is part of our daily routine during the fieldwork.
7. Be ready to be rejected when intercepting. Don’t be discouraged, it’s not you. As mentioned above, not all people are willing to chat. From our experience, avoiding busy people to talk with and (when talking to merchants) buying something from them could help start a convo. Nevertheless, I think Indonesians are generally quite open so sometimes it’s more on how we can be courageous during intercept while maintaining research ethics, e.g. do honest introductions or ask for consent when needed.
8. Have fun and enjoy the discovery process! Be genuine to connect with the people and immerse in their context. I personally love documenting, observing its culture, and trying local food in between the walks! 😛
I hope you benefitted from our learning. Have you tried transect walk? What was your experience? Will you consider a transect walk for your research? Do share your story or learning in the comment below. 🙂
Anin is a Senior Experience Design Consultant at Somia CX. You can find out more about her writing here or visit her LinkedIn page to connect with her.
To learn about the Digital Finance for All (DiFi for All) project and learnings further, you can read it here.
