Want to make a difference for other military families (or earn gift cards)? These researchers need your help
Military spouse perspectives are wanted for surveys about the military experience. (Pixabay)
The annual Military Family Lifestyle Survey from Blue Star Families and the Institute for Veterans and Military Families is out, and researchers need your help to make a difference.
Survey questions will cover a range of topics, including deployment challenges, education, employment, military child education, financial challenges, health concerns, wellness and public policy issues. The confidential responses each year are used to compile data and insights into military family life that, in turn, impact policy and help to educate military leadership and other decision-makers, as well as the general public, according to IVMF. (Last year’s survey also informed a few episodes of the podcast, including Episode 17: The Top Lifestyle Challenges for Troops and Their Families.)
The survey will close on Oct. 16. Those who complete it will have a chance to win one of five $100 gift cards.
Researchers in the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Department of Communication also want your help with a study if you are a military spouse with a deployed service member and expect to be reunited in the next three months.
The online survey will focus on conversations that service members and their spouses might have after a deployment, and researchers are currently looking for 100 married couples to participate.
Military spouses will be asked to complete a survey about two weeks before their reunion, one month after their reunion, and again one month later, research assistant Jessica Kahlow said in an email. Each will receive $15 gift cards for each survey and a bonus $15 gift card for completing all three. Their service members, who will only be tasked with two surveys, will also receive a $15 gift card per survey, as well as a $10 bonus for completing both.
Anyone interested in participating in the study, “Difficult Conversations for Military Spouses,” should email uwmstudy@gmail.com or visit http://bit.ly/uwmstudy.