How can one find military wives?

April 16, 2008 9:25 PM

How can one find military wives for a scientific study?

I have a friend who is working on her masters thesis on female military spouses. She wants to interview them over the phone.
She's looking for a rather specific sample (wives whose husbands are currently deployed & who have at least one child living at home with them). She's tried posting on Facebook, MySpace, and Craigslist with little luck. Any other ideas on how best to get in touch with women like this? It doesn't have to strictly involve the internet, but that seems like a good place to start.
Or, any MeFites who fit this bill and want to help, please MeFi mail me!

posted by k8t to human relations (10 comments total)

Why not start at sites like marriedtothearmy.com, that are specifically for military spouses?
posted by Tomorrowful at 9:29 PM on April 16, 2008

Contact the largest bases and ask if she can place an ad in their newspapers/ websites.
posted by fshgrl at 9:40 PM on April 16, 2008

Every boat here has a Family Support Group, the groups formerly known as wives' clubs. If by "deployed" you mean getting shot at in Iraq, then they don't qualify. If you mean gone and can't help with the household for long periods, they do.

I'd say your next clue to contacting some would be to call the ombudsmen. Start with the base ombudsman.
posted by ctmf at 12:07 AM on April 17, 2008

The Fayetteville Observer would be a good place to place an ad. (Fayetteville NC is right outside Fort Bragg.) Also there is a local free weekly called the Up and Coming that might be helpful as well.

I do need to tell you that a lot of deployed soldiers have just come back recently....but still I think trying to contact spouses at Bragg would be the way to go.
posted by konolia at 6:23 AM on April 17, 2008

Oh-duh-if you are interested in Navy spouses, my own daughter would fit the bill. Her husband is out to sea and she has one child. But I am assuming you are looking for spouses who are over in the sandbox.
posted by konolia at 6:25 AM on April 17, 2008

The forums at TrueMilitaryWivesConfessions.com.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 8:18 AM on April 17, 2008 [1 favorite]

Might I suggest LiveJournal communities. I don't know any communities off-hand but I do know they exist in abundance. I'm on LJ and have seen a few people on my Friends List who were members of military wives groups... Couldn't be simpler than creating an LJ account, joining the community and then posting it.. although your friend may want to send an email to the mods of the communities first as some groups may see her as 'spamming' or posting off-topic. In fact emailing the mods may result in a better set of people - they can direct you to some reputable respondents.. LiveJournal communities do have their fair share of attention whores...
posted by MarkLark at 8:25 AM on April 17, 2008

Most military bases have a kind of "Community Services" department, including familiy organizations like the Marine Corps' Key Volunteer Network, which is made up mostly of Marines' civilian spouses.

Perhaps she could try the following steps:

1) go to the website for the nearest military base
2) get a number for Community Services and speak to a representative
3) get the contact # for a KVN representative or Family Readiness Officer and go from there.

For instance, she might be able to sit in on a small KVN meeting and actually converse with several military spouses in person. This kind of thing, in my estimation, may depend largely upon your friend's ability to negotiate amicably with military personnel and government workers. Best of luck!
posted by crunch buttsteak at 8:26 AM on April 17, 2008

The publishers of Military Living could probably help.
posted by Wet Spot at 8:31 AM on April 17, 2008

On livejournal, the _marriedilfe_ community has a lot of military wives. Maybe she could search through the archives there, as everyone has to post an introductory post with information about their life, husband, kids/lack thereof...

The last public post is from February 21st, but there are a lot of "community only" posts.

PLEASE NOTE, livejournal communities can be very protocol oriented, and she should contact the mods and ask them for their sincere help before she contacts any of the members or posts anything in the communities. The mods can really help smooth the way to individual members. One mod, who is also a military wife (air force) is Merlyn4401 As she is a very active livejournaler, she could probably point you to other communities or people who could help.

Your friend could also join the community and participate fully in it, talk about her own marriage, post her own intro, etc. It would do a lot towards building trust. At the very least she should have links to her curriculum vitae, website, photos, anything that proves her sincerity/real identity. She should also avoid condescension.

And--no offense to your friend--she needs to pound the pavement outside of the internet. Call military bases and ask if they have a spouses' group, search newspaper archives for articles about military wives and try to contact them, etc.
posted by sondrialiac at 12:37 PM on April 19, 2008