RAND Corporation Administering 2018 'Today's Army Spouse' Survey

Researchers from the RAND Corporation are administering a U.S. Army-sponsored survey to provide spouses of soldiers an opportunity to speak out on the challenges they face and the services they find most helpful.

Army leadership is inviting a sample of spouses of active duty soldiers to take part in this survey. The Army asked researchers from the Arroyo Center, a division of RAND, to design and administer the survey, which is being administered through February 2018.

“Responses will be kept confidential, so this is a way for spouses to speak frankly to senior leadership,” said Carra Sims, project lead and a senior behavioral and social scientist at RAND, a nonprofit research organization. “The feedback will allow Army leaders to find out how well the Army is doing in meeting the needs of service members' spouses and families, and where changes need to be made.”

The web-based survey should take about 20 minutes to complete. It asks participants about different kinds of problems they may have encountered in the past year, whether they contacted anyone for assistance, whether they were satisfied with the help they received, and the kinds of military and nonmilitary support available to them. At the beginning of January, postcard invitations to complete the survey will be sent to a random sample of spouses of active duty soldiers living in the United States.

For more information about the survey, visit https://www.rand.org/surveys/todays-army-spouse.html or contact the RAND team at todaysarmyspouse@rand.org.