Stepfamily Survey

[mamamirranda]

Hello,

I am a student at the University of Oregon and I am completing my honors thesis on the conflict in step-families. If you are a stepmother, please take a moment, if you can, to complete my survey regarding your experience. Your participation is completely anonymous, confidential, and would be greatly appreciated.

Access Survey Here

Thank you kindly

Mirranda Willette

University of Oregon

McNair Scholars Program

Sociology Honors Program

Edited by mamamirranda - 3/14/11 at 1:22pm

[TheSlingMama]

As the 'biological mother' I'm rather offended by this survey.  It's purpose seems to be proving that biological mothers are conflictual and is slanted one way.  ;(

[Buzzer Beater]

This survey assumes I am not the biological mother...

you need to have a "Stepmother Survey".

[mamamirranda]

I do apologize, you are right it is from a stepmother's perspective and I should have titled it as such.  I apologize for any confusion this has caused.  I do want to assure you that the survey is not meant to slant the biological mother.  I am a biological mother too.

I have not figured out how to build a survey to asses these things from the biological mother's perspective, however, that is one of my goals.


Thanks for your honest feedback, and once again I am sorry if you found it offensive.


Regards,


Mirranda Willette

[PlayaMom22]

I want to conduct a survey on 50/50 custody as part of my Masters Thesis. How do you go about setting it up with the Forum?

Thanks!

[TheSlingMama]

No worries mama - I'm sorry if I sounded mean in my post.  It wasn't meant that way.  It was just an emotional day and then I thought I'd help a girl out and was put out.  My apologies!  I'm not sure exactly how to slant it the other way.  I'll have to think on that.

[mamamirranda]

I want to express my gratitude for those of you who took the time to complete my survey.  I have only had the survey up for a short amount of time and have received a tremendous response.  I do need a few more responses, so if you know any stepmothers who could take a moment to participate, I would greatly appreciate it. 

Once again, thanks to all the mama's who have participated already.

Regards,

Mirranda

[VocalMinority]

It's probably too late now, but for what it's worth, the question about custodial status needs clarification.  That question is early in the survey, before it becomes clear that the focus is the husband's ex, from the stepmother's perspective.  Without knowing whose ex (or whose kids), you're focusing on, it is inadequate to ask whether or not your household is "custodial" and how much time the kids spend with you.  My husband and I happen to both the custodial parents of our kids from before.  But that is unusual.  In many blended families, one parent (usually the wife) will have custody of her children from a previous marriage, while the husband's kids from his previous marriage may only visit.  Even in our case, my kids are only with us about half the time (because my ex lives in town), while my husband's son is with us almost all the time (because his ex lives out of state).  Something to think about, for next time.

[mamamirranda]

Jeannine,

Thank you so much for taking the survey. I agree, it was really hard to get the answer options to include all possible things.  I tried to include an other option in most of them, but I am not thinking I had one for that question.  You are right, it is from the perspective of the stepmother so the custodial status question is regarding the schedule the partner has in place.  If I have to recreate the survey for future use, I will make that clearer for sure.  Thanks for your feedback.

Mirranda

[mamamirranda]

I am going to keep the survey open through the weekend.  I would really love it if more mothering mamas could complete it.  I want to make sure it is as representative of your stories as possible--given the limitations of the survey itself . 

I really appreciate those of you who have already responded; thank you again for your time and support!

Regards,

Mirranda